By sheer coincidence (again) the Sierre-Zinal race was taking place in Switzerland during the time of our family holiday, so I signed up for this race along with a few other Carnethy members, Paul Faulkner, Andy & Helen. It is widely regarded as the finest mountain race in the World with a great atmosphere, amazing views and a challenging route plus a particularly large food/beer tent at the end! 31km in length with about 2,100m ascent/800m descent. Essentially the route has 3 sections. First 10k is all uphill with 1,500m of climb. Then a fast undulating section on mountain trails in the middle followed by a final 6k 800m descent into Zinal. The back-drop on last sections of the route are a number of 4,000m peaks which makes for some stunning views.
This year the race was part of the sky running world series so an even more prestigious field than usual including all the big names such as Kilian, Fallas, Wyatt, Faulkner, De Gasperi!. I’d done the race the previous 2 years in times of 3h 9m (2012) and 3h 0m 55s (2013), so I’d set myself 2 goals before hand. Goal no 1 was to finish 1st V50. I’d finished 2nd V50 in previous 2 years and thought I might be in reasonable shape to get on to top step of podium. 2nd goal was to get a sub 3hr time. Think this had only been done 2 times previously by other club members. Angela previously held the ladies record in a time of 2h 56m and JBF told me last year he had managed to get a sub 3hr only once in the many times he had completed the race. Start list was published a few days before and I noted last year’s V50 winner (2h 48m), Recardo Mejia from Mexico (5 times previous winner of the race and previous winner of the world sky running series) was on the start list, so that realistically took goal number 1 out of the equation although family & supporters were considering ways to slow down any short, fast Mexicans they spotted on route involving Scottish/Carnethy flags they had made the days before!
Paul and I had restricted ourselves to one beer each the night before, so felt ok on the day of race lining up at the start. We had managed to blag elite numbers again, so mingled with the famous and very fast looking mountain runners in the first starting pen. The race has about 0.5km on road before turning off onto narrow mountain trails, so starting near the front was quite handy to avoid any congestion on the track. However, did result in being pulled along a bit faster than I would have liked. Eased off a bit on the road section when my Mexican pal and Killian came past after a couple of minutes of running!!
The race has about 6 check-points so quite handy to check progress against any targeted time schedules. Paul and I had both written 6 split times for a sub-3 on our arms! The first 10-20mins of the race felt pretty painful as I approached the first check-point at Beauregard which is after 561m of climbing. I was hoping I might be well under last year’s split which would help explain the suffering! However, I arrived at this point in just under 26mins only about 10secs faster than last year. I was pretty sure I couldn’t maintain this effort for rest of race, so tried to settle into a more relaxed rhythm on the next section. Hadn’t seen Paul at this point but was good to get hear some words of encouragement from behind as Andy came past. We briefly exchanged pleasantries and then got back into our climbing zones. Not really much in the way of views for first 10k of this race with all most of this section uphill in the woods, so just a case of trying to get into a comfortable rhythm.
Next check-point at Ponchette arrived after another 724m of climbing. By this time I was over 2mins slower than last year’s time but still suffering big-time. I remember reaching this point last year feeling pretty good and able to stride out a bit on the following flat sections. So at this point I knew my 2nd goal was not looking likely. Es Tressider (ex Carnethy member now with Dark Peak but living in that well know mountain running country Belgium) came past at this point so again good to have a brief chat with another known face.
Last section of the first climb up to the next check-point at Chandolin was not too steep, so I tried to keep pushing on in the vain hope I might start feeling better and able to recover some of the lost time. However, wasn’t to be and I was now about 3mins down on my schedule after about 84mins and 12k of running. Loads of supporters were out in Chandolin making a lot of noise although this was mainly due to me running about 20 metres ahead of the first lady, Stevie Kremer from the US of A. However, at least the support perked me up a bit. At this point, I also recalled finishing at least 10mins ahead of 3rd V50 last year, so though 2nd V50 would be a more realistic target for the day even if slowed a bit more.
The following section involved being passed by the next 5 female runners in quick succession so good to watch the ladies race for a short while. I also started high-fiving the kids along the route which was a welcome distraction from how hard the race felt! I reached Hotel Weisshorn which is close to the highpoint of the race route at 2,387m in about 2h 13m approx 7mins down on schedule and still feeling pretty rough. Good to see Helen at this point who provided some welcome shouts of encouragement. The view of the surrounding 4000m peaks open up at this point so started to enjoy the race a lot more. Wasn’t losing too many places now and was keeping myself alert by looking out for potential V50s (grey hair/slap heads) sneaking up from behind. Quite a few brits out on the final section of the course, so great getting some extra encouragement. Wearing the Carnethy vest really helped as it will well recognised by UK runners!
On to the final descent and managed to pick off a few European runners not used to the steep downhill running! Last 600m of the race is through the streets of Zinal village with deep crowds on either side of the road so the support certainly helped keep the legs going to the finish line. Paul\Becky’s kids and ours had made a number of Scottish\Go dad\Carnethy flags so great to see them being waved so enthusiastically before the finish :-). Crossed the line in 3h 11m, slower than previous 2 years but pleased to get confirmation at the finish line I’d finished 2nd in my age category. Although slightly disappointed to hear later I’d finished about 15mins ahead of 3rd V50 as I’d quite fancied stopping off for a coffee at Hotel Wiesshorn. Legs felt a bit shaky for a while but the post race massage and oranges helped with recovery.
In terms of my club mates, Andy had a fantastic run finishing in just under 2h 55m. He was initially slightly disappointed as thought he had finished in 2.55.01 with time based cash payments starting at 2.55 for the men. However, his official time was confirmed as 2h 54m 55s (38th overall) which earned him a few swiss francs. This was faster than Angela’s time and I’m sure faster than JBF’s PB (given he only made it under 3hr once), so I’m pretty this gives him the fastest Carnethy time for this race. Andy paced it well taking the climb at a fairly stable pace which allowed him to run fast on the flatter middle sections. Paul was also feeling pretty rough and decided to pull out at Chandolin. Es, who had stayed with us the night before had also felt pretty rough and didn’t get the time he was looking for. I thought it may have been down to my cooking the previous evening although Pam/Becky discounted this as they had been feeling ok. After several refreshments that evening, Paul confirmed he hadn’t slept at all the previous evening and talked through some of the other things he had eaten\drunk the day recalling several caffeine related substances. In fact, when he got up at 2am for a drink, he quaffed another sports drink which he remembered was full of caffeine. So that might explain Paul’s run. Helen decided against running although on the mend following her recent illness. I had quite an active 2 week holiday in Switzerland before the race so I put that down to my slower performance aside from the fact I’m a year older! Would certainly recommend this race to anyone but think I’ll stick with my 3-0 PB for this race and will be looking at a holiday on the beach for 2015.
Stewart Whitlie