Trail Majorca Serra de Tramuntana

Saturday, April 20, 2013

60K / 2,500m

Mike Bennett

Walking the GR221 in Majorca last year with my walking mate Clive we were confronted by several hundred runners on a narrow mountain path going in the opposite direction. This took some careful negotiating to let them all past while still allowing us to continue our walk and not lose time. Upon our return to the UK, a quick search on Google informed us the race we encountered was an annual event consisting of 2 distances, a 100 km 24 hour event plus a 60 km 16 hour with 4800 and 2500m climb respectively. Forget the tourist side of Majorca and think of towering limestone crags, rugged coastlines, ancient olive groves and mix this with the smell of orange blossom and old Majorcan villages and you begin to get a feel for the potential for the event – just a matter of staying on your feet for a few hours.

Taking into consideration our knowledge of the terrain and our level of fitness we opted for the shorter course. We signed up and paid our 80 euros. The 800 race entry was full within approx 2 weeks.

We decided 12 hours would be a comfortable time estimate so that was our aim, also to stick together during the race so when one of us began to flag the other would take over. With a rousing send-off we started out with the 800 others at 8 am on an uphill climb out of Valldemossa. We started out on granite paths through the Holm Oak woods before eventually dropping down into Deia. Temperatures were low for this time of year, around 17°C, a light cooling breeze and good cloud cover made for near perfect running conditions. We made good time to Deia, quick pit stop at a well stocked food and drink station then onwards and upwards towards Soller. More views and orange blossom scent, then a quick stop in Soller. Now for the hard bit, the climb out of Soller, 800m climb with no let up towards Lake Cuber. More stunning scenery, by now we were able to take this in as we were walking this section. Feeling somewhat nauseous still managed to force food and liquids down and again we were off. This was about the halfway point, with most of the climbing done. We remained at a high level for much of this section however there were still a few more short climbs involved.

Plenty of encouragement along the way, including being serenaded by Spanish bagpipes at highest point of the race, anointed by a ‘priest’ with a toilet brush, flute music drifting down the path etc followed eventually by the long descent. With quads groaning by now we jog/walked and picked our way down the rocky path. The descent went on forever. Eventually we got to the monastery at Lluc where we took a 15 min stop. By now it was late afternoon, the sun was fully out, skies were clear and temperature still ideal for running. The remaining 10 miles was a mixture of tarmac roads and paths, the tricky bits were out of the way and it was just a case of putting one foot in front of the other without having to think too much.

We were reduced to walking for most of this section due to fatigue but managed to break into a run for the last mile and overtake a few stragglers. Upon entering the town square at Pollenca we were met with a huge cheer, I looked around but it was only myself and Clive in view. You could have thought we were the winners. We checked our time and place as soon as we finished then struggled to the food tent for beer and pizza. Time was just inside 12 hours, position 411 and 412. (Can’t seem to find the results yet so we don’t know how many finishers there were).

All in all a great event, food stops, route marking, marshalling were all excellent and the scenery and vocal support superb.

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