Gore-Tex Transalpine Run
Overall Leaders Unbeatable
Oliver Kraus / 06.09.2011
The two Spanish talents put the full marathon distance between Schruns and Galtür behind them with seeming ease in the mind-blowing time of 3:49:47.7 hours. While today’s course had been changed to account for potential thunderstorm activity and avoided any exposed ridgeline trails in favour of a lower elevation route, the day still packed a punch.
Trailing the Spanish leaders by ten minutes were - as would have been expected by now - Jethro Lennox and Joe Symonds of Team Inov-8 Gore-Tex Footwear. The Scottish missed staying under the four-hour mark by a mere second with their time of 4:00:01.6 hours, but still rank second overall at this point.
Third to cross the finish line in the Austrian resort community of Galtür were Tofol Castaner Bernat and Miguel Capo Soler of TransMallorcaRun Team (4:09:09.9) with just a hair’s lead over their friends Julien Chorier (FRA) and Philipp Reiter of Team Salomon International (4:09:10.2). The four indeed leapt across the finish line in single file for a photo finish, a gesture implicit of the cordial race spirit in the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run series.
Conditions on today’s trails were anything but perfect. At higher elevations temperatures barely kept above freezing. Driving rain soaked the racers intermittently, while gusty winds pushed low-lying clouds around to obscure visibility at times. As such, opting for the alternative route turned out to have been a wise choice.
Race director Wolfgang Pohl was clearly relieved that most runners had enjoyed the new course despite the inclement conditions. “The original track would have been too exposed to the elements over a distance of nearly 18 kilometers. Subjecting over 600 racers to such a risk wouldn’t have been a responsible thing to do.�
The alternative route proved to be sufficiently challenging as it stood, which victorious Miguel Caballero aptly summed up: “It was very wet and cold, which made running a lot harder for us�. Still, running in the clouds must have held something mystical for most runners – something many runners commented on - as they made their arduous way across two mountain passes at elevations of 1932 m and 2271 m, respectively.
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