Tour 2007 - (it's old but still good)

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winter '07

shaping up to be a busy year 2007 - feeling very settled in italy and grasping the language now - well actually more like hanging on for dear life! but its all good.  even starting to sort out a kind of calander of events for '07 including an excursion up north into norwegian fjords for an event there.  check out: www.fjellstreif.no for more info

ok, maybe not quite so busy as i first thought - things can change quickly and put a new perspective on things.  a fairly serious injury to my knee at the end of 2006 made for a challenging year in total.  what with getting bitten by a dog before the world mountain champs and being sick in nigeria.  this has put the programme back a bit but it has also helped me focus on a few core weaknesses which i have needed to improve from a long time.  i have set a date of June 1 to start training again with another month before i crank things up and get serious.  the team that has helped my rehab has been brilliant and should be thanked here. 

Dr Schenk of 'under the knife for a better life' hospital in Schruns, Austria - this guy is brilliant and has operated on some of the best alpine skiers of the World Cup in the last 15 years.

Dr Julian Ballance of Nelson and Pat Meffan

Markus Bauer for brilliant physio treatment, in sud tirol, italy

Helen Macdonald from richmond physio

Jane Knoblach of capital sports med

athletics nz and nz academy of sport

and of course antonella who has shown plenty of patience and aiutato tantissimi

a work trip to wanaka to suss out some strawbale construction

rehab back in new zealand has involved plenty of good bottles of wine, a large helping of carrot cake from espressoholic as well as some architecture work for tennent + brown architects in wellington.  after 2 months it was biking and walking and then at 3 months starting up with some short running.  patience is the most important component!

wellington on a good day looking toward the world mountain running trophy course on mt victoria

i have been sitting down a lot more lately . . . . . . .          imparia, liguria - an attractive holiday italian seaside town and first stop on the tour2007

spring '07

the first event i raced was in merrano, actually a hard race and boy did i feel out of shape.  marco gaiardo put 3minutes into me so really shows how much the fitness can be lost by losing 4months training.  antonella though was strong on this steep course and won easily to redeem family pride!

over to mt washington in new hampshire, usa where the state motto is 'live free or die' so this means seatbelts and motor bike helmets are optional.  they are a laid back lot over there but their enthusiasm for things outdoors and environmental is truly zen-like!  we stayed again with a lovely couple who have a pair of toyota hybrid vehicles and the 70+ year old Maggie rides, runs or exer-classes her way to 35 hours per week of exercise - puts me to shame!

mount washington road race is limited to 1000 runners and is over subscribed by 3 times the available places.  A bike race up the same road at $300 per entry sold out in 35 minutes once on-line entries began.   they are very enthusiastic for things outdoors! 

the organisers put on a great show for everyone there.  tents are set up at the start area and 'coolers' of beer and juice await the runners return. the runners then are telling their stories of conquering this 1450m altitude ascent over 12.5km.  it's about 11.5% average gradient making it one of the steepest vehicle roads in the world.  it was a hot one this year and so it made the first half hard until out of the tree line and you could get the benefit of a breeze.  known as the windiest place on the planet today was unusually calm.  a 100year old steam train also comes up to the top from the other side and a weather station is there held down by chains when the wind really blows.

the top of mt washington, rocks, sky and a weather station and on one day every year lots of tired happy runners!

summer '07

knee progress is still happening but slowly so i have run a couple of smaller races since mt washington. first a particularly beautiful spot in sud tirol italy going up trails finishing just beyond a church in the mountains and a small farming village.  its not easy to get up to even by car but still there is a great restaurant and a cable car to get back down.  a hot day and i was able to break a record of antonio mollinari from 6 years ago when he was at his best so the form must be coming back.  after 2 km of the race the track went through an apple orchard. unfortunately no one told the farmer and i came out of the forest and he drove out of a row of trees and i collected the back of his spray machine and a quick drenching.  luckily only water and shows you some of the hazzards of mountain running you come across from time to time!  antonella also broke the woman's record despite running on what has later turned out to be a stress fracture!  now that is tough!

i ran also a half marathon up and down race and because i was not an official entry (italy has rules for most of its races where foreigners are not allowed to compete) i jogged the down part.  it was typical italy - with the descent down extremely steep concrete tracks with big rocks everywhere - punishing on the body (if you are to race it as did a couple of very sore kenyan runners who got more than they bargained for i think).  very hot here down near brescia but i had a nice bike ride after it back up to the val di fiemme.  also the enthusiasm of the runners at even very small races is brilliant.  the prize ceremony alone took 2.5hrs!

the first big test now on july 15th.  grossglockner berglauf.  i wanted to go well here especially since i have just agreed to join with salomon and it is a big race for them as it is part of the salomon cup.  it was a busy time with meeting the team from salomon flinging one of their 9-3 wagons up the glocknerstrasse (the access mountain road) to check it out - a bit naughty when we didnt actually have number plates on the car!

the race itself was a hot one and marco gaiardo coming off a good euro champs race the week before pushed it hard before turning to me and saying "troppo caldo" - too hot!  from that point i was able to just ease away and held a 30 or 40s gap all the way to the last climb before trying hard up here and winning with 51s.  a nice start for us in salomon and always a pleasure to be back in heiligenblut with claudia and heide the race organisers who put on the most proffessional mountain race.  it is also one that is not so old, in fact i ran the first edition of it finishing 3rd behind marco on that day a few years back.

the final stretch - you can see here glacier and the race climbs from the valley floor there to here in less than one km.  yes - its pretty steep! throw in the altitude of about 2500m and its a tough finish. photo coutesy of Pete Hartley and if you would like to use this image in any way please contact him at: pete@petehartley.fsnet.co.uk

after race festivities are also another highlight there in heiligenblut (means holy blood by the way).  this year we had a dinner and the chef sends mine out with a roman candle on it shooting fireworks out 1.5m in a crowded restaurant!  martin cox and i also had to make a hasty exit after a couple (guys) decided to take a liking to us!

had a good solid week of training and ran up a long pass near our town which was also the day the transalp mountain bike race went over there as well.  it's 16.5km long and climbs 1200m so its a great test.  the transalp is now a famous one week stage race where teams of 2 riders compete.  it's very impressive with 1200 riders slogging up the pass including a rider with one leg - incredible strength.  had a night back in leutasch (austria) with the rodley's and then down to franco's pzzeria in mittenwald where we still get a free meal!  it's great there and it's the italian passion for all things including sports which i love about the place.  it was also nice to get a long 2.5hr training run in back on the leutasch trails - i still rate it as the best long distance running training in the world there with 250km + of trail network - all easy running and flowing, beautiful tracks.

next up for me two weeks later (since my injury i have restrained myself from weekly racing) was a new race, first edition.  Now, normally i don't run first editions of races as it takes a few years to iron out problems and then race organisers get to know how things work and generally do a fantastic job.  however i made an exception at the request of Ernst Kuenz who earlier in the year had organised a press conference for the race that included francesco moser (italian former world record holder in the 1hr event as well as giro d'italia winner). 

the course held a few surprises since no one had seen it earlier.  the "don't worry it's all steady up-hll" went out the window when we had a difficult technical descent and showed i have a long way to go with the knee to get back my descending confidence although it held up well.  i lost about 1.5minutes to the leaders on this long technical stretch and had just got within striking distance of the lead when we were sent off the course at the last drinks station.  it was strange that none of the helpers said anything as 4 of us took off up a ski road and then there were plenty of people up there who then started directing us still further in the wrong direction!  I would have been suspicious except one of the athletes caught up in this was local favourite markus kroell.  he ended up climbing a near vertical rock face before throwing in the towel and running to the finish via the ski access road.

I did a lap of a small lake before seeing a race organiser who pointed us over to a scree field that that was in the general direction that we should be going.  three of us then joined up and rejoined the track and then slogged out the last 2km where with a bit of anger i put 2 minutes into them and almost caught all of the runners that had gone the right way - except one, so history will record that i was beaten that day.  the moral of the story? don't run new races!!  (just joking as it was actually quite a beautiful race and area in the kaunertal of austria, and a really nice and enthusiastic organising team).

running up from sea level to the top of the fjord in rosendal, norway. in yellow is jostein hatteberg race organiser with the mountain course behind us

i took up a long standing invitation to run in norway where mountain running is becoming popular.  their fjords lend themselves to tough steep races and the local norwegians are plenty tough themselves.  it was like visiting a europeanised slice of new zealand with a rural lifestyle and locals keen to get stuck in and lend a hand. 

the race was a tough course with one section so steep you needed to haul yourself up with chains.  race day was wet and wild (again a bit like nz) and so wisely the organisers shortened the track to finish below the dangerous section.  lots of fun there and even managed to land my first salmon!

