Sunday 1st November is All Saints Day in the USA and whether that influenced the outcome of the final day of the Golden Trail Championship – The Azores Trail Run – on the Island of Faial, we’ll never know. However, Americans Jim Walmsley and Rachel Drake finally got the measure of their European rivals to take line honours in convincing fashion on Sunday (November 1).
The 34 km coast-to-coast course across The Azorean island of Faial, modified due to another day of extreme weather conditions, provided exciting racing and while the Americans came in first on Sunday, there was no stopping “Super-Pole” Bartlomiej Przedwojewski and Swiss star Maude Mathys from claiming the overall championship titles. Both finished within two minutes of the Americans on Sunday.
For a short time on Sunday, however, as the sun finally broke through the clouds after four days of subjugation, it was all America. With the climbs curtailed and longer runnable stretches the order of the day, Walmsley came into his own. “Last night I thought I’d take it easy and simply defend my second place, but then I had second thoughts and decided I was going to give Bart a go and see if I could bag a stage win. So I went out hard from the start and stayed ahead.
“Nine minutes was a big ask for the overall title – Bart was running too well – but just to nip him on one day feels pretty good. The name of the game for me today was just ‘push push push’. I took advantage of the fog as we climbed higher by sneaking away out of sight and breaking connection with Bart. In this case I think I was able to catch Bart a little off guard. I had some gnarly falls, but at the same time lucky soft landings, so no damage done.
“This (type of running) is completely new to me. Challenging fun, which put me out of my comfort-zone and I think I got a little better by the end of it. But not quite my cup of tea and I think some of the other runners had an advantage on the technical muddy terrain.
“Bart really impressed. He is unaffected by mud – he’s amazing. And his stamina throughout the four days – he stood out as the strongest athlete of the four days. Personally, I was happy with my trajectory, moving up in the standings each day, but Bart was on the top every single day and that’s why he’s walking away with the win.”
Behind the two protagonists, Day One champion, French orienteer Frederic Tranchand bookended his best performance with a solid third, just four minutes behind Przedwojewski. Moroccan Elhousine Elazzaoui crossed the line in step with Norwegian Stian Angermund for joint fourth, but took third in the overall championship and could claim a position as top African athlete in the championship.
In the women’s, Drake was as impressive as her American compatriot. She too improved each day, finally seizing her opportunity to turn the tables on overall leader Mathys. “I had so much fun running with Maude – she’s a great athlete and I thought we were really working well together out there.”
Drake had also run with Mathys on Day Three, but it was Mathys who then opened a gap for a win. The stage race finale was different. “I think today I was willing to take even more risks than yesterday, being the last day. I figured even if I had a bad fall I could probably get to the end,” Drake explained. “I felt like we were just hammering away the entire time.
“She opened on me on the uphill, but then I passed her on the descent. Even though the cow fields were tricky, I felt I had been cautious on the first days, but today I was a wild woman! I probably rate this as the biggest victory of my career”.
World Trail Champion, Blandine L’Hirondel, enjoyed her best outing of the championship to claim third ahead of much-improved Swede, Johanna Astrom, while Czech Marcela Vasinova rounded out the top five in an excellent result in just her second year of serious trail racing.
The sub-categories provided significant interest to the event, with athletes focusing on their specialist skills in a battle for the category bibs and prizes. Norwegian Anders Kjaerevik again won the downhiller category and the blue bib for the overall championship with his female counterpart, Ana Cufer, showing reckless abandon in her suicidal descents to win the ‘blue’ category in all four stages.
Swiss Remi Bonnet and French athlete Iris Pessey proved the ultimate climbers, winning the red bib while Spanish steeplechase athlete Andreu Blanes edged out the bib-holder Theo Detienne by seconds in the final stage sprint section. Spain’s Gisela Carrion was the fastest female sprinter of the championship.
South Africa’s Meg Mackenzie continued her improvement with every stage, but simply ran out of stages and was also negatively impacted by the cancelling of the Mt Pico stage on Day Three. Her 13th position on the day and 14th overall against a packed quality field of international athletes was an impressive effort, even if short of her top ten target.
The second South African participating, Robbie Rorich, would have learnt a lot from one of his first international competitions and did well to bag a top 30 position on Day Two and a solid 36th overall.
Golden Trail Championship
Results Day 4 – 34 km Faial Island
Men
1 – JIM WALMSLEY (USA) TEAM HOKA ONE ONE: 02:43:43.947
2 – BARTLOMIEJ PRZEDWOJEWSKI (PL) TEAM SALOMON 02:45:30.180
3 – FREDERIC TRANCHAND (FR) TEAM Nvii SPORT: 02:49:35.140
4 – STIAN ANGERMUND (NOR) TEAM SALOMON: 02:52:44.363
5 – ELHOUSINE ELAZZAOUI (MAR) TEAM SALOMON: 02:52:44.367
Women
1 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 03:15:44.517
2 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 03:17:15.483
3 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (FR): 03:20:57.447
4 – JOHANNA ÅSTRÖM (SW) TEAM ARC’TERYX: 03:23:43.170
5 – MARCELA VASINOVA (CZ) TEAM DYNAFIT: 03:25:05.157
Climb Ranking
Men
1 – REMI BONNET (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 00:08:18.843
2 – ANTONIO MARTINEZ (ESP) BUFF PRO TEAM: 00:08:39.316
3 – JIM WALMSLEY (USA) TEAM HOKA ONE ONE: 00:09:16.247
4 – FRANCESCO PUPPI (IT) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 00:09:28.957
5 – ORIOL CARDONA COLL (ESP) TEAM DYNAFIT: 00:09:48.867
Women
1 – IRIS PESSEY (FR) TEAM SCOTT: 00:10:04.824
2 – SARA WILLHOIT (GB) TEAM MERCIA FELL RUNNERS: 00:10:22.220
3 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 00:10:40.150
4 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 00:11:16.524
5 – RUTH CROFT (NZ) TEAM SCOTT: 00:11:49.120
Downhill Ranking
Men
1 – ANDERS KJÆREVIK (NOR) TEAM BERGEN RUNNING: 00:03:08.660
2 – DARIO MOITOSO (POR) AZORES TRAIL RUN PRO TEAM: 00:03:20.104
3 – ANTONIO MARTINEZ (ESP) BUFF PRO TEAM: 00:03:24.964
4 – ORIOL CARDONA COLL (ESP) TEAM DYNAFIT: 00:03:27.983
5 – JOHN LUNA-LIMA (USA) TEAM ASCENT PROTEIN: 00:03:33.586
Women
1 – ANA CUFER (SLO) TEAM SALOMON: 00:03:28.320
2 – TOVE ALEXANDERSSON (SW) TEAM ICEBUG: 00:03:39.970
3 – RUTH CROFT (NZ) TEAM SCOTT: 00:04:13.340
4 – FANNY BORGSTRÖM (SW) TEAM SALOMON: 00:04:16.020
5 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 0:04:28.107
Sprint Ranking
Men
1 – ANDREU BLANES REIG (ESP) TEAM CARNICAS SERRANO: 00:04:40.094
2 – THEO DETIENNE (FR) TEAM SALOMON: 00:04:42.140
3 – DAVID PELÍSK (CZ) TEAM AK OLOMOUC: 00:05:32.284
4 – ANTHONY BOUCARD (FR): 00:05:36.047
5 – OMI RYUNOSUKE (JP) TEAM ADIDAS TERREX: 00:05:41.706
Women
1 – GISELA CARRION (ESP) TEAM LA SPORTIVA: 00:05:53.684
2 – SARA WILLHOIT (GB) TEAM MERCIA FELL RUNNERS: 00:06:28.654
3 – RUTH CROFT (NZ) TEAM SCOTT: 00:06:30.697
4 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 00:06:41.430
5 – JOHANNA ÅSTRÖM (SW) TEAM ARC’TERYX: 00:06:45.830
OVERALL RANKING – FINAL
Men
1 – BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI (PL) TEAM SALOMON: 09:10:10.653
2 – JIM WALMSLEY (USA) TEAM HOKA ONE ONE: 09:17:18.754
3 – FREDERIC TRANCHAND (FR) TEAM Nvii SPORT: 09:26:32.603
4 – ELHOUSINE ELAZZAOUI (MAR) TEAM SALOMON: 09:28:46.571
5 – STIAN ANGERMUND (NOR) TEAM SALOMON: 09:29:05.443
Women
1 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 10:47:41.843
2 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 10:56:53.618
3 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (FR): 11:02:42.441
4 – TOVE ALEXANDERSSON (SW) TEAM ICEBUG: 11:06:43.154
5 – JOHANNA ÅSTRÖM (SW) TEAM ARC’TERYX: 11:26:04.864
Climb Ranking
Men
1 – REMI BONNET (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 01:27:39.232
2 – JIM WALMSLEY (USA) TEAM HOKA ONE ONE: 01:29:32.492
3 – BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI (PL) TEAM SALOMON: 01:30:59.793
4 – STIAN ANGERMUND (NOR) TEAM SALOMON: 01:33:41.844
5 – FRANCESCO PUPPI (IT) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 01:33:48.001
Women
1 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 01:46:07.871
2 – IRIS PESSEY (FR) TEAM SCOTT: 01:48:50.569
3 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 01:51:12.993
4 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (FR): 01:54:01.820
5 – TOVE ALEXANDERSSON (SW) TEAM ICEBUG: 01:57:13.274
Downhill Ranking
Men
1 – ANDERS KJÆREVIK (NOR) TEAM BERGEN RUNNING: 00:21:56.66
2 – JOHN LUNA-LIMA (USA) TEAM ASCENT PROTEIN: 00:24:06.855
3 – BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI (PL) TEAM SALOMON: 00:24:11.373
4 – ANTONIO MARTINEZ (ESP) BUFF PRO TEAM: 00:24:35.789
5 – FREDERIC TRANCHAND (FR) TEAM Nvii SPORT: 00:24:49.242
Women
1 – ANA CUFER (SLO) TEAM SALOMON: 00:25:35.506
2 – TOVE ALEXANDERSSON (SW) TEAM ICEBUG: 00:26:37.138
3 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (FRA): 00:29:08.000
4 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 00:29:36.993
4 – JOHANNA ÅSTRÖM (SW) TEAM ARC’TERYX: 00:29:50.474
Sprint Ranking
Men
1 – THEO DETIENNE (FR) TEAM SALOMON: 00:26:32.106
2 – ANDREU BLANES REIG (SP) TEAM CARNICAS SERRANO: 00:26:38.274
3 – BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI (PL) TEAM SALOMON: 00:30:24.715
4 – ELHOUSINE ELAZZAOUI (MAR) TEAM SALOMON: 00:30:42.486
5 – FREDERIC TRANCHAND (FR) TEAM Nvii SPORT: 00:30:55.671
Women
1 – GISELA CARRION (SP) TEAM LA SPORTIVA: 00:34:13.371
2 – MAUDE MATHYS (CH) TEAM SALOMON: 00:35:17.166
3 – BLANDINE L’HIRONDEL (FR): 00:35:24.293
4 – TOVE ALEXANDERSSON (SW) TEAM ICEBUG: 00:36:26.842
5 – RACHEL DRAKE (USA) TEAM NIKE TRAIL: 00:36:32.423
