Anthony said:Is that the typical %finishers or was this year harder than normal??
This was the first year that the race has been done as a single stage,
non-stop race with time limits.
Compared to last year's 41°C in the shade temperatures, conditions were
as near perfect as could be reasonably hoped this year: light, following
wind. 20-some °C temps at hottest, 13 or so at coolest, during night.
Only the 90% humidity could've been a little lower.
So, no excuses from the weather. It seems that most everyone
under-estimated the difficulty in various ways:
- hadn't taken food along, or not enough, despite the fact that we knew
there would only be food at the three main checkpoints (around every 40
miles/60 km) and only water every 12miles/20km between.
- went out waaaaaaaaay too fast. The early race leader did a sub-3 first
marathon for example, the then-second-placed lad did the first 100k in
8h30m etc etc When you think that the winner averaged just 9km/h(<6mph
ie. >10'/mile pace), finishing in 27 hours, and that he can do the same
distance in less than 24 hours (he placed 3rd in French national 24 hour
championships this year), you get an idea of the early madness.
- hadn't bargained on the uneven towpath, the tree roots and the Coypu
holes to be avoided in the night (numerous nasty falls)
- had taken too much stuff (my case, with nearly 5 kilos total weight at
the start of race, water included). This pushed me slightly into the
uncomfortable zone too early (on the first leg -> 8.7km/h average speed
needed to complete the 62km distance in <7h30m)
- used old running shoes which didn't have enough cushioning for the
rock-hard surface (me again) giving rise to problems in joints/tendons
etc etc etc
We spent all Saturday discussing how we just couldn't fathom why it had
been so hard. Many of the runners have completed seemingly nastier races
(Spartathlon, trans-333, round-Everest, Mont Blanc ultra-trail etc) and
were flumoxed more than anything else when they dropped out because they
knew they'd not make the next time barrier?
Very few, if any, dropped out because they just couldn't go any further.