As I turned off left out of the sports hall in Mogan, exiting the Life Base, I waved at two more runners arriving there from my right. I was guessing they wouldn’t be heading out too quickly (After the race I learned that about 50 runners, more than half the field, retired from the race before getting beyond Mogan). Restarts are hard! It took another few minutes before I could get going running off down the gently sloping road out of the village. After a few minutes, the road ran out, and it was a left turn onto a reasonable trail. This climbed gradually for a few minutes before reaching a higher access road. That allowed me to run again for another few minutes at least.
Ahead of me, I knew I would take a track to the left that I had descended last year. It was a viscously steep descent, so I was prepared mentally for the worst here. And sure enough, I was back steeply climbing with a bang. Thankfully though it was a prominent path, so there were no issues with navigation or vegetation.
Last year I had reached the first life base just a little after sunset. This year it was well into the middle of the night before reaching the equivalent point at Mogan. This year’s course seemed to be a lot slower and more technical than last year. Any relatively straightforward paths were a rare (it seemed) bonus now! Even one as steep as this one. The good thing about the steepness was it was constant, and I could just put my head down and concentrate on moving steadily uphill.
In the end, the top of the climb arrived more quickly than I was expecting after what seemed like half an hour or so. I think the decent must have really dragged last year, given the impression I had built in my head for this climb! I could see one headtorch below me starting the climb as I was reaching the peak, who I presumed was the Japanese runner.
Up on the broad ridge at the top of the steep climb, the path continued uphill, but more gently sloped. Gentle enough that I was managing some slow running mixed with fast walking. Soon I was on a fresh trail, back off last year’s route, seeing new ground. It traversed around, undulating across the broad ridge for a kilometre or two, before starting a long steep technical descent into the next valley. Since it was night time I couldn’t really work out where I was in the world, apart from seeing the basic features around me, and I had my GPS watch set for very accurate close-in micro-navigation.
After quite a long technical descent which took a lot of concentration, which felt like half an hour or so, the route turned sharply left and headed up into the valley. It started steep and technical but soon became shallower and more runnable. It wasn’t a well-used path though, so I was taking plenty of whacks from the overgrown vegetation (A lot of which was quite abrasive). My lower legs were starting to really feel the pain from all this, but mostly I was able to keep that as background noise, apart from the occasional whack in just the wrong spot!
I could head torches of one or two runners ahead higher up on the other side of the valley. I couldn’t tell how I was going to get to where they were though, or how far ahead they were in time terms. After at least half an hour of steady climbing the rail turned notably worse, pretty much disappearing entirely. It would have been impossible to stay on route without the GPS. This was also the point where my headtorch battery decided it was a good time to die. Luckily my replacement battery was right to hand in my waist belt, but it still took a few minutes to get it going again in the dark.
It took an age to travel the next kilometre or two traversing around the valley to the other side, as the trail was so poor to non-existent. The whacks from the vegetation were coming non-stop. I had seen another runner before starting this traverse what seemed like a few hundred meters away on the other side. It must have taken me at least half an hour to make it around to the point where I had seen him. This course was incredibly technical and running really slowly as a result. Everything was taking way longer than I would have expected.
Thankfully at that point, a more prominent path started to emerge. It was now a gentle climbing path up towards the top of the next ridgeline. Progress was better now, and thankfully there was no more overgrown vegetation to tear at my limbs. Looking back down the valley where I had come from I could see one headtorch heading up. I reckoned I had opened up the gap behind to well over an hour at this point. It was a bit less of a gap to the runner I had seen ahead. So even though I felt my speed was pretty poor it appeared to be matching other runners around at worst.
By now the sky was starting to light up with the approach of dawn, and it wasn’t long before I was able to turn my headtoch off. Now it was a race to try to get as much done before the heat of the day slowed things right down again. My hope was to try to get the next big climb done whilst it was still in the morning shadow.
Reaching the top of the ridgeline I was soon running past remote farmhouses and running on wide dirt track again. The route turned to head south and gently down the dirt track. This is something you could run at full speed. Only full speed for me at this point was probably a barely faster-than-walking shuffle. Nevertheless, I did what I could!
A few kilometres later it was back off the dirt track and onto a rail. This was a nice big wide trail, still gently descending, so I was able to keep my running shuffle pace going. This rejoined the road after another kilometre or two before the route headed left, off-road again, and started heading away from the top of the broad ridge. The sun was up now, and there was no hiding from it. At this early hour, it wasn’t unmanageably hot though, just noticeable.
Soon the trail started getting steeper and steeper as it descended into the next valley. I knew this valley from my holidays here, as the road is a prominent climb towards the village of Soria. It’s a very popular cycling route. The track continued to get steeper as it descended, and soon I was in shadow from the large cliffs I was heading past. It then turned left and undulated across the side of the valley for 10 or 15 minutes before sharply descending again into the village of El Horno.
There were one or two people around now (since it was no longer nighttime), and I asked if there was a shop anywhere nearby. There was one in the next village, which I was also going to pass through. Crossing the main road between the two villages I came across another race safety person who checked that I was all OK, and confirmed there was a shop up the road in the next village.
I had to divert a few minutes off route to get to the shop, but when I found it I discovered it was yet to open. I still had my backup supply of liquid in my backpack which I reckoned would see me to the next aid station, but I’d still have been happier having more than I thought I needed. A cold drink would have been refreshing too. Still, it was what it was. It definitely wasn’t worth waiting around for the shop to open whilst the temperature slowly started to rise, so I pushed on and got back on track to start the next big climb.
Thankfully it was still early enough that this side of the valley was still in shadow, so I was making sure to push on before the direct sunlight made things more uncomfortable. I had been to the top of this climb on a completely different approach last year on my bike whilst on holiday using the GC-604 road. This approach was a lot steeper. The trail was reasonable though, so I was able to make a steady pace given the steepness. Towards the top of the climb, the route joined onto another dirt road, and I was able to march up pretty quickly. Just before reaching the top of that road and breaking into the direct sunlight, I stopped to refill my front bottles from my reserve (this time of fizzy orange drink which I had de-fizzed at the Mogan aid station).
The next section of trail, shortcutting a zig-zag road climb, was another barely existing bushwhack trail which was very slow going, given the minimal distance covered. But that was only about a kilometre (it was a very long kilometre in time terms), and the rest of the climb was back on the road. I wasn’t sure how far away the next aid station was, but knew it was either the next valley or the subsequent one, most likely. I couldn’t really tell from the apex of this climb.
It was a dirt track decent from here, heading slowly off towards the next valley. The route then arched around to the left and descended down into the next valley with big views of the valley opening up. This was definitely not the valley with the aid station (I had been in the village, Ayagaures, with the aid station many times before in training runs, so would know it when I saw it). It was quite a nice remote valley with just one or two farm buildings along the dirt track.
The dirt track ended as it reached the empty riverbed at the valley floor. It could only really be a nasty climb from here. Finding the track out the other side yet again proved difficult, even with the help of the GPS. This was another very technical overgrown rarely used track. This was very steep too, so was particularly slow going. There was no hiding from the sun now either. It was high enough in the sky that the ridges were no longer casting shadows, and it was starting to make its radiated heat much more effective. I wasn’t holding back from sipping liquids from my bottles now. As usual in the sunshine, the priority was not to suffer any heat issues.
The path became a lot clearer after it topped out of the steep section to cross over the next ridgeline. Indeed for a while, it was beautiful running through intermittent pine trees and started to head gently downhill. After a few turns the view opened up ahead and I could see a road and houses on the ridgeline below. I knew this was the ridge above Ayagaures, so I was getting close to the aid station!
The track descended steeply for a few hundred meters on rocky technical terrain. Thankfully there was a huge breeze at this point which was keeping the effective temperature nice and controlled. After passing the houses it was back onto another technical steep trail descent, this time with Ayaguares in sight and below. As usual, it took a lot longer than you would think to get down, and then shuffle along the last few hundred meters of road before arriving at the aid station.
I knew I had passed a pub/cafe just before the aid station that also sells ice cream (and had its standard collection of cyclists parked up to grab a break), but I decided to see how I’d get on with the aid station first. By now it was the middle of the day and the heat levels were intense here down in the valley floor. I had the aid station to myself, with no trace of any other runners in front or behind. I sat down in a chair in the shade and drank as much water as I could manage, along with a small amount of Coke (It wasn’t cold enough to be tolerable in the heat). The aid station crew were as helpful as ever and helped to refill all my bottles. I decided since it was right at peak heat that it was worth stopping for a longer rest. So I lay down on the ground and asked the aid station crew to wake me up in half an hour if I fell asleep.
I’m not sure if I got any actual sleep, but I definitely had a good rest, and wasn’t exerting myself in the midday sun (I was in the large aid station tent). They let me know half an hour had passed and I slowly got up and got myself going again. Restarts are hard!! This was the real crunch time of the day. Maximum heat.
I knew this next climb like the back of my hand. I have run it multiple times as the fun part of training runs on my winter holidays in Gran Canaria. So I turned off the navigation function of my watch, just to conserve some battery and walked off up the road. It’s a great section of trail, but this is the slowest by far I have ever taken it. I don’t think I ever walked this section before. It starts on road, heading past two big dams. After the second dam, the road really starts to climb steeply past some houses. Since I was walking it this time, rather than trying to run it in training it didn’t seem as bad as I was expecting.
I could really feel the intensity of the heat though, so I was being very careful not to exert myself too hard. This was all about controlled effort. The familiarity of the trail was helping. After another couple of hundred meters of steep climbing, the route eases back a lot in steeepnes. At times I even managed some slow running for a few meters here and there. A few kilometres up the trail goes through some sparse pine forest sections which are both enjoyable and provide a small bit of relief from the direct sunshine. with more short sections where it was possible to break into a run of sorts.
The trail then breaks that rhythm with a steeper rockier section leading out beyond the pines. It then hooks right over the top of a small cliffline and becomes much less steep again. That allowed a few longer sections of slow running as the slope allowed.
After another kilometre or two of this, the trail crosses over a ridgeline and breaks out into a huge pine-tree filled valley. It’s an epic view and a lovely trail to run. Since I wasn’t putting myself under speed or time pressure I was enjoying it. Eventually, the trail reaches a forest road to finish out the last of the climb up to a trail junction in a steep-sided col. It had taken two or more hours to climb, but for once, the time seemed to pass quickly on this one. The view from the col is great in all directions. I could see the valley I had just climbed, and the huge expanse of the next valley, right across to the village of Santa Lucia in the far distance where the next Life base was.
A great big motorway of a trail took the route down from the col. This was a long descent towards Fataga village. The heat had eased back a little at this point. The trail zig-zagged from side to side heading down the upper part of the valley. I was a little distracted by the huge views here and managed to miss where the route took a very minor trail which turned off the main track, so ended up spending a few seconds backtracking. That was the end of the easy big trail!
It was back to bushwhacking on lesser-used trails. It wasn’t too hard to navigate in full daylight. It eased off to a more gentle descent along the side of the valley after a few hundred meters, which made it quite runnable. That was luring me into complacency though. After 15 minutes or so the trail disappeared and the GPS indicated to go straight up the hill on a rocky scree slope. A few cairns indicated this was actually correct. Speed slowed right back to a slow climb for this. Thankfully that only lasted a few minutes, and then it was back to gently descending bushwhacking for another kilometer or two.
The trail then turned into a much wider forest road and continued its gradual descent around the side of the valley. Speed was back to being pretty good now. I could see another forest road below. I would see more of that road, as the trail went around a spur before making a 170-degree turn at a junction and heading back down on the road I had previously seen. I was now descending, but heading up the valley away from Fataga in the direction I came from. Looking to my left I could see someone standing at trail junction signpost below me across the valley. I wondered if that was another runner I was catching.
The fireroad made a large arc across the valley, so it was no longer backtracking in direction. Then the route took a trail away from the fireroad which descended back towards Fataga. This was still nice and runnable. When I eventually started approaching the trial junction I had spotted earlier I could see the person was still there. He was Ian Corless, who was here as an official race photographer. I’ve known Ian for a long time, and it was good to see him out here.
He ran down ahead of me as we headed towards Fataga, taking pictures here and there as he went. We had a good conversation about the race and how it was going. Apparently, the attrition rate was huge, with not that many runners left in the race. Claire Bannwarth was tearing up the course at the front of the field in the female race, in second overall, not far behind the male leader.
I left Ian behind as I reached the tropical feeling trail at the bottom of the valley heading into the village of Fataga itself. It really was a beautiful section of trail, which even had the rarest of things in Gran Canaria, a crossing over a running water stream. I knew there were a few cafes and shops in Fataga, and was hoping I might find one not too far off the route. So I wasn’t tempted to use the water here.
The lovely trail turned to village road as it approached the village itself. This road ended by popping me out onto the main road up this valley which runs through the middle of the village. And right opposite this point was a small market/shop which was open…perfect! I went in and bought a bottle of Fanta and an ice cream. I had enough liquids in reserve to see me home. I was just giving myself a quick treat. Another experiment being run was using Garmin Pay to pay for things using my watch. It proved to be quite useful and meant I didn’t have to dig out my phone.
I refilled my front water bottles from my reserve, and enjoyed the Fanta, before setting off again whilst finishing off the ice cream. After a minute or two of climbing the main road, it was back onto the trail heading right and uphill. This early trail was interesting as there was a canal here with running water. Just when I least need it! It was a good wide trail which took me up the relatively short climb to the next ridgeline. The good trail continued on the descent down the other side. There were a few junctions off the big trail onto more minor trails, but for once they seemed to be taking a more direct route, and the trails were still enjoyable and runnable. I had to keep a close eye on the navigation though.
I could see the route was leading into a long drop into a river valley, and I knew all the height would have to be regained on the other side. The route then took a turn off the more major trail and headed even further down into the valley. It was actually a very nice route. The light was starting to fade now. I wondered if I could make it to Santa Lucia before needing my headtorch.
The trail out of the valley after crossing the dry riverbed in the centre was also interesting, going through what seemed like the back gardens of some quirky old houses being used as holiday homes. It was a good steep haul up at first but soon eased back to become shallow enough to be runnable. It then turned to a road through a small village, with some runnable descents thrown in. That didn’t last too long, and it was back to interesting off-road trails. The light was really fading, and I was definitely pushing things running without my headtorch here. After another 20 minutes, the route took a very minor road, which made running in the fading light straightforward. With the sun gone this uphill was now definitely runnable.
I could see the church in Santa Lucia not too far above. The route then took a trail off the road to head up in its direction. Now I had to get the head torch out. Not bad going to get this far! 5 minutes or so later I was running through Santa Lucia itself and even passed an open shop without stopping, for once. The Life Base was above Santa Lucia, so there wasn’t too far to go. But still, there was work left.
I had to pay attention to the GPS to navigate the turns and junctions of a series of minor roads leading up from the village. A lot of this was too steep to run, but without the heat, I was able to march quite quickly up the steeper sections using my poles. For once it didn’t take forever to get to the Life Base. I had spent over 6 hours here last year due to heat issues. I was in much better shape arriving in this year.
I was surprised to see there were 3 or 4 runners around. I thought they’d be well ahead by now. I had a definite plan for this life base, and that was to take a 2-hour sleep. I grabbed a drink first. Then it was into one of the bunkrooms to try to get some sleep. There was one runner already in there so I tried to make as little noise as possible. I think I managed to get to sleep a bit quicker than I anticipated.
(I realised writing this report that I ran this whole section without really getting within half an hour’s running time of any other runner. You do need to be comfortable being on your own when you’re multi-day ultrarunning!)
Eoin Keith 