ULTRA MAG 2020

2/2020

FURTHER THAN MARATHON

WHAT I’M STRIVING FOR Bart Przedwojewski

Bart Przedwojewski

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he upcoming season is just as important to me as every other season, both past and future. Having said that, I realise that because I’m now part of the Salomon Elite team, more people will be paying attention to what I do. I managed to get unpaid leave from the fire brigade last year, which allowed me to go on a two-month training camp – in January and February, which I’ve just finished. I was able to spend three weeks in January at a training camp in Szklarska Poręba, where we concentrated primarily on diversifying training and intense workouts. We made use of the snow and the skiing conditions, went running in them, and also ran in the mountains and did speed training. We tried to connect all these elements and focus on the total time the activities took so that they made longer training units at lower intensity. Of course, there were some intensive sessions too, but they were done to wake the body up ahead of the next training session, for example a long tempo run. For me, the camp was preparation for some hard work in Tenerife. In Szklarska Poręba I also used a hypoxic generator to help me prepare for training at altitude.

In February a big group of us went to Tenerife, and we spent almost the whole month there. We wanted to make use of the island’s location and terrain, thanks to which you to run at an altitude of 3,500 m. We did a lot of training at altitude and that was our main focus. The first week was dedicated to acclimatisation and preparing for tough training, and from the second week onwards we did high volume with lots of elevation, focussing on quality. There were, of course, breaks for cycling, to give the whole body a rest from all the impact, downhills, uphills etc. During one of these training sessions I rode for 4-5 hours, which was also a nice experience and showed how well my body was prepared for it. While in Tenerife I managed to do 95% of what I had planned. I was slightly concerned about my health, because I didn’t have a physio with me, but luckily I didn’t have any problems or injuries there. I felt good for the whole month.

As for training with my coach Andrzej, we did a lot of experimentation. We looked at how the elite train, people like Kilian Jornet - we analysed his training plans, introduced similar solutions into mine and then observed how my body reacted to the stimulus. That’s what we did last year too – we introduced a lot of cool sessions, which we then adapted throughout the year. Our preparations for this season were similar. I think we learn and develop most when we try something new. Although I was worried that I might not be able to cope with the new training, because we really upped the intensity, I haven’t had any trouble – which I’m really happy about.

I’m also happy that the new season is nearly here, which is why I’m going to reduce the volume and focus on intensity. We also focussed on vertical training, which is and area where I’d lost a lot so far. It’ll be interesting to see the effects of this work, I guess time will tell. As it’s a long season, we want to hold back the form for now and only in April will we switch to more intense training and rest more.

I don’t plan too many races before my first big event, the Zegama-Aizkorri marathon. This year I’m mainly going to focus on the Golden Trail Series, and try to finish in the top five overall, which I didn’t manage last year. However, this time around my aim is to finish in the top five in every race, and because the quality of the series is constantly increasing and the competition is getting bigger, a top five finish puts you in the international elite that I want to be part of. I’m only going to enter road races sporadically because it restricts my time. I’m not planning any long trips and in my free time I’ll focus on tough training sessions and recovery. I’ll be talking about all of that on social media, so you can keep up to date with what’s going on. In my mind I’ve already made the top 5, because I’ve done the work my coach set me.

S MALL WO MAN WITH A B I G D RE AM 5 AAneta Mikulska PUBLISHER: KINGRUNNER Sp. z o. o.

Stryjeńskich 19/348, 02-791 Warszawa, KRS 0000519731, NIP 9512383285

TRE N G TH TR AI N I N G FO R RU N N E RS 13 SPaweł Krótki, Jakub Gdula

www.kingrunner.com

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

I ’ M S TRIVI N G FO R 23 WHAT BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

Marcin Rosłoń rossi@kingrunner.com James Artur Kamiński james@kingrunner.com Jędrzej Maćkowski jedrek@kingrunner.com Ola Belowska ola@kingrunner.com

MACKE Y 37 DAVE Filip Jasiński

LAYOUTS, PREPRESS: Marek Ćwikliński

WO U LTR A S I N A DAY 43 TJustyna Jasłowska

COVER PHOTO: Piotr Oleszak

FOTO: Aneta Mikulska Patrzę Kadrami, Andrzej Olszanowski, Michał Topolan, Piotr Oleszak, Jordi Saragossa, Jacek Deneka UltraLovers, Howie Stern, Ian Corless, Marek Ogień, Mike Arzt, Interpret Studios, Josh Campbell, Carl Rosen, Karolina Krawczyk, Marek Janiak, Piotr Dymus, Rafał Bielawa, Małgorzata Telega, RUN AWAY Campaign, Salomon Ultra-Trail Hungary, Kasia Biernacka

