Running the Sky on cloud nine – a South African trail athlete in Europe

By Stephen Granger

Still on ‘Cloud Nine’ after the ‘best, happiest and strongest run of my life’, East London-born University of Cape Town chemical engineering graduate, Bianca Tarboton, takes on some of the world’s best trail athletes in Italy in the final Sky Run of the season next Saturday (31^st October).

Tarboton’s record victory in Saturday’s Otter African Trail Run, represented a 180-degree turn-around from her Otter debut in 2019 when she collapsed just before the finish, and a challenging year when close family ended up in ICU.

After recoveries all-round, Tarboton revelled in running stress-free, knowing she had trained well, was fresh and in a good mental space. Succeeding in her goal of running ‘happy and strong’ meant she went into the “Otter” in great shape.

“My nutrition worked, hydration worked, consistent pace worked and my kind and soft internal dialogue worked,” said Tarboton, after she ran the 42km Otter between Storms River and Nature’s Valley in 4 hrs 45 min 34 sec, to improve on fellow trail athlete Toni McCann’s 2019 mark by over seven minutes.

“This was different to many of my other races and running without pressure was such a pleasure. I deliberately avoided putting extra pressure on myself by chasing times and records and everything fell into place. I regard it as the best race of my career.”

After having to put her plans to race in Europe in 2021 on hold for the last months, the 24-year-old Cape Town athlete had a last-minute opportunity to travel to Europe and will now race the 22.2km Limone Extreme – the final of the 2021 Skyrunning series – just three weeks after her Otter triumph.

And Tarboton has an opportunity to emulate Robyn Owen’s superb run in 2018 when the then Otter record-holder came into the another European event – the Kima Skyrace – as an unknown and all but won it. Making full use of her mountain running and technical ability, Owen led the race till the final kilometre, when top American Hilary Gerardi overtook her on the paved road dash to the finish.

Owen is excited to hear that Tarboton is going to run the Limone Skyrunning World Series Final. “She’s an incredibly talented athlete and should take a lot of confidence from her recent world-class record-breaking run at the Otter,” remarked Owen.
“I love her free-spirited quietly confident demeanour and I suspect that she has the right mental attitude to excel in the deep, highly competitive elite field that European Skyraces attract. I can’t wait to watch her flying the SA flag in Limone and at future similar legendary events on the Skyrunning calendar.”

Like Owen, Tarboton will also be going “undercover” with a low-profile approach. “I entered and paid for my entry on my own, so I don’t think anyone will know about me!” said Tarboton, from her current base on the Portuguese island of Madeira. “That will suit me and I’m hoping for another enjoyable no-pressure run.”

Tarboton has been in recovery mode following her win at the Otter and the travel to Madeira. “I’ve felt a bit tired and have not yet done any significant running on the beautiful trails on the island. But the weather and sea temperature have been perfect for the recovery! I’ll be leaving for Italy on Monday and have a few days to get to know the trail.”

Limone Sul Garda, the race hub, is a town at the northern tip of Lake Garda in Trento province, known for its lemon tree orchards. With over 2000m of vertical elevation, there is little that is flat about the course. After a 2km stretch through the streets of Limone, the athletes start the breath-taking, rugged ascent to the high point at Monte Carone at 1621 metres. Then starts a mad dash down a steep technical descent before the final fast kilometres into Limone.

Tarboton’s skill set is different to that of Owen. While she may lack the technical ability over rocky mountain tracks, which the Stellenbosch athlete used to great effect in 2018, Tarboton is no slouch on the climbs and her natural speed will be a safeguard against being caught in the final kilometres.

Limone is a name associated with the world’s top mountain athletes, with top Italian Davide Magnini and Japanese athlete Ruy Ueda winning the last two editions and Alexandersson and leading Romanian Denisa Dragomir taking the women’s titles and this year’s race is likely to be no exception. 

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