O - competition race (La Molina, Spain) 23:52:40 [3] ***** 60.13 km (23:50 / km) +3724m 18:12 / km
World Rogaining Championships. With Phil Bricker who finally aged into Ultra Vet class.
At La Molina ski area in the Pyrenees bordering France. Crest of the mountains are open meadow ski fields at 8,000 ft which drop steeply down trails to the lifts scattered all over.
Weather was challenging. Arrived to east coast 90’s and hot sun. By race day it was overcast and threatening. We had a couple hours of fierce thunderstorms, including at the start where lightning was flashing with only 3 sec to thunder (1000 m above us). Then showers until 8 hours into the race, followed by clear skies, high winds and plunging temps.
We got the worst of the weather, spending the night on the open summits with no protection from the 30 mph winds and temps of low 40’s. Both of us were near hypothermic at one point and found refuge (and a party) in the summit house. Hot fire, soup and coffee were great. Back out for another 8 hours above timberline.
Phil did great, I was struggling with my bad hamstring on the climbs — terribly slow, but okay running downhills and flats. Still going well at the end of the competition.
We ended up 4th of about 12 ultravet teams. Happy with that given no hill training since the hamstring went bad 6 months ago.