The Grand Raid des Pyrenees
The Long and Winding Road
Pyro / 06.09.2011
I'd been invited over to the race by Anne-Marie from the race organisation (and from Sleepmonsters) back in February, and hesitantly agreed to give the 50-miler a whirl, throw myself out of my comfort zone and generally give myself a reason to train over the summer. She and Jacques Marais, the South African race photographer, met me at Toulouse Airport and we drove down to the race HQ, about 2hrs from Toulouse, on the Wednesday night. Vielle-Aure, the town which hosts the GRP each year is small, compact and 'bijou', just to ease you into the Haute Pyreneean lifestyle. And it's surrounded by some pretty impressively large mountains. I spent a couple of days prior to the race sorting my gear, wandering the town, taking the occasional longer walk in the valley and generally trying not to get psyched out by the sheer vertical ascent around me. I chatted with a bunch of other racers from the UK, some old hands racing the 100, some other nervous neophytes taking on their first 50, all just waiting for the off - it seems the hardest part, in a way.
On Thursday afternoon, as the 100 mile racers underwent their final kit prep, the heavens opened and the valley became torrentially wet, with little sign of the downpour laying off. The race organisation took the decision to both delay and re-route the start, knocking the time back until 7am and sending the runners out along the valley rather than onto a high ridge, saving them from the worst ravages of the wind, rain and lightning that lasted until mid afternoon. Still, the conditions obviously took a heavy toll, with 10% of the competitors dropping out by the first time cutoff at 30km. We watched them off and wished them luck.
SleepMonsters
