The culture of trail running in the United States is speed: full-throttle mountain running versus the steep European slopes, with easy trails and just the right amount of stones. Despite this, what happened this Sunday outside San Francisco in the Headlands 27k — a euphemism with two more kilometers — was something unheard of in the Golden Trail Series. Going under four minutes per kilometer — the dream pace of many amateurs on asphalt — in a race of almost 30 with more than 1,200 meters of positive gradient is the closest thing to a record in a sport in which it is impossible to standardize courses. Elhousine Elazzaoui, one of those who best handles technical terrain — winner of the Marathon du Mont Blanc and podium finisher this year in Zegama, China and Japan — established himself as a total runner after winning in 1h 55m 27s, an unprecedented sigh of relief in the main circuit of this sport.
San Francisco and its role as the world’s technology capital lie just across the Golden Gate. Because Mill Valley, with its expensive villas, just six kilometres to the north, leads to Mount Tamalpais, a state park where the coverage ends. The climate of the bay often hides the views of the Pacific, a course that starts at sea level, does not rise above 500 metres and is covered in fog when the girls run on Saturday. Only the peaks offer for a few moments the solace of the sun that will preside over the men’s race on Sunday before descending irremediably into those banks of clouds, which create their own microclimates. There are large trees in which they nest, so that it’s raining under them.
Can something so fast be considered a trail? It was precisely one of the losers, Judith Wyder, second in the general classification last year, who most validated the race: “They are beautiful trails and they deserve to be run. Whether I like it or not, let’s leave it open.” The best in the world on tricky downhills is one of many runners capable of doing 10 kilometres in under 35 minutes with ease. “There are technical points. Knowing where they are is an advantage,” summed up one of them, Anna Gibson, the American from Wyoming who was running at home, even though she has only been there for six months. When she reached the finish line, she felt like she had done a training session, due to the visual isolation of the fog, a solitude that was only interrupted by the soundtrack of footsteps. She was one of many who ate less than she should have because at such a pace, without a slow climb to do so, she left the gels in her belt.
A frenzy that benefited Joyce Njeru, the Kenyan who took the lead in the Goldens’ standings by becoming the first woman to win two races this year. She arrived fifth at the first summit and decided on the last climb, leaving Madalina Florea behind to crown Cardiac Hill, an appropriate name for a course that sets the heart rate racing. The last descent was her take-off track, with a few final switchbacks that allowed her to look back and see that victory, by 48 seconds, was in her pocket (2h 17m 34s). Lauren Gregory, an American product of asphalt, surprised by rounding out the podium ahead of Gibson, seventh, and Julia Font, eighth in a top10 compressed in ten minutes.
As the theme of the week was speed, the Europeans asked the Kenyans about their flat times. Philemon Kiriago’s 28 minutes for ten kilometres or Patrick Kipngeno’s 1h 1m for a half marathon. “How much did he say?” Bart Przedwojewski, one of the most technical runners, was amazed, third in Zegama, with his mundane 1h 7m. “We are not only climbers, we also know how to run fast,” says Swiss Rémi Bonnet, last year’s overall winner, who now finds it almost impossible to repeat his title. Someone who only did 10 kilometres at full speed in a training session in which he went under 29 minutes.
Another dilemma was the shoes. A route like this invited to take advantage of the asphalt ones, more reactive, although those few technical sections required cushioning, ankle support. The organization did away with the ethics of the last zetas, which are passable since the path traces tight curves with a slight gradient. Five minutes of penalty and a drone helping the volunteers were enough to avoid temptations, partly because the California authorities limit the permit of the test to not leaving the path. The times are even more meritorious because of this obligation to stop and start again all the time. And to do it, in addition, on a last descent, with sore legs and a brain short of oxygen.
“There has to be races for everyone, both fast and technical,” Bonnet conceded. The antipodes of the Headlands were the 22 kilometres in Kobe with 2,200 metres of positive gradient – no flat and almost everything above 20% – a race won by Kipngeno, at a pace of almost seven minutes per kilometre. Elazzaoui joined the list of the chosen ones this year who go under 30 in the ten kilometres and used his joker on the final descent. It was the only way to break the leading group between the four giants, with the Swiss and the two Kenyans. His acceleration resisted him until the final esplanade Kiriago, but he did not have that extra speed to overtake the Moroccan, who looked back when he saw the finish line and knew that he had it, that his sprint The final would leave his rival two seconds away from victory, the same distance that prevented him from winning against Kilian Jornet in Sierre-Zinal. Kipngeno rounded out the podium on the day when the trail elite turned 30 kilometres into an athletics track race.