IMAGE: Zofia Rogula

COOPERATION: Aneta Mikulska, Paweł Krótki, Jakub Gdula, Kamil Leśniak, Aleksandra Belowska, Filip Jasiński, Justyna Jasłowska, Michael Wardian, Katarzyna Kucab-Klich, Kamil Klich, Magdalena Mrozowska, Viktoria Makai, Jacek Deneka, Krzysztof Dołęgowski

ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Alan Parsons, Filip Jasiński, Grażyna Jabłońska ADVERTISING: Katarzyna Marczyńska kasia@kingrunner.com

N E–H U N D RE D –M I LE D O M I NATO R 55 OKARL "SPEEDGOAT" MELTZER M KOW Y NA U LTR A TR AI L 69 ŁE Michael Wardian RS T PL ACE G O E S TO NATU RE 77 FIKatarzyna Kucab-Klich and Kamil Klich COT T J U RE K 79 SMarcin Rosłoń / Kingrunner.com TAFE TA G Ó RS K A 85 SZ Magdalena Mrozowska E WO RLD O F U LTR A RU N N I N G 91 TH Victoria Makai AN S G R AN C ANARIA 99 TR Jacek Deneka LTR A LEG E N D S 111 UKrzysztof Dołęgowski ’ M S TI LL S E ARCH I N G FO R S O M E TH I N G 117 IPIOTR HERCOG M TH E S TO RE TO TH E TR AI L 131 FRO NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

A SMALL WOMAN WITH A BIG DREAM – A 135-MILE DREAM text and photo: Aneta Mikulska / Patrzę kadrami

PATRYCJA BEREZNOWSKA

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very single one of us has a dream. Have you ever considered how much we’re capable of doing to achieve that dream? And what if our dream is the most difficult ultramarathon in the world –

Badwater – The Challenge of the Champions? Nobody doubted that Patrycja Bereznowska would be the first Polish woman to qualify for the race. Just like no one doubted she would finish the race in a very good time. The fact is that after eight months of killer, consistent and systematic training, she reached the finish line in Badwater in 24 hours, 13 minutes and 24 seconds, making her the first woman (setting a new women’s course record in the process) and the second finisher overall!

As the Americans said, “An absolutely amazing performance!”

PATRYCJA BEREZNOWSKA

We headed off to Death Valley in California, which the 217-kilometre (135 mile) route passed through, with the following team: Patrycja Bereznowska (obviously!), Piotr Podbielski (our “local” who sorted out the logistics and did the driving), Joanna Świderska & Iwona Mikulska (the best special ops duo around, they can even manage impossible missions) and me, Aneta Mikulska (patrząca kadrami). Equipped with six coolers full blocks and cubes of ice, almost 100 litres of water and food, all packed by themes (first aid, gels and supplements, fruits, dry snacks, reflective gear etc.) into plastic boxes, we set off from Badwater Basin (85 metres below sea level) to the finish line

by Mount Whitney (2548 metres above sea level), slightly terrified (about the heat!) but above all in a good mood.

Patrycja started in the third (elite) wave, on Monday 15th July at 11pm. Two other Poles were in this 30-person group - Krystian Ogły and Damian Kaczmarek. The temperature was around 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.7 degrees Celsius!!!). During the first 20 miles we stopped more or less every 2 miles to offer support. Each time the girls gave Patrycja supplies of isotonic or water in a bottle or soft flask. The rest of the food and drinks were handed out at Patrycja’s request. They included pancakes with Philadelphia, watermelon, toffees, salami, avocado, Spring gels... Cooling towels, with a few ice cubes rolled up inside to place on the back of her neck, lipstick with sunscreen and mint oil all turned out to be indispensable. We were only able to park the car on the right side of the road, so that it was completely off the road (according to the race regulations). As the runners were on the left side of the road, it meant that the support team has to move to the other side of the road each time – which is why they needed bright green shirts with reflective elements.

