Gore-Tex Transalpine Run
Spaniards Lopez Castan and Caballero Ortega Claim Second Stage Victory
Oliver Kraus / 05.09.2011
Second across the finish line – trailing leading Team Trangoworld Gore-Tex Spain by just under five minutes – were the Scottish runners Jethro Lennox and Joe Symonds of Team Inov-8 Gore-Tex Footwear (5:06:14.9). They defended their position ahead of Julien Chorier (FRA) and Philip Reiter (GER) of Team Salomon International, whose time of 5:30:26.2 hours advanced them onto the podium in deserved third place.
The Spanish victors comfortably extended their overall lead to over 17 minutes by the end of today’s second stage. With one third of the total race distance already under their belt, Castan and Ortega have delivered a stunning performance to date that will be noticed undoubtedly by the global trail race community.
As would be expected, the two Spaniards (both 29 years of age) were greatly pleased after crossing the finish line first - ahead of no less than three hundred other teams. “We simply gave our all and tried to distance ourselves from the Brits after the fourth food stop. It’s great that it panned out as planned.�
The Spanish breakaway bugged no one as much as Joe Symonds and his teammate Jethro Lennox, who had even set the pace off and on and for the longest time, had managed to hang on to the leaders with reasonable success. Joe Symonds recapped today’s trials and tribulations “The Spaniards attacked on the last ascent but we never lost sight of them and hung on to the summit. In the end, they surprised us by being able to take off on us on the flat sections towards the finish.�
Despite suffering a fall on the descent to Dalaas that left him with a laceration and nasty abrasions on his left leg, the 28-year Scotsman seemed content overall “I’m not really disappointed, since it already went better today than yesterday – apart from my fall.�
Team partner Lennox is still convinced “that Joe can run much faster if only he were to get through a day without abdominal cramps.� Both racers were optimistic that they still had a chance to pinch a few stage victories in the days to come.
One team though of as a potential contender for a top podium position, had to give up their aspirations to attack the current leaders. Tobias Brack and Thomas Geisenberger of TSV Buchberg Haglöfs-Gore clearly lived up to expectations well into today’s stage, when the latter racer had to quit.
Geisenberger, placing second in the 2009 GORE-TEX Transalpine Run, had suffered a heat stroke in yesterday’s stage, the aftermath of which forced him to admit defeat today.
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