Al Andalus Ultra Trail Race Report 2009

The Al Andalus 2009 by Joakim Jonsson
( The Namibian Viking - www.namibianviking.com )

Since I have been back it has been a mixture of emotions. I am going from being extremely happy to be amongst the 34 of the 54 that started that got to the finish line. On the other hand I am upset that I could not run all of the days ( in fact, I only ran two ). I also miss running and to push my body every day. I thought I would be sick of everything when it was over, but it was almost the other way around, I was almost afraid of coming up to the last stretch, because I knew that it would mean no more running.

The Al Andalus Ultra Train proved to be a mixed back of experiences and emotions. Rather then a day by day account of the race i have below listed a few of the strong memories from the week.

The race started off with a walk through town where all the participants walked through the town of Loja and out to the start line. The atmosphere was filled with nerves and anticipation and I couldn’t help to feel a bit apprehensive. My preparations were less then perfect and I had only been running 3 times since April and for a total of 78km. Now I was about to start a 5-day race that in the end should take me back to Loja, just a small matter of surviving the 234km round trip.

Bad omen ?
Before the real start we filled our water bottles and I could all of a sudden feel how my bag went loose… Two minutes before the start and I had just ripped my bag! A piece of plastic had broken in two and this made the bag come off my left shoulder, not an ideal start. I quickly got the bag off and managed to secure the bag with a double knot, hopefully this would be sufficient for the race. Was the running god trying to tell me something?? I didnt have time to contemplate since the gun went off and we were on our way…

The first day started with a 4km ascent where we climbed more then 900 height meters. Before I came to the top it was 12 and the heat from the sun was intense. I stuck to my race plan and walked the whole way.

Helping hand.
After checkpoint 2 I went off into a riverbed. Here it was incredibly hot and the heat was pounding my head and I realised that this was going to be a long week. Temperatures were constant around 36-38 throughout the week. In the riverbed I saw another participant, but he seemed to suffer and was not walking in a straight line. As I came up to him he started to be sick and threw up. I told him to sit down and helped him over to some shade. I asked if he was ok, and he said no. I asked if he wanted me to go and get the doctor and he said yes please. I realised that I was jeopardising my own race, but I ran back 2km to the last check point. Once there I notified the staff and they sent the doctor, later I found out he was pulled from the race. In the end I did 60km that day instead of the 56km that was on the programme. It added another 40min to my day (10h17min in total), but I know I would do the same decision again. At the price ceremony I was awarded with a special price for my decision to go back for help…

Daily routine.
The day was coming to an end and as I got into town I realised that this was going to be a long long week. In the end we had it down to a good structure and I learnt very much this week. Time management and preparations is key. Every day looked like this:

• Woke up 2 hours before race start
• Immediately prepared breakfast (2x freeze dried meal, chili con carne was my favourite)
• Once breakfast was over, get dressed, including sorting your feet out, Vaseline between legs and also where the sun dont shine (could be very sore otherwise!).
• Check the race pack again and fill up water bottles.
• Pack up your sleeping mat and sleeping bag and pack the bag that the organisers will take care of, leave a waymaker hydrated meal pack at the top.
• Go to the toilet to be as prepared as possible and to avoid au naturale visits.
• Start the race, focus on the next checkpoint, then the next etc.
• At each checkpoint, fill up water bottle, mix energy drink and drink up to 1litre on the spot before getting going again.
• As soon as you get in, re-hydrate. After initial coca-cola etc get hold of 1.5l water bottle to continue to sip on.
• Get back to camp and hopefully the hydrated meal pack at the top of the bag is heated by the sun (it was every day!) and eat.
• Sort out your feet, including draining blisters and re-taping all trouble spots.
• Shower and clean up.
• Have sports massage.
• Go and eat more, and continue to drink.
• Find new 1.5l water bottle and continue to rehydrate as I pack the bag for tomorrow so it is all ready to go.
• Get in to bed as early as possible, ideally for a 7h sleep.

Very quickly this became a routine and I found comfort in doing it over and over again. The actual running / walking is only one aspect of a race like this. To have everything else in order and not to create any stress is equally important for a successful race.

It is hard to get started every day. The first hour or so each morning was painful, before the body loosened up and you could start to push the stride a bit more. I am still in awe of the people that ran all of the race hard, hat off guys!

Support staff.
Another thing to mention is the support staff. It is hard to convey how much they mean to you, but when you have been walking for 7 hours straight and the heat is about to push you over the limit, the fact that a friendly smile is there means the world. The support staff at the checkpoints and the people on the road were truly amazing during the event. Smiling faces and helping hands got us all through the week, but it would not have been done as smoothly if it was not for this support.

Making friends.
I went down to Spain without knowing a single person. On the airport I met up with 6-7 of the other runners and to my surprise I saw Jack from this year’s Namibia race! It was great to see a familiar face. Throughout the week I got to know more people… Eric, Jo Ann, Martine, Arend, Andreas, Ed, Paula, Joe, Jeremy, Mark, Joe, Jack, Paul, Raul are now people that I would happily share my experience with. I have in the past said that ultras are best tackled on your own, because no one has your pace. Well I must say that without the people that I shared the Spanish race with I am not sure I would have got through it. Different days I was going with different people and we drifted in and out of company with each other. It makes me really looking forward to Marathon des Sables when Tom, Ben and I are going to race together.

Not only did we share the experience, we also became the experience in each village we arrived in. We got great reception in all the village from the locals. This only failed on one occasion when some kids thought we occupied " their " football ground. It all ended with load noises and some stones thrown at our tent. This was swiftly dealt with by one of the Parachute guys, luckily he never caught any of the kids!!

Paul, the race director, was a truly remarkable man. Paul has a wicked sense of humour ( on the discussion about Marathon des Sables Paul summarised it: " The hardest thing in MdS is to eat freeze dried food the whole week "). He and the team took care of us all so well. We truly felt welcome to Spain.

Day-by-day.
I said I would not give a detailed account day by day, but I thought I should give the highlights:

Day 1 - Climb of more then 900 height meters. In the end we finished through a narrow gorge leading up to the town. The longest day, 56km and 10h 17min

Day 2 - They said that today had an even more viscous climb, and I who thought that Day 1 was the tough day!! Hell’s Path ended up on a plateau where we on good weather should be able to spot Africa. We couldnt do that today, but we could see the coast and the ocean. In total 47km and 9h 57min and Andreas and I crossed the line together.

Day 3 - Due to so many drop outs the day was cut in length. It was still a relentless day with the heat eating us up. I was feeling very strong and ran large parts of the day. Raced a mountain bike the last 2km and felt strong! 42km and 6h 45min.

Day 4 - This is the stage that the race organiser, Paul, use to train people going to Sahara to run. Up and down hills all day. In the end I finished with Arend from the Netherlands. In total 47km and 9h 13minutes.

Day 5 - I walked the first 5km, but then I started to run and managed to run the rest of the day. Floated through the checkpoints quickly and even overtook 2 tractors on my way in. 37km and 4h7min.

In total I raced 236km in 40h 22min.

Coming to the finish line I had mixed feelings. I was so relieved and happy that I made it, but on the other hand I didnt want it to end. I wanted to keep running for more days. In the end it was a very emotional finish and looking back at the event I have a hard time remember how tough it was. The never ending hills, the sun beating down on you, each day pushing 45-50km.

All in all an awesome experience that I can recommend to anyone that want a personal challenge !

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