In the sleepy darkness of Death Valley, all you could see were the hazard lights of cars and the headlights of the runners. After around

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PATRYCJA BEREZNOWSKA

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PATRYCJA BEREZNOWSKA

3-3 ½ hours, it looked like a massive traffic jam stretching for kilometres. For us, however, it was a sign that we were catching up with the first and second wave of runners (the first wave started at 8 pm, the second at 9.30 pm). We stopped here for a little longer, because Patrycja wanted to cool her feet in cold water and change her shoes. It was the only (!!!) time she went off the course and sat in the support car.

Sunrise was around 5.40 am, before the first climb had actually started. We were already past Sand Dunes. From this moment the frequency of the service stops increased – we stopped roughly every mile. The sun, which had now appeared on the horizon, didn’t cause a noticeable rise in temperature straight away. There was a light, fresh breeze (our previous experience of wind in Death Valley only reminded us of one thing – an oven with the convection fan on!). Patrycja completed this 27-kilometre uphill section, with a climb of 1524 m, at an even pace, passing more and more runners. She stopped for support every half a mile. At the highest point of the race you could see our goal – Mount Whitney. The snow-capped peak stood proudly above the mountain pass and the desert, baking in the sun. On the loooong 16-kilometre downhill we already knew that Patrycja was in fifth position overall! We didn’t allow ourselves to get too excited by the fact there were only four runners ahead of us – we were well aware that we haven’t even completed 1/3rd of the course and anything could still happen. But on the other hand, how could we not be pleased at seeing Patrycja running lightly, smoothly with a smile on her face and no sign of tiredness?!

The next uphill started after Panamint Springs – on this section, support was only allowed at points especially designated by the organiser, and only one support person was allowed on the course (on the rest of the route two people were allowed) due to the windy road, lack of a hard shoulder and the steep drops. We also noticed that the higher we got, the colder it got – up here the temperature was only

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96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.5 degrees Celsius).

However, we were even happier that despite the difficult uphill, Patrycja had moved up to 3rd place in the general classification! Harvey Lewis (USA) was in second place, and the distance between the two runners wasn’t that much: he was in sight the whole time.

He reached the 91-mile check point 7 minutes ahead of Patrycja. We knew it was only a matter of time until Patrycja would pass Harvey. And so it happened – she overtook him on the long, relatively flat section going to Lone Pine. Here we were suddenly impressed with Patrycja’s running form. Believe me, I’ve already been to a few races with her and on none of them has she looked as fresh after 170-180 km as she did here, in this heat.

We reached Lone Pine at around 8 pm. At the check point we heard a chorus of “WOW!”, as well as applause and respect for this wom-

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en in second place, who was almost certainly going to set a new women’s course record!

This is where the hardest part began, both for us and for Patrycja. There was 1424 metres of climbing over this 21-kilometre section.

We were also feeling tired (after being on our feet for almost 40 hours; because of the 8pm start and the change of hotel just beforehand, none of us had the chance to grab any sleep!).

We had managed a few short naps but were doing everything to help Patrycja reach the finish line as quickly as possible. The darkness was broken up by the full moon, there were no parking spaces or support points, the road kept winding and winding and we were constantly asking ourselves questions like: “How many more turns are there? Is that it?”

Then finally we saw it – the Finish Line! We all ran to the finish together (as is the norm here), carrying a Polish flag. Patrycja was the

first Polish woman to cross the finish line at Badwater, in an incredible time, without a pacemaker (all the runners we passed had pacemakers). No, it wasn’t a dream! We were watching a historical moment in ultra-running happen before our very eyes. Standing in front of the sponsors’ board, the organiser Chris Costman congratulated Patrycja on her time and completing the race, gave her an official finisher’s shirt and ... not a medal but a belt buckle! As the locals would say: Your dream has come true. Yes, the dream really did come true, and in fact, Patrycja made it happen by herself, thanks to her consistency, determination and stubbornness. And I know that calling this the “most difficult ultra in the world” didn’t scare her off, on the contrary, it actually motivated her. It’s all down to us. Let’s not be afraid to go for our dreams!

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS

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RAIL RUNNING SEEMS TO BE BECOMING AN INTERESTING ALTERNATIVE TO POPULAR ROAD RACES. TRAIL RUNNING GIVE RUNNERS THE CHANCE TO GET CLOSER TO NATURE, AND AWAY FROM THE CROWDS. ON THE TRAILS, RUNNERS CAN EXPLORE A NEW, MORE NATURAL WAY OF RUNNING. GETTING OUT OF THE URBAN JUNGLE AND AWAY FROM THE FLAT TERRAIN IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT TRAIL RUNNING. IT’S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CHALLENGE, BOTH WITH REGARDS TO MOTOR SKILLS AS WELL AS STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE. IN THIS SERIES OF ARTICLES, WE ANALYSE THE KEY PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAIL RUNNERS AND SHOW YOU SOME EXERCISES WHICH WILL IMPROVE SPECIFIC MOTOR SKILLS TO A MAXIMUM SPORTING PERFORMANCE LEVEL. WE WILL OUTLINE THE BASIC TRAINING METHODS, TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMING THEM AND THE BENEFITS THEY BRING. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR US TO SHOW WHAT BENEFITS SPECIFIC STRENGTH TRAINING, FOCUSED ON ENDURANCE RUNNING, CAN BRING, AND HOW MUCH YOU CAN LOSE THINKING THAT THE GYM IS NO PLACE FOR A RUNNER. IN THE FIRST ARTICLE WE START WITH STRENGTH.

■ STRENGTH IS KEY! Physical strength is a fundamental element of every form of physical activity. There’s no such thing as being in good physical shape and weak at the same time. Running is a dynamic activity, which means it’s rhythmic and elastic and therefore requires a lot of flexibility (connecting tissue) from the motor system.

The effective absorption of force from the ground by the ankle tendons and muscles is the key to strength training for runners. In the mountains, we also come across uneven and unpredictable terrain, which we often run on when we’re very tired. This forces the runner to constantly correct mistakes in the external environment by proprioception and their sense of balance when the foot is in contact with the ground.

Trail runners also need more coordination than road runners, because they sometimes have to avoid obstacles, skip over them or slightly adjust the direction they are running. In addition, they usually walk uphill, which is more of a strength activity than a dynamic one, and the downhill sections generate huge eccentric stresses, caused by braking and slowing down. All of this creates a specific mix of demands, which need to be considered when planning strength training for trail runners. Strength training must be embedded in the realities of the respective sport, so it needs to develop all the afore-mentioned motor characteristics in the specific type of movement.

RANGE OF MOVEMENT Range of movement is a concept which proposes a progressive growth in the intensiveness of training, adapted to the specific nature of the sport - in our case is trail running. It allows the individual training phases to be organised and the methods discussed in this article to be chosen. Figure 1 below shows a mind map, which is a way of organising these issues in a theoretical and abstract way (thanks to the sketches of the exercises). When selecting the exercises, we focused on two fundamental movement patterns – the squat and the deadlift – as well as the lunge, which is more specific for runners and its variations imitating walking (or running) uphill and downhill.

The squat and deadlift are popular strength exercises that are not specific to running, which allow runners to develop a strength base around the hips and knee.

The lunge, on the other hand, being an extended step, allows strength to be transferred to a more functional movement in working conditions balancing on one leg and scissoring. The training methods described below form the main part of Kamil Lesniak’s training program, who is the model on the pictures.

■ SAFETY The strength building stage is split into two phases, working with our own body weight and the working with weights. In the plan below we assume that we’ve already completed the first phase, i.e. we’re able to maintain the correct technique for the basic movement patterns. People with disorders in their static posture and in basic movement patterns should contact a specialist in corrective training to allow the correct movement skill to develop. Skipping the mobility and proprioception stage and learning the FMS patterns could cause any dysfunctions to become more ingrained due to the strengthening effect of strength training, and also lead to injuries and pain in the future. This is particularly important for endurance runners. They are a group of sportspeople who have relatively low experience in supplementary training, and as a result are more vulnerable to making technical mistakes during strength training.

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STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS

Figure 1. Range of movement for trail running, which considers the individual stages of increasing training intensity, detailing two phases of strength training for runners: general physical preparation and speciďŹ c motor preparation, as well as the selected training methods. In the table underneath the exercise diagrams, the selected training methods and their characteristics are described with regards to: 1. Their speciďŹ c nature, 2. Movement, 3. Support, 4. Work, and 5.

Phases of contraction. *The abbreviation FMS stands for Fundamental Movement Skill, not Functional Movement Screen. Both abbreviations are used in the literature and can cause confusion.

