I have just got back from racing in Italy. I went to the small village of Morgex in the Aosta valley to race the Vertikal 2000. A race of 8km with 2000m of climbing, it is seriously steep. I walked the course on the Wednesday with the race being on Friday. It starts with a flat run out of the town before climbing gently through some vineyards. A sharp left turn leaves you with an 800m run along a road before the climb starts to really kick. The path then zigzags up through the woods until you reach a refuge roughly a quarter of the way through. We then pass over steep fields and some rocky terrain before turning left and heading straight up for the summit. No path, just tiny yellow flag which guide the way to the refuge at Bivaco Pascal circa 3000m up. I was apprehensive about doing the race after the recce mainly because it was so hot! After getting out of the woods there was nowhere to hide and I have suffered badly in the heat before.
Race day. The weather was fantastic. Low lying mist and intermittent showers meant that conditions were perfect (well for me anyway). The race organisers also made the decision to shorten the course due to thunder and lighting. I wasn’t too fussed either way with this decision as the course was the same for everyone. I did my usual warm up and then went to take my position on the start line. A couple of entry’s on the day meant there was going to be some seriously fast times. Marco Moletto and Dennis Brunod had turned up and coupled with Giovanni Bosio this made my task of making the podium almost impossible. The race set off and I was in about 20th place coming out of the town. As we crossed the road, the pace felt easy so I decided to take much closer order at the front. I pulled up to 3rd place and sat in behind Dennis and Marco. Along with Giovanni we quickly started to pull away from the rest of the field. As we ran along the 800m stretch of road I knew the calibre of Marco and Dennis so I had to keep telling myself that when they kick, don’t try and go with them. Sure enough the course ramped up and then started to increase the pace. I just kept going how I was and Giovanni was happy to sit in behind me. As we continued to climb I was still running strongly. Marco and Dennis could no longer be seen, but Giovanni had started walking so I was quietly confident I could kick on and break him. I kept a good tempo going but he soon found a way back onto my shoulder. It was a bit disheartening that he kept yo-yoing off the back and then pulling back up. He had an answer for everything I threw at him. Nevertheless I was still running and ticking off the metre’s as I went. By now we were close to the 1st refuge where there was food. I wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat anything. We continued up over the fields and into the mist. Giovanni had just come back onto my shoulder when this time he went straight past me. I tried to remain calm and just work back upto him slowly. I didn’t want to surge upto him as this would have wasted quite a lot of energy and I wasn’t sure how far we had left to run. I upped the pace slightly but it didn’t have an effect on the gap. In fact, he was pulling away with every stride. I was hanging in there but soon he left my sight and I was in the middle of no-where. I carried on running to the finish and was very pleased when I had finished 4th. I closed in 44:54. Marco had won, with Dennis in 2nd. I was 5 minutes off Marco but he is one of the best vertical km runners in the world so I was chuffed with that. I was slightly disappointed that I had been told I had to carry a waterproof jacket, plastic bottle with water and a survival blanket as compulsory kit. There were only a couple of organisers there who could speak English and she assured me everyone would be carrying the correct kit. Some people did carry the equipment but the first three didn’t. I’m not sure how much time this would have equated to but I felt sure it would have given me something and put me closer to Marco. Anyway, I will know for next year.
Race day. The weather was fantastic. Low lying mist and intermittent showers meant that conditions were perfect (well for me anyway). The race organisers also made the decision to shorten the course due to thunder and lighting. I wasn’t too fussed either way with this decision as the course was the same for everyone. I did my usual warm up and then went to take my position on the start line. A couple of entry’s on the day meant there was going to be some seriously fast times. Marco Moletto and Dennis Brunod had turned up and coupled with Giovanni Bosio this made my task of making the podium almost impossible. The race set off and I was in about 20th place coming out of the town. As we crossed the road, the pace felt easy so I decided to take much closer order at the front. I pulled up to 3rd place and sat in behind Dennis and Marco. Along with Giovanni we quickly started to pull away from the rest of the field. As we ran along the 800m stretch of road I knew the calibre of Marco and Dennis so I had to keep telling myself that when they kick, don’t try and go with them. Sure enough the course ramped up and then started to increase the pace. I just kept going how I was and Giovanni was happy to sit in behind me. As we continued to climb I was still running strongly. Marco and Dennis could no longer be seen, but Giovanni had started walking so I was quietly confident I could kick on and break him. I kept a good tempo going but he soon found a way back onto my shoulder. It was a bit disheartening that he kept yo-yoing off the back and then pulling back up. He had an answer for everything I threw at him. Nevertheless I was still running and ticking off the metre’s as I went. By now we were close to the 1st refuge where there was food. I wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat anything. We continued up over the fields and into the mist. Giovanni had just come back onto my shoulder when this time he went straight past me. I tried to remain calm and just work back upto him slowly. I didn’t want to surge upto him as this would have wasted quite a lot of energy and I wasn’t sure how far we had left to run. I upped the pace slightly but it didn’t have an effect on the gap. In fact, he was pulling away with every stride. I was hanging in there but soon he left my sight and I was in the middle of no-where. I carried on running to the finish and was very pleased when I had finished 4th. I closed in 44:54. Marco had won, with Dennis in 2nd. I was 5 minutes off Marco but he is one of the best vertical km runners in the world so I was chuffed with that. I was slightly disappointed that I had been told I had to carry a waterproof jacket, plastic bottle with water and a survival blanket as compulsory kit. There were only a couple of organisers there who could speak English and she assured me everyone would be carrying the correct kit. Some people did carry the equipment but the first three didn’t. I’m not sure how much time this would have equated to but I felt sure it would have given me something and put me closer to Marco. Anyway, I will know for next year.