bergen, norway

Feuerkogel was another wet one but was great to be back there and also staying in halstatt, the second most visited tourist destination in austria behind vienna.  it has just 950 residents and i think the second oldest salt mine in austria that is still working today.  tours involve sliding down the ramps on your butt to reach the different levels below.  tunnels are drilled into the vertical glacial carved cliff faces.  the lake below is very deep and fed by the dachstein glacier that also has summer skiing.  I ran a loop of the hallstatersee (lake) but didnt realise that they were working to make a new tourist rail line and ran inadvertantly through a dynamite operation - whoops!  later on the same run i was almost hit by a small rock landing on the path just behind me so who said running wasn't a dangerous sport!

halstatt in austria, nestled between lake and mountains is famous for its ancient salt mines and beautiful historic houses

i have been looking for some longer races (without too much downhill) but seem to have been doing the opposite lately with another speed mountain race of 4.5km but a more than solid climb of 750m.  the race is in north east italy and is a 3 person relay.  this year i teamed up with marco degaspari (who has 5 world trophy titles like myself) and local hero gino caneva (3rd at world trophy 1999).  we set out for the record and i ran a sub 30min leg for the all uphill first lap. marco pulled out all the stops including splitting his head on a rock for the second lap that traverses across the mountain and gino hurled himself down the hill at under 2min30s km pace to give us the record by around 50s in just over 1hr10min.

from photo left: the start/finish town of colina, the last part of my lap, antonella as we run the 2nd lap to warm down, me finishing my stage, the after match festa (very important part of any italian race), antonella on the second lap, the course (very steep) and antonella at the finish of the second lap

its a very technical course including compulsory use of a helmet for the 2nd lap runners due to loose rocks falling from the near vertical track in parts.  it's close to the border of austria in the north eastern part of italy and double olympic gold medalist giorgio dicenta is a regular runner and produced the second best time this year.  gino is always the hero of the day as it's his home town and locals love this event.

antonella has been training in asiago and i stopped by and then we drove on to susa which is a little north of torino and close to the french border.  this is the one race i have done every year since i first started coming out - and this year was my ninth time there and only antonio molinari with 13 visits has been there more times.  it was a hot start but i ran solidly and while i was 3min down from the record i ran in 2004 i was happy enough to get a good testing race two weeks out from the jungfrau. 

memorial di partigiani - challenge stellina in the val di susa photo courtesy of Flavio Mariazzi wwww.archivoltogallery.com
 

this race is called the challenge stellina and it commemorates the partisan resistance victory over the germans and the fascist regime that happened on the track of the race.  unfortunately because of a bit of insensitivity by a member of the italian mountain running federation who scheduled their italian champs race on the same day.  It meant a weaker field than normal and the loss of the races most important sponsor whose father was the captain of the partisans when they were fighting.

it was great to be back in this incredibly old italian town and well worth a visit if in the val di susa region of piemonte with its small roman arena and roman walls and the more modern additions interwoven with the old.  susa was an old trading post on the route between southern and northern europe.  it is not a tourist stop so you can see some real italian life!

the austrian salomon tour stopped in achensee for its final race.  its one lap of this alpine lake.  having done it last year i started slow this time and tried to run easily.  having not done any road races i was feeling it a bit on the flat 17km section but the last 6k was off road and i seem to be feeling more at home there.  the winner was away by 3min and i was happy for this last workout before the marathon next week......

meeting the all the guys at salomon was great and being in a company so focused on the core business of outdoor, off-road adventure exercise is really great.  bonus was the line of 30 ferrari, lamborghini, maclarens, and the new audi r8's.

inset photos include: steve and jude, the final metres, the view to grindlewald, me in wengen, winners banner lining the interlaken streets, the finish area

the jungfrau marathon takes place in the interlaken region and is a unique race with its mix of pure road racing over the first 25.5km and tough mountain racing for the remainder of the 42.2km marathon distance.  it is climbing 2200m with 350m of downhill and almost all of the climb comes in the final 15km.  pretty hard.  before race day, jude and steve joined me on a training run for the last 12km before riding the train up to the top of the jungfraujoch - the highest train station in europe where we traveled to 3700m.  my train pass provided by the race organisers was looked on with a fair amount of suspicion and when you have 6 train rides to go up and back it involved a lot of fast talking.  all was ok though and at a saving of around 160 swiss francs for each daily use (110 euro) it was well worth having!

the north wall of the eiger is on the left side with snow drift forming interesting patterns in the sky - interlaken, switzerland

the race was a test, a challenge and a mental effort to hang in for the first 25k on the flat.  i felt like crap even if it didn't show and i was thinking to stop in lauterbrunnen at the 2nd of 3 sprint primes.  the race had been taken out fast by a russian and moldavian runner who picked up the first sprint primes at 4km and 20km between them and in the process at one stage had 1min40s over our chasing group.

when the road went from horizontal to near vertical the race changed completely.  within a kilometre i had overtaken the leading pair and i made a minute lead at the 30km sprint prime in wengen.  this is the venue of the world cup downhill that is the longest and most difficult of the tour.  no cars are allowed in this town but i could have done with one as our race wound through the village and then headed up the long trail to the top.  the most impressive part is when you run on a morraine that is just metres from the three famous swiss mountains.  the finish was also tough when with cramping legs i had to run downhill in the last kilometre - but got there - still in front.  very tough!

window to the world: looking out from the eiger north face

this being the world long distance challenge the finishers in the top 10 of men and women were from 13 different countries so the organizers were very happy at the success of the event.  it was amazing and great to see the race director following the race and cheering on the athletes, giving splits and support to all the top runners.

i also had some more success as i have been helping international canadian tri-athlete adam campbell prepare for the race and he finished 15th at his first world event.   after starting conservatively he was knocking on the door of the top 10 and he went for it getting a great result - well done adam!

    check out his race report  here

autumn '07

now its a rest (slack) time but i am helping out the nz team at the world trophy, also held in switzerland.  small team but a good bunch of kiwi athletes.  its strange being on the other side rather than racing but i am totally at ease with passing it by this year.  we saw some great racing, marco degaspari dominated the mens and anna finally got her world title.  the kiwi's had some really solid runs especially the juniors ruth and aaron placing 5th and 15th respectively.  sarah in the seniors held tough for her 24th and angus found it tough going with the descent incredibly steep.

speaking about descending i lined up for my first up and down mountain race just last sunday (23 september) and realised just how rusty i was.  i thought i was going ok on the first descent when all of a sudden 3 guys came past making up the 50 second advantage i had had at the top of the climb in the space of just 4mins!  i decided to ease back and cruise in, but felt quite good so went for it on the next climb and extended to about another 45 before the last descent.  i had to give it herbs to get to the bottom first and the last part zig zagging around the forest paths was great fun dodging trees and rocks and tree roots.  Finished with a 25s advantage over a young up and coming sud tiroler and was nice sitting in the sun looking out over bolzano with the first signs of autumn appearing in the trees.

antonella and i have been getting out training in the autumn weather including some big hikes like the place left to torre di pisa (tower of pisa) which has a huge leaning rock formation.  we took the obligitory leaning tower shots and you get superb views all the way towards austria, the dolomites including marmolada and sella group of mountains.  my suunto t6 shows us at almost 2600m elevation here.  there is a vertical kilometre race here in the summer that is maybe 3.5km in length but rises the full 1000m and antonella has the record of around 40minutes.  its pretty steep!

antonella will begin cross country ski racing in november with first races up in scandinavia.  they are getting serious now with training on the european glaciers.

now its off to austria, the end of september so its getting kind of marginal to run mountain races where with a couple of days of bad weather you can be running in 2 feet of snow!  i am going to a race aptly named schneeberglauf (snow mountain run) and then to Bergen where i won the world trophy back in 2000 and i havent been back to for a few years now. 

both went well and winning bergen close to the record after such a long break was great.  it was an amazing autumn day looking out to munich and the lake of chiemsee as well as the dachstein glacier and austrian mountains to the other side.  the following week it is off to fribourg in switzerland.  i have cerrtainly clocked up the k's in the last month as i have driven about  4000.  the trusty alfa romeo 145 has been going strong but i would really prefer something a little stronger.....suggestions please.....it might be time to upgrade.  morat - fribourg, a truly great race and when the weather is nice (as it was this year) 5000 people come out lining the course to watch - complete with cow bells as is normal in switzerland.  coming the morning after the defeat of the mighty all blacks at the hands of the not so mighty french, and this being french speaking switzerland it was a black day for me too with a decidedly average run and i pretty much settled in for 6th place after half way after not being able to handle the 5k surge. 

sometimes i think i have made a lot of progress after my knee surgury but after a race like this i reckon i have a hell of a long way to go to get competitive again!  I was a full 4mins slower than my record winning time of 2004.  although i have to say that the 2004 race could rank as one of my strongest runs ever.  even the african guys say they don't try for it now as it is too far away!! 

the season is finishing soon, we have some fantastic autumn weather.....and i am quite looking forward to a rest!

running at the schneeberglauf in austria against the train - 111 years old this year!  i could have sworn that guy in the glasses was jacko!

the tour de tirol was the last race (races) for the summer.  3 days of racing with a 10km friday night and a mountain marathon (aptly named Kaiser marathon) on saturday followed by a half marathon on sunday just in case you weren't knackered enough.  remarkably out of the 160 starters for all three stages only 2 failed to finish.  the mountain marathon was a tough one with a good sting in the tail of 700m altitude gain in the final 3.5km and a total of 2000m height gain overall.  There was also enough downhill in the race to make your legs feel like jelly so the finish area was like a war zone with coke and powerade splattered athletes covered in survival blankets protecting from the chilly autumn wind.  the austrian's sure know how to present a challenge!  I had a lead of 17minutes over the first of the kenyan runners at the end of it and 14 of those minutes were taken in the last 3.5k - don't let anyone tell you mountain running is easy - or that it is uncompetitive either!

in the final stage, the half marathon on sunday, i settled into an easy pace although my legs were like lead weights and so i was happy letting the front african runners take it out.  however i realized that both kenyan runners were fading in the last 8k  and i passed one and had a pretty exciting sprint finish with the other.  one of the few occaisions i have come out in front when it came to the sprint.  probably the previous 73.1km had something to do with it!  so that was the tour, i had two wins and the overall.  no yellow jersey this year as these cycling associations are not so welcome these days.

a brief spell back in nz to recharge the batteries...

a day on the quads with callum and barry (in the white helmet) some real rugged country

recently antonella took delivery of the 'car' will put photos up when i get to drive it! till then i have a new page called the casa di machina

after 6 weeks taking an active break in new zealand it's back to europe and into the chilly winter weather.  geneva has the l'escalade to commemorate the victorious swiss beating back the french.  the 'marmot' is the symbol of this where an old lady poured her vegetable soup over the french soldiers sneaking in to attack thus alerting the defenders and is now immortalised in chocolate with marzipan vege's.  the city of geneva has activities and festivals in this period including the 3 lap 7.2km race.  geneva is such an international city with every language being spoken due to all the international offices here such as world trade organisation etc.  you can still find some old traditional charm though such as an antique french cafe where hunter (former scottish harrier) and i could lounge back on high backed louis the xv style chairs and sip our cafe au lait

race wise it was a forgettable experience and i am back on the injured roster.  i spent the first 2 days there with no luggage and warm clothes when the airline lost it hence i came down with ripper cold, however the lie flat air nz business class beds were really nice but don't think that i wouldn't have traded it all just to have my bag turn up on time!  time to think about 2008 - bring it on, looking forward to getting the sleeves dirty building and running again!

6 of us trail and mountain running athletes have been brought in on a joint salomon nokia project to run using a gps tracker and take photos along the way as it fits in with our training programmes.  late december we have been given the devices and now we can train, with the maps overlaid on to google earth and each picture (or video) tagged along the path so that people can log on to the web and see exactly where the picture was taken.  its quite cool to be there at the beginning of a new technology and we get next years 2008 N95 to use so its all cool.  we will also be doing a web blog (much as i am critical of sites like crackbook etc) but it does help promote mountain running.  i will put up the web link shortly next year.....when i am back running and have some data to add!

this project meant a trip to annecy by way of geneva.  the salomon hq was quite a low key professional environment to be in.  without the feeling of high energy but plenty of focused concentration.  walking to catch my train in the dark at 6.30am i was walking through row upon row of pine trees on the geneva waterfront.  all of them tagged and labeled with an owner's details and set for delivery on a nice timber stand.  i couldnt help thinking how typical swiss that no one nips down and nicks one late at night but they put there order in, probably 11months in advance, and someone pops round to deliver their specified christmas tree at the appointed time!  merry christmas!

jono's running cv / athlete profile

image coutesy of Pete Hartley and if you would like to use this please contact him at: pete@petehartley.fsnet.co.uk