UKH

Kilian Jornet has won the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline race, completing the 55km course in a time of 6:25:39. Second place goes to last year's winner Jonathan Albon, who pushed Jornet to the end.

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In reply to UKC/UKH News:

An incredible athlete.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

interesting ...the times on the race site different from the article

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

Been following it today, interesting race as he only really opened a gap in the later stages.
My mate is still out there - his 3rd race of the weekend - completed the vertical K and Ring of Steall already. I think he may be knackered this evening!

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

With conditions looking pretty good for the next couple of weeks, will be interesting to see if he heads south on the M6 to Keswick next...

In reply to Moley:

He looked fresh at the checkpoint at Glencoe. He started opening a gap on the way up to Aonach Eagach as he was running (!) whilst the others were fast walking. There were 4 within a minute of each other there and he just dropped them. It would be scary if he had local knowledge.

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

He hasn't managed to fit it in this summer, (AFAIK): I'd love to see him do the Bob Graham.

In reply to plyometrics:

My thoughts too!

In reply to mbh:

Being a continental wouldn't he be required to carry a bivi bag,harness and a GPS, before being allowed out onto the Lake District hills by the National Park Authority?

In reply to UKC/UKH News:

His run's on Strava here: https://www.strava.com/activities/1188813266 (If you're on Strava he's well worth following as his training is inspiring and the runs that don't get reported on are frequently just as impressive as this here).

His Aonach Eagach time beat the KOM (Finlay Wild from last year's race) narrowly, but I suspect he hadn't recceed it, while Finlay would have probably known it fairly well. As other people have said, with local knowledge what could he do?

I'm not sure local knowledge would be much use for a skyrace, it is just a case of follow the little red flags, so it doesn't matter if you know where you are going.

In reply to simondgee:

They haven't posted finalised times yet, seen 3 different versions of mine, on the live tracker, SI entries and my print out! Only a few seconds difference though.

In reply to ablackett:

For the person who disliked this, what ablackett says is spot on. Local knowledge would make quite a small difference.

In reply to DaveHK:

Not even in terms of pacing? Do you find it easy enough to adjust your pace on the fly as the terrain appears? I had sort of imagined that being familiar with the severity of each of the up hills would allow a better overall pacing strategy. And when are you going to do the Cullin run?

In reply to JLS:

For Joe Public yes but over that distance Kilian is so strong it probably doesn't make much difference.

In reply to ablackett:
Not true. There is a fair bit of discretion used on the route on a small scale. Example being Jornet was second on the way down to Glencoe cp11 on Sunday and went past Jonathon Albon (last years winner) by going low across a rocky section whilst Albon went high. Jornet lead for the rest of the race. This was a result of reading the route ahead but with better knowledge of the route many sections like this would be done at best speed. As has already been mentioned, pacing and feeding strategy would also be easier/more efficient with very good knowledge of the route. A few seconds here and there over a 55km route would add up to a lot of time. On a slightly different note, this a big reason the BGR record has been so difficult to beat and the great value of having local pacers (ignoring the fact that the record was one of the greatest feats of mountain running ever seen).

In reply to ditchy:
I'd say there were very few places on that course where route choice made any difference and a runner of Albon's calibre isn't going to ship lots of time in that way. Killian won by being stronger!

The same general course with free choice of route would be a different story.

In reply to ditchy:


Maybe someone would have beaten it by now if all the best trods were marked with a flag every 20 metres.

In reply to DaveHK:

Surely local knowledge of the route would make a noticeable difference for pacing and your mental approach and tactics? I reckon it would anyway. Last year I saw a bunch of the runners out a few days before scoping out the section around curved ridge. Fair play to everyone that competed and completed. Bloody impressive!

In reply to DaveHK:
Some very different lines were being taken by the leaders down through Coire Nam Beith yesterday. It did make me wonder to what extent runners are supposed to stick to the red flags in skyraces, as a fair few just piled straight down the scree missing the zig zags.

Last year Jonathan Albon did ( jokingly I think) complain about this as he ran past us, and he had a point. Cutting the zigzags from the col definitely saves a minute or so, but does look pretty risky. Inevitably there will be loads of points on the course where you could do the same, but following red flags down easily-missable zigzags is a little arbitrary - and following them exactly must be even more difficult at speed. Even when I was plodding down Sgurr a' Mhaim on Saturday there were plenty of times where corner-cutting would save a little bit of time.

It was fantastic to see such talent here in Scotland, and incredible to watch the top four - who seemed in good, jokey spirits as they flew down the coire. Brilliant stuff.

D.

In reply to DannyC:

I cut 1 corner coming down Sgurr a'Mhaim on Saturday, and got a different view of "sky" running, as I ended up on my backside starring straight up. Didn't make that mistake again...