Swiss Alpine Marathon Week

Through the Lanwassarr Gorge at about 25k in the 30k race.

The Swiss Alpine race weekend is a classic in mountain running and one that I had been hoping to take part in for years. The event attracts runners from all over the World who descend on the winter ski resorts of Davos and Klosters for a week of high altitude acclimatisation before embarking on their chosen race at the end of the week. The classic event is the K78, an extreme ultra marathon which takes competitors from an already rarefied 5000 feet in Davos to 9000 feet (2890m) above sea level at the highest point before descending back to Davos. However, that was not for me. Neither were the demanding K42 marathon which also takes in the 9000 foot peak nor the lower level C42 event. Rather, I was advised that the K30 event would suit me best, being the most runnable of the events and also taking in all of the most spectacular scenery (except the 9000 foot peak) and, at 30km (18.6 miles), just about being within my racing range. There is also a K21 from Klosters to Davos but this is all up hill and is virtually too steep to run for most people.

Hotel Buenda, Davos

I made my booking with Mike Gratton's 2:09 Events (who have been organising a tour for UK runners to this race for 26 years) and along with former Harrier Jimmy Stewart , who would be in his element in the mountains, I arrived in Zurich a week before the race. A typically efficient, three train, three hour journey on the Swiss railway delivered us to Davos via Klosters where we joined the rest of the 2:09 party in the Hotel Buenda. Most had arrived earlier than us and some the day before and hence were eager to take part in the town's 8km night time street race that night. A long day of travelling and a sudden arrival at high altitude meant that I was in no state to race that night, so I gave it a miss and went for a gentle run to watch the race but even abandoned that idea as I was wheezing for breath on the jog to the start.

Long Sunday run up the Dichmar Valley

A good night's sleep and I was feeling better as we set off for a long Sunday run with the group, climbing 1500 feet up the Dichmar Valley, giving an out and back 2 hour run of just over 15 miles during which I felt pretty good. The constant background noise of cow bells left us in no doubt where we were and even a shower at the head of the valley did not spoil the atmosphere.

9000 feet on the Sertig Pass

Each day there were organised hikes with the group over different parts of the various courses to help gently acclimatise to the altitude and to let us see the terrain. The toughest hike was Monday where I did a solo 10 mile hike from 5500 feet to 9000 feet up and over the Sertig pass, having been too slow off the train to get a space on the post bus with the rest of the group. Spectacular scenery!

For Tuesday evening we had a more strenuous session to open the lungs, taking part in the local, mid-week round the lake 4k/8k race series. This was an unusual format as once the race started you could decide to finish after one lap (4km) or two laps (8km), accumulating points for the series accordingly. 4k was always going to be enough for me and I established a 4th place position within a few hundred metres of the start. However, after  400m, the lungs were burning trying to extract oxygen from the thin air. I held on to 4th until inside the last km when two runners slipped past me. In the final sprint to the line, only one of those ahead of me carried on for a second lap and I was momentarily tempted but saw sense and settled for 6th place in the 4k in 17:33 out of a field of around 300.

Having spent perhaps too much time on my feet through the week, by Saturday I was feeling more than a little weary as we headed to Davos track for the 7am mass start for the K78, C42 and K30 races. As usual, I was not pushy enough and ended up several hundred people back from the start line. A few minutes before the start, the TV camera helicopter took off to start filming and then we were off for a lap of the town. I expended too much energy over the first few km working my way up to the lead pack but did eventually get there to find myself clear in 3rd place before we had left the town and headed down the valley. The first 10k were on the (closed) main road and I went through in 39 minutes before turning off for the first major climb where the pace inevitably dropped. We then plunged down across the main road again to start the severe1500 foot climb over 5km up a series of hairpin bends. By this time I had slipped back to around 4th or 5th but was comfortable on the climb up to the mountain village of Monstein where we were greeted by noisy crowds with cow bells and a drinks station.The top of the climb came at about 15km by which time we were in a forest on a trail something like Chatelherault.This was the beginning of a 2500 foot descent. After a few km we reached the remote Monstein station. I emerged from the forest on a steep descent ready to run across the track but a railway worker was shouting achtung, achtung (which I understood from the Great Escape not to be a good thing) and then something else in German which I didn't understand but soon realised probably meant "there is a train coming" as I saw it approaching out the corner of my eye whilst crossing the track. I couldn't have stopped anyway as I was running too fast!

Weissen Viaduct

We then followed the old, stage coach route down the gorge before dropping onto a very narrow, twisty path for the run into Weissen station just before 25k. At this point we had to run across the spectacular Weissen railway viaduct,spanning a 500 foot drop to focus your attention and I was still going well. A few hundred metres later, we hit the 25k mark and I was still on course for a sub-2 hour finishing time if I ran the last 5k in around 20 minutes, which seemed possible. However at that point the course kicked up again on a hill like the Chatelherault log jam but much longer and without steps! Over the next 2km I lost 5 minutes and dropped 2 places before the relief of the final 3km descent to the finish in the mountain village of Filasur. But the damage was done, although I flew down the last few km of switchback descents, I could not make up the time lost nor the places and finished in 2:05:33 in 6th position and first M45 out of a field of around 600 in the K30. However, I was happy with this given the consecutive injuries and interrupted training of the past 6 months. Next year I shall go sub-2 hours and give myself a chance of a podium finish! The race was won in 1:58. Then time for a shower, cakes and coffee before jumping on one of the special trains to take us back to Davos.

I can honestly say that this was the best organised race I have ever participated in. Being Switzerland, the expense is expected but despite that, you could see where the money was going with the entry including rail, bus and cable car passes for the week, extra trains to get competitors and spectators to and from the various race starts, multiple helicopters for filming and rescuing people if necessary (last year the weather on the K78 was bad and many people were airlifted off), drinks stations, road closures, etc, etc. So I will be back and can thoroughly recommend this to anyone as there is a race distance to suit all Harriers from 21km to 78km.

Next Islay. Davos was described to me in advance as all "Fur Coats in Ferraris" which it was (at least the Ferraris were everywhere, too warm for fur coats). I've a feeling Bowmore could be "Fleeces in Fiats" but none the worse for that.
Alan