Stian Angermund and Maude Mathys smashed the course records in a limited-scale COVID version of the popular Marathon del Meridiano over the weekend, giving an early indication of their form at the start of the 2021 season.
The race takes place annually on Isla del Hierro – the smallest and most westerly island in the Canary archipelago, the most easterly island of which is scarcely 100 km from the modern Western Saharan coastal city of Laayoune. The Canaries boast some of the world’s most challenging and scenic trail races, of which Maraton del Meridiano is one of the most popular.
Both Angermund and Mathys excelled in the Golden Trail Championship (GTC), held towards the end of last year on another mid-Atlantic island group, the Azores, with Swiss athlete, Mathys, winning the women’s competition and Norwegian star, Angermund, placing fifth in the men’s. Both athletes were again in top form over the weekend.
Because of the second wave of the COVID pandemic, the organisers opted to invite just four elite athletes to take on the 42km route normally packed with trail runners from around the globe – three times winner and course-record holder, Angermund; top Spanish trail athlete, Artiz Egea, 14th at the GTC; course-record holder in the women’s race, Spain’s Azara Garcia de los Salmones and Mathys, who had yet to race on the island.
Angermund won in 2018 in 3 hrs 41 min 18 sec, before improving the course record to 3:40:55 the following year. Tough conditions in 2020 resulted in slower times but the Norwegian chalked up his third successive victory in 3:42:45, to win by 8 minutes. Spain’s Maria Jose Naranjo won last year in 4:57:36, but her compatriot De los Salmones’ course record of 4:25:06, set in 2018, still stood.
The class of Angermund and Mathys showed early in the race as they opened gaps on their respective Spanish rivals, both racing away to comprehensive wins and big course records. Angermund crossed the line in 3:32:38 to improve the mark by 8 minutes and although De los Salmones improved her 2018 time by five minutes, she was no match for Mathys, whose new mark of 3:55:46 will take some beating.
“I felt good this year and found myself running faster than ever,” reflected Angermund. “I opened a gap on Aritz (Egea) up the first hill and then was on my own for the rest of the race. It was a little weird to run so much alone, but it was a great training session. My uphill and flat running was good, but the downhill was not so impressive.
“The conditions were great for running – a bit cold and the summit was in thick cloud. There was little wind, so we could run good times this year.
“I tested my race nutrition by eating more than usual. Normally I eat very little during races, but yesterday felt like one long lunch, eating almost three times what I usually do. The experiment worked out fine. I felt I had energy for the whole race and the recovery was better.”
Story by Stephen Granger
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