Ireland
Scotland
Wales
England
France
Switzerland
Italy
USADUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) With the mountain running season coming to a close it’s time to start planning running events for next year. For the last 2 years I’ve headed to the Pyrennees in January for the Trail Blanch Font Romeu or as we call it the Snow Race. There’s 3 distances on offer, 13km with 320m climb, 24km with 1070m climb or the ultra distance of 51km with a climb of 2050m. Last year I did the ultra and it was incredibly tough; involving severe ice (instead of snow) and even had a rope section which the organisers didn’t warn us about! (Or maybe they warned us in French and I misunderstood! ;-) ).
You can enter online, but this year I can’t find the English version so you may have to brush up on the Francaise! As I’ve said before, never believe a French person who says you have only quatre kilometres to go!
You could even fit in a couple of days skiing while you’re there! Date for the diary: January 20th 2008.
-Aisling-
Photo is my own; it’s some of the gang who travelled!
Latest Comments (4):
That looks fun. I think I remember your photos from last year, would that be right?
I certainly blogged about it on my own blog! It’s great fun but there was a lack of snow last year!
Hi there, I’m thinking of entering the 24km race this coming Jan. Could anyone give me a bit of advice re. kit? I’m presuming trail shoes, winter running tights and a windproof top, hat and gloves are required. Did anyone use or need those little flexible crampons that can be fitted onto trainers?
Many thanks in advance for your help!
Neil Price
Hey Neil, the weather has been mild for this event for the last 3 years. Only the first year did I wear running tights as the icy snow would cut your legs. What you’ve listed sounds about right.
Here’s our groups list of items we brought for the entire trip.
http://ultrarunners.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/list-of-items-for-trail-blanch-snow-race/
As for the crampons some of our group wore the rubber type grips for their shoes last year, as it was very icy and slippery. Your shoes need to be quite hard though as they can hurt your feet in ordinary soft trainers.
Post A Comment:
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI