For those of you that don't know, Challenge Gran Canaria is an 82km race that starts in Puerto Mogan at 6am and follows mountains trails across the highest peaks in Gran Canaria, eventually finishing in the capital city Las Palmas.
The race started on time and over 150 runners headed out into the moon light. The first part of the course was relatively problem free, with only one strange course marking that caused all of the front runners to come to a stand still to work out what was going on. Once back on course together with a small group of runners I broke away from the rest of the field as we began to climb Montaña Tauro. As we reached the summit I was in the lead and some how without changing pace I started to pull away from the rest of the runners and I felt really good. Descending Tauro I knew that I had gained a significant lead and was feeling really positive about the race ahead. However this positivity did not last long!
At the bottom of Tauro there was a small group of spectators that directed me down a track towards a small dam, as I reached the track junction at the bottom the plastic tapes which marked the course suddenly disappeared! So I took a random guess and followed the track to the left which very soon came to a 'dead-end'. I turned and shouted back to the spectators, who shouted back 'CLIMB!' so I started to climb the steep mountain side in front of me hoping to eventually hit a path, after a while I hit a small path and I had the dilemma of deciding which direction to take. I started to run expecting to see some plastic tapes, but there weren't any and this was a difficult part of the course with many paths and animal tracks etc. I decided to slow down to see if the following group would catch up and have a better idea of where to go. Eventually I was a sign post (not the organisation's) point towards Presa de las Ninas which I followed and after several hundred metres I was some the race marking again. You can see my alternative route below.
Crossing the dam at Presa de las Ninas I knew I had lost a significant amount of time, and from that point on I had an extremely bad attitude toward the race! I was so angry that the organisation could make a mistake like this. When you are running for 82km you should have nothing else to concentrate on except running. However that said I reacted extremely badly, I lets it affect me and it stopped me from enjoying the rest of the race which is a great shame as I have trained so hard over the last few months.
I managed to hold me deminished lead until after Roque Nublo 35km into the race, when the eventual winner Alejandro and the 3rd placed runner Jose caught me up. It was actually a bit of the relief to have people to run with again.
This relief did not last long. I went through the half way point at Pico de las Nieves spending very little time replenishing our supplies, soon things started to go strange! Several weeks previously I went to the organised training that covered this section of the course, and I returned a few times afterwards to re-run it again, so I knew exactly where to go. However Alejandro made an unexpected turn, where he should have continued to run straight on. I had no choice but to follow. There were no markings or arrows to show the way, the only way I could tell we were on course was by the footprints of the runners competing in the shorter Challenge Marathon. If I had been alone at this stage I would have had ZERO idea of where to go! and I don't understand how some of the other runners behind knew where to go. I found out after the race that the organisation had to change the route, but for some reason I can't find anywhere where this information has been written.
(more to come)
