REYKJAVIK ULTRAMARATHON

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REYKJAVIK ULTRAMARATHON

REYKJAVIK ULTRAMARATHON, 17 JULY 2004

LANDMANNALAUGAR TO PORSMORK - 34miles, @ 1500ft

http://web2.toto.is/rmar/efni.asp?id=33&l=um

http://www.fi.is/English/english_hiking_laugavegur.htm

1st - Andy Shaw (England) - 4h 40m 52s

13th - Bruce Hall (Standard Life) - 5h 55m 18s

14th - John Donnelly WESTIES - 5h 58m 34s

18th - Louise Burt (Fife) - 6h 03m 09s

93 finishers

As a true Scotsman I took a lot of convincing to enter a race that had a £100 entry fee, even if you got a sweatshirt for it. However, it was well worth it and Iceland itself was a fascinating place full of geysirs, waterfalls, volcanoes, glaciers, puffins, good food and expensive beer. The race is a point-to-pointer held over a famous 4-day hiking trail in the remote Highlands of Iceland.

Race day started off early with a 3.30a.m. alarm call to catch the bus for a sleepy 3 hour journey , missing out on the volcanic scenery on the way to the start. We were deposited at a campground in the middle of a barren, dramatic volcanic landscape to try and waken ourselves and prepare for the great unknown. Amongst the Icelanders, Germans and Americans I was surprised to spot a pal of mine from Edinburgh, Bruce Hall with another Brit, Andy Shaw from Huddersfield who claimed to know our own Ronnie Gallagher from racing against him, though to me it looked like he was the infamous "lost twin" that R.G. never mentions. After the usual lubing up, warming up and umpteen pit stops it was off and up into the crazy volcanic landscape that we could see ahead. The first few miles were generally uphill with fantastic views of dramatic volcanic peaks, a rainbow of colours, weird rock formations, hot springs, steam hissing out of the ground, the odd glacier in the distance and a few crossings of snow patches. I took it nice and steady knowing that there were approx 6 hours to go and tracked Louise who was setting a good pace as leading lady, hoping to later avenge my drubbing at the Lairig Ghru. We moved on through "deserts" of volcanic dust surrounded by extinct volcanoes and crossed knee deep icy rivers. We were well fuelled by 3 or 4 feed stations where we were offered bananas, Powerade etc. to keep us going. We even got some weird "plastic carrier bag type wellies" for one of the bigger river crossings that were more of a hindrance than a help. Some of the crossings had ropes and some ladders - maybe an idea for race organisers over here? (not). Keeping my nice steady pace going I ungentlemanly managed to get away from Louise with about an hour to go and noticed that the next man ahead was Bruce. Putting in a bit of an effort I caught up with him only for him to wake up and shoot off after a bit of a chat. I caught a few more ahead of me in the last half hour and was chuffed to squeeze under the 6 hour target, a few minutes behind Bruce and only a few minutes ahead of Louise who had a great run to finish as 1st woman. I was actually officially first under the finish banner as they had apparently only just erected it, the bus having broken down on the way there! A good solid run I felt, but not even 1st Brit, never mind 1st Scot!

We enjoyed a BBQ at the finish, and Bruce enjoyed a £6 can of lager !, before a hairy bus ride back down a gravel track with umpteen river crossings. A great race, well organised through fantastic scenery and a brilliant sense of achievement at the end. See you all there next year.

John