Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 103, February 2018 | Page 22

TRAIL RUNNING
Attitude
at
Altitude
The race slogan for the GORE-TEX Transalpine-Run in
Europe sounded stunning: “Three countries, two runners,
one week – the dream.” And for two obsessive runners, a
seven-day trail run in a team with your spouse, from one
Alpine town to the next, sounded as close to a romantic
getaway as it gets! – BY BEN SAMWELL
A
manda and I got into the GORE-TEX
Transalpine-Run in much the same way as
many other races, including the Comrades, 4
Peaks and Hobbit: Totally naïve and ill-informed. I thus
had my doubts whether we would be able to complete
this 265km race with more than 15,000m of vertical
ascent as a team – although we had completed a
significant amount of road running events together,
we had a less than convincing trail running history as
a team.
However, we did train hard, completing many on-road
hill repeats of up to 120 metres in the dark of the
Gauteng winter, with some more technical training
through Kloofendal Nature Reserve, and we also tried
and tested new winter gear through the cold months.
In June we went for a recce to Switzerland to get a
feel for the Alpine trails and in a week completed the
100km Eiger Trail over three days, with Grindelwald as
a base, as well as a couple of day trails with Zermatt
as a base. Trails to Gornergrat and Hornli Hut on the
Matterhorn were true highlights, and we got the first
sense of what an Alpine climb of 1 500m over 10km
was all about – maybe not as technical as we are
used to in South Africa, but much steeper and more
relentless than what we could imagine.
Magaliesberg Challenge. We were not fast, and knew
we were up against the odds to finish, but decided to
fall back on our biggest strength, our ability to pace
ourselves cautiously and maintain our pace for as
long as possible.
Nervous, but Excited
The event started with registration and a pasta
party in Fischen, a small town in Germany where
the residents entertained us with a traditional street
festival including a bierfest and a flag parade for all
40-odd countries represented in the event. Things
got a bit more serious during the race briefing, which
included a warning that every water table over the
next seven days would also be a checkpoint, and in
We decided to name our team Attitude at Altitude,
to remind us to keep going when the going gets
tough. Back in South Africa we managed to increase
our mileage to 100km per week, which included
around 3500m of climbing per week for a four-week
period in July, our best effort given our long working
hours. Then in August we rounded our training off
with the SOX Trail Run in Wilderness and the 35km
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ISSUE 103 FEBRUARY 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
true German style, if you were even one second late in
arriving at a checkpoint, you would be disqualified as
an official finisher.
We started stage one in a light drizzle, nervous but
excited, knowing the first day should be manageable,
as we were well rested and the 42km route only had
a total ascent of 2200m – just 250m more than the
Comrades marathon. The first half was on good paths
and we could manage our time well within the time
limits, despite some nervous stomach issues. We
crossed the border to Austria on a beautiful climb via
a narrow ridgeline that left us breathless and in awe,
especially when we saw two mountain bikers carrying
their bikes down the same path! We finished stage