Cyprus International 4 Day Challenge Race 2 - 11km Uphill Trail Race

Stage 2 Starting Pen

Day 2 of the Cyprus Challenge was an absolute scorcher, despite the early race start time of 9:30. We were bussed about 10km along the coast to a nature reserve on the beach. Well not really a beach but a piece of wild coastal land. On the drive in I had glanced the white buildings of a village way up on top of the hills inland and guessed that must be the village we were running to. Visually 11km looks like a long way! The stage today started at sea level and climbed more or less continuously for 11km to the finish in the village square. There was one significant descent between 5 and 6 km but this was followed by an even steeper section to bring us back onto the original slope. We all squeezed into the start pen (all 250 of us) and the whistle blew to start us off. I had pushed up into the front line as we were straight onto a narrow twisting jeep trail climbing from the word go and did not want to waste energy zig zagging around people. To be fair, everyone did behave themselves and there was hardly anybody charging off only to collapse around the first corner. The RAF team led the charge and stretched away and I ran steadily at the back of their lead back. The surface under foot was very rough rocky sandstone with areas of tennis ball sized rubble and every step needed concentration. The slope was relentless (something like Liprivick in terms of steepness but 11km long). However, this sort of course is usually my strong point. I was carrying a 3 second lead in the M50 category overnight from the first race but had not managed to identify the second place runner, Fritz Leibundgut from Switzerland wearing number 70. I saw a foreign runner charging on ahead who looked like a vet and who had a Swiss sounding club name on the back of his vest so I presumed that was him. However, I did not feel like wasting energy early on trying to catch him and preferred to wait to see if he faded later on before catching him. However, I was wrong. After about 1km a runner latched onto my shoulder breathing heavily and seemed determined to stay behind me. The cardinal rule of racing is don't look back and I didn't. I wasn't breathing much and he was so I guessed he was hanging on whilst I was going as hard as I wanted to. At the first water station at 4km we both moved over to grab a drink and I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of his number as he was still directly behind me. So I carried on and his breathing became ever more painful. At the second drink station at 8km on the outside of a tight, steep hairpin bend, I moved out for water and he cut in without taking a drink, clearly trying to make a break. However, it only took 5 or 10 metres for me to catch and pass him and I glanced across as I did so confirming that this was indeed number 70. I took the lead again and continued to make him suffer. There was no way I was going to drop in behind him and let him slow the pace to one he was comfortable with. The steepest part of this course is the final km where we join the tarmac road into the village. As soon as we hit the tarmac, I increased my stride length and moved away and just kept it going without going over the limit (although I do note that my peak heart rate was during this final km). At the very top of the climb, the road levels and swings sharp left into the square with only a final 10m to the line. The official results showed that I had pulled out a further 8 seconds on stage 2 and now had an 11 second lead in the M50 category. There is still a lot of pressure over the next two days (trail half marathon and 10k road race) so everything is still to play for. My finishing time for the stage was 54:18 and overall 10th. In the overall classification, I had moved up from 16th position on day 1 to 9th position. However today was one of my strong days and I do expect to drop back a little in the half marathon. We shall see. I know who's shoulder I am going to be sitting on tomorrow though!
Alan