Patagonian International Marathon
Arriving to race at the end of the world
Anne-Marie Dunhill / 02.10.2013
The second edition of the Patagonian International Marathon has been completed in the Torres del Paine national park. And what a race it was! There were 740 runners in total registered for the four distances, 63k, 42k, 21K and 10K. Almost 50% of the runners on the 63k ultra and the 42k marathon were from outside of Chile with twenty-three countries represented, ranging from Australia to Venezuela.
As with most international races, the race itself is only part of the story and the journey to the race start is an integral part of that story. Along with the runners, journalists from as far away as Japan and South Africa flew from the Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago de Chile to the town of Punta Arenas located on the Strait of Magellan.
There is no short route to the end of the world but the journey for the American Krissy Moehl turned out to be more difficult then expected. A highly accomplished ultra runner based in Boulder Colorado, U.S.A, Krissy is part of the ambassadors program for the race and as such she would be running the 63K. Her first flight out of Denver was delayed by over two hours and she would have missed the rest of the connecting flights so her travels were delayed by twenty-four hours and she arrived at the race start late Friday evening, just in time to shower and prepare her gear for the race start early on Saturday morning.
From Punta Arenas two vans drove four hours to the town of Puerto Natales in the province of Ultima Esperanza (last hope in Spanish). Many of the journalists covering the race were also ultra runners and the ride was filled with lively chatter in Spanish and English about various races around the world. Ryan Sandes had flown out a week earlier and had driven into Torres del Paine to run solo through the multitude of paths in the park.
In Puerto Natales Stjepan Pavicic, the race director, and various officials gave a brief press conference in Spanish, introducing the race and taking questions. The majority of the race ambassadors were also present so it was the perfect setting to do interviews with pristine mountains and crystalline waters in the background.
Running the Patagonian International Marathon held special meaning for adventure racer Veronica Bravo. She explained how much it meant to her to be back in this special part of the world. In 2006 she suffered extreme frostbite on her feet while running a winter race here. Initially the doctors told her that they would have to amputate but after four and half months in hospital, fourteen operations and numerous skin grafts, her feet were saved. It took another nineteen months of physical therapy to be able to walk again, let alone run. It is easy to understand the nickname her country has given her; the woman of steel, and that steel clearly is physical, mental and spiritual.
After a quick meal and a grocery shop in town, the press was driven three and a half hours into the Torres del Paine national park. In the evening at the hotel Rio Serrano the race director gave a race briefing in Spanish. The views through the vast windows in the hotel were so stunning that it was difficult to concentrate on the words. What a truly stunning setting for a race.
Then it was off to bed for the racers and the journalists. The four different distances would take place along the same race route, staggered at different times and in different locations along the way to the finish line. A 07:00 start was initially set for the press to leave the hotel but as Stjepan rightly pointed out, if you say seven it will likely be seven-twenty before all are ready to roll, so a 06:40 start was agreed upon. Runners, ambassadors and journalists were all impatient to discover the race route.
SleepMonsters
