Pain, Pleasure and the
European Mountains –
Sky Running Worlds
By Caine Warburton
If you had asked me 12months ago where I
thought my running would take me the answer
would certainly not have been “to Chamonix for
the Sky Running World Championships”. After
all I am just an amateur runner, a Queensland
boy who was once overweight and known more
for his drinking ability than his sporting prowess.
So it was quite surreal to find myself sitting in
Chamonix…the home of mountain adventure
staring up at the majestic peaks the night before
the race.
Even more surprising was my complete lack of pre-race
nerves! I was completely clam, relaxed and content, perhaps
I shouldn’t have been? But I knew why I was so relaxed….
I had already well exceeded my wildest dreams just getting
here and to be honest I was almost certain an amateur like me
wouldn’t be factoring in anywhere NEAR the pointy end of the
field. I mean let’s get real here, this was the world championships and the start list included the absolute best mountain/
ultra runners in the world, professionals who made a living
from the sport, who trained full time, who I had only ever read
about or watched on TV.
Race morning came quickly, as it does at 2am!! I made my
way down to the start line and after a quick mishap with my
bottles (thanks Marcus for the loner ones!!) I took my spot in
the sea of headlights.
The first section of the race went straight up hill to the La
Brevent a 1500mD+ climb. A big pack broke off the front
quickly and I settled into the second group just behind the
ever positive Emile Forsberg, content to take the start easy.
About halfway up Ben came powering past and I joined in,
we left Emile and quickly started to pick off others on the way
towards the top. It was very quiet, no one spoke a word, only
the sounds of laboured breathing and poles on rocks broke
the still mountain air. Just as the sun was rising we cleared
the tree line and were greeted by a spectacular view of MT
Blanc, half in twilight with glimmers of the new day breaking on
its summit. We had caught Blake by now and the three of us
along with plenty of others crested the summit of La Brevent in
about 1:20hr to the distinctive European sound of cow bells.