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■ STRENGTH TRAINING

1. TRAP BAR SQUAT/DEADLIFT The squat is the most well-known fundamental movement pattern. It’s not a very specific movement for runners, which is why it doesn’t form a key element of strength exercises. The goal of doing a squat as a training tool is to develop full mobility in this movement (important due to the global range of movements) and the initial stressing of both legs as an effect of three-fold flexion. In particular, the muscles responsible for pushing the lower limbs, the quads, glutes and the lower spine extensor all work in this exercise. The variation of the squat which is ideal for people who don’t lift weights is the trap bar squat, which does not require the shoulders to hold the bar high or in front of the body. Thanks to this, it is easier to maintain correct technique while doing the squat and stabilise the lower back in a straight (neutral) position, which is the most important factor determining the correct technique of this movement.

When we perform a squat, it is im-

portant to maintain maximum muscle tension in each phase of the movement, in particular in concentric contractions (which are responsible for lifting weights).

2. GOOD MORNING Good morning is a great alternative to the popular dead lift. This method focuses on the hip hinge movement, which is responsible for, amongst other things, tilting the core to a neutral spine position (like in a squat). In this movement we put weight on, in particular, the posteri-

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or chains responsible for maintaining a straight posture, which often breakdown under severe fatigue when running downhill. The posterior chain includes muscle groups responsible for stretching the lower limbs such as the hamstring muscles and the spinal extensor, as well

as the back muscles. With regards to the technique, it is worth mentioning the isometric contraction phase (holding the final position) with the goal of strengthening the endurance of the posterior muscles.

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS

3. SINGLE LEG DEADLIFT Strength exercises on one leg are the first step towards specific training. The single leg deadlift is an example of this kind of exercise, where the transfer of weight passes through one lower limb – just like when running. Furthermore, it activates the posterior chain, while also activating the side stabilisation

muscles, which include the main muscles of the gluteus medius. This exercise will improve balance in the hips, reinforcing the hinge hip effect mentioned earlier, and means that our stride is less prone to sideways movement. Stressing the eccentric contraction (extending the core lowering phase) teaches the

hamstring muscles to control the muscle tension while simultaneously stretching the tissue. It increases the ability of the muscle to stop movement, which can protect the motor system from muscular-tendon injury in the event of a loss of stability, for example when slipping.

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4. STEP-UP The scissor movement of the lower limbs is a key element of running mechanics and can also be observed in step exercises or single-leg squats. An example of an exercise which is similar to what we might come across in the mountains, is the stepup exercise. This method imitates walking up stairs and is directly associated with the strength responsible for climbing.

The benefit of this method is the ability to exert greater stress on the supporting leg than the more difficult double-leg squat can, while at the same time training the side stabilisation muscles. That is why step-ups are a key training element for concentric strength of the thrusting movements for runners. In this method

we want to overstress our muscle groups, i.e. exceed the strength resistance limits of the respective movement.

5. STEP DOWN The further progression of strength exercises leads us to exercises designed to imitate running or walking downhill. In this exercise, the step is placed behind the person training. The step-down we propose is a dynamic various of the Bulgarian squat, whereby we jump down, going forwards from the step, supporting the trailing leg on a bar. The task of the person doing the exercise is to absorb the reaction force from the ground during the effective eccentric contraction and return to the starting position. It is not just the lunging – thrusting – foot that takes part in this exercise, but also the trailing – dragging - leg. It increases the performance of the scissor effect and leads to improved

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motor control while running. The exercise does not require such a large stress from an external weight in order to overstress the system.

STRENGTH TRAINING FOR RUNNERS

6. HIP HINGE IN REVERSE PLANK The last exercise we are suggesting concerns strengthening the hip hinge, also in a scissor movement. This movement is a key element of trail running. Overcoming elevation and obstacles on the trail often requires the knee to be moved higher above the ground, and therefore greater strength from the muscles responsible for flexing the hip joint. Furthermore, doing it in a reverse plank allows the support

limbs to be stabilised with isometric contraction in the hamstring muscles, which are the basis for all efficient flexible movements (which we will describe in the later articles in this series). The task of the person doing the exercise is to trigger co-contraction (simultaneous activity of the rear and front parts of the thigh) and to bring the free knee as close as possible to the chest.

■ SUMMARY The methods described above form an integrated range of strength exercises, which are an ideal supplement to proper running training. In the following articles we will present the remaining issues concerning motor training, such as specific motor training for runners and core training. The integration of these methods into one training program together with a plan for the number of series, repetitions and weights will be done in the final articles in this series. Please remember that the choice of weights and the intensiveness of training depends on the individual characteristics of the sportsperson and the amount of experience they have (including at using gyms), which is why the best effects are guaranteed by cooperating with a coach qualified in motor skill training.

AUTHORS Paweł Krótki Physiotherapist, movement expert Centrum Ruchu i Terapii BODYWORK in Poznan Jakub Gdula Physiotherapist, motor skills coach Centrum Ruchu i Terapii BODYWORK in Poznan www.body-work.pl www.facebook.com/bodyworkpl MODEL Kamil Leśniak PICTURES Andrzej Olszanowski, Michał Topolan

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photo: ŠJordi Saragossa

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

WHAT I’M STRIVING FOR INTERVIEW WITH BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI interviewed by: Ola Belowska

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

Kingrunner: Let’s start with the following image: you’re running, flying downhill on home straight of the Otter Trail in South Africa, and next to you are Kilian Jornet and Remi Bonnet, cheering you to the finish line. When I saw that picture on your Instagram account, it really touched me. Do you remember that moment? What were you feeling/thinking then?

Bart: I have a video of that finish. At the time I was so tired that I was simply counting every metre until I reached the finish line. I was pushing hard and suddenly noticed Kilian and Remi Bonnet standing there, cheering me on. It gave me such a boost of adrenaline, it was incredible! The person who recorded it took a screenshot straight away and sent it to me. It was really nice to know that they were supporting me and were happy that I’d won.

The reception of that film and picture were also incredible. I know it was shared a lot on social media.

I think a lot of people know that Kilian is my idol and has always been a big motivation to me. I wasn’t even aware of it – I was talking to someone once and looked at my phone and it turned out that I have a picture with Kilian

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as my background. And it is very motivating for me – I look at it every time I’m checking something and think; “Damn, I want to be like him!”. That’s what I’m striving for.

You could say you’re getting closer and closer. In December the news broke that your name is on the Salomon Reserve list, a reserve team of international elite runners supported by that brand. What does that mean and entail?

The structure of the international team is that there are a few people in the elite – the top professionals. The back-up for that group are reserve professionals – the Salomon Reserve.

Last year, for example, Remi Bonnet was in the reserve team and now he’s in the elite.

You could say that the team is made up of people with one foot in the main team. Salomon Future, on the other hand, is made up of professionals under the age of 23 with potential. It is only afterwards that there are national teams in the structure. For me it is the first time I’ve gone from the national team to international level.

I’m sure that it will mean more is expected from me, and I’ll have to be more active on social media, but there are also benefits for me. It gives me access to more logistics support, health care, and elite professional projects. I don’t know exactly how it’s all going to work out, but we’ll soon see.

Are you excited?

Of course I am! Although I am a bit worried ... (laugh) I was very surprised. I wasn’t expecting to get on the reserve team after just one year! I’m going to do everything I can to be in that first group next year.

In your first interview with us (after winning Bieg Mardula – in the 6th edition of TRAIL magazine), you said that you really wanted to see how you’d get on in a direct competition with Marcin Swierc. You wanted to take him on.

True, it was the first real test for me. At that time, Marcin was considered the best trail runner in Poland, which is why I wanted to take him on. I didn’t want to beat him... Well, okay, I did, that’s why you go to events in the first place, but it was more about testing my own sporting level. Specific sportspeople represent a particular level and by racing against him I would be able to see where I was in comparison. You’re either weaker or stronger.

We started at the end of your season, so let’s go back to the beginning. How did you even get into running in the first place?

Your dad’s a firefighter, while your cousin is the well-known ultra-trail runner Michal Rajca. Do you come from a sporting family?

No, not at all. I come from a small town called Głuchołazy, where I came across a really good group. Our PE teacher got us into athletics and we had a really good relationship. It was so good that we went to training to meet up with each other, more than anything. The sport itself was less important. We met up and trained together, raced and went to events together, and developed in the sport together, we grew up in it. Of course, some of us improved our performances and others didn’t. After 10 years I’m still training, and although 98% of the group have stopped, I’m still in touch with loads of them and we’re still friends. It’s amazing! My journey then took me to Wroclaw, to a sports school.

A high school?

Yes, although I took the decision while I was at middle school. I did well at one event and that encouraged me to take this decision. My friends were also a year older than me, so the talk about a sports school in Wroclaw started pretty early. In the end, however, it turned out that I was the only one who went to the school. I really enjoyed training, so I wasn’t afraid to take the decision to study in Wroclaw. And when I got here it felt like I joined the world of professional sport. I lived in halls,

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

we had the national team trainer and a school set up to support running. After the first year I came 2nd in the Polish Championships in 2000m steeplechase. I had the sