Golden trails lead to Madeira for season climax

It’s showtime for trail running as the world’s top marathon-distance trail athletes fly into Funchal, the capital of the Portuguese Island of Madeira, to take part in this week’s Golden Trail Series Grand Final at the Madeira Ocean&Trails® Stage Race.

Very much in the format of the successful Golden Trail World Championship, held on another Portuguese archipelago, the Azores, two years ago, the Madeira Oceans&Trails five-day event offers ‘fun in the sun’ for trailers as trail running meets Tour de France meets Formula One.

Gone is the simple concept of trail racing where the first to the finish is declared the winner. A combination of climbs, descents and sprint hot-spot can see athletes accumulate vital points which can result in several winners on a single day and surprising outcomes in the overall rankings.  

Don’t get me wrong.  There is always an advantage and prize for the first athlete across the finish line and the one who can replicate that over the five days will be declared the ultimate winner. But the number of sub-categories in the competition and other twists and turns provide a variety of elements to the ‘fun in the sun’.

Fun, there will likely be in abundance, the intense competition notwithstanding. Sun, not so much, according to weather predictions. Although the organisers would have hoped for less stormy weather than experienced in the Azores in 2020, which led to certain high-altitude routes being cancelled and the promised breath-taking views limited to the heals of the athletes in front, this may not be the case.

Madeira is south of the Azores, with a warmer, drier climate heavy rain is predicted for the week.  Still, this is trail running, not World Cup T20 Cricket, and results will emerge, no matter what the weather gods dish up.  Running wet and slippery is a specific running challenge which will favour athletes who typically train in those conditions.

Although under the jurisdiction of Portugal, the archipelago of Madeira, located in the northern Atlantic Ocean, is just over 500km from the African coast – in effect, home ground advantage for the Africans!  Four competitive athletes from Africa face up to challenges from Europe, the Americas and Asia and will be looking to finish high up in the rankings for a share of the generous prize money.

Leading the African charge is speedy Moroccan and Golden Trail regular, Elhousine Elazzzoui. ‘Hassan’, as the Pini Mountain Racing athlete is known, placed fourth in the 2020 Championship and will be looking to move into the top three on Madeira. “For the race in Madeira, I hope all the effort I put in will pay off,” Elazzaoui said on the eve of the race. “I hope to represent Africa well and have put in everything to make a good result – hopefully a place in the top three.”

In his first Golden Trail season, Kenyan Robert Pkemboi (Sky Runners Kenya) lies 8^th in the overall rankings, following good results at Zegama and Mont Blanc (5^th) and Sierre Zinal (6^th) while former Sierre Zinal winner, Eritrean Petro Mamu (Scarpa), outsprinted Kilian Jornet on the line at this year’s race to snatch 3^rd. 

All three African athletes are capable of upsetting the likes of defending champion, Bart Przedwojewski of Poland and the top three in the rankings following the six league races, Swiss Remi Bonnet (Salomon / Redbull) and Spanish athletes Daniel Osanz (adidas TERREX) and Manuel Merillas (Scarpa).

In the women’s competition, young Kenyan Philiares Kisang (Daudin/On Running) impressed at the highly competitive Sierre Zinal, where she placed 3^rd behind her compatriot Esther Chesang and Swiss Maude Mathys. She will need to strengthen her ability on technical trails but could well score on the more runnable stages of the championship.

The emergence of a new crop of exciting talented athletes will see many new faces at the Championship, with only four of the 2020 top ten male athletes returning (Przedwojewski -1st, Elazzaoui – 4th, Bonnet – 8^th and French athlete Thibaut Baronian – 10^th) and just two of the women’s 2020 top ten (Czech athlete Marcela Vasinova and Swede Johanna Astrom).

The five-day programme kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday 26 October) with a 23.6km leg-stretch with 1687m of vertical climbing. The full programme of the Madeira Ocean&Trails Stage Race is as follows:

• 26th October, 9:00 am – Stage 1: 23.6km / 1,687m V+
• 27th October, 9:00 am – Stage 2: 25.48km / 2,046m V+
• 28th October, 5:00 pm – Time-Trail: 5.76km / 225m V+
• 29th October, 9:00 am – Stage 4: 26.15km / 2,04m V+
• 30th October, 9:00 am – Final: 27.07km / 1,320m V+

Each stage has been designed to traverse beautiful but testing trails on the magnificent island of Madeira. In addition to the daily stage ranking, the runners can try for the best times on the “climb”, “downhill” or “sprint” segments and at the end of the week a ranking will designatethe fastest runners on these segments. Daily prize money will be awarded and a total amount of €178,500 will be won throughout this Grand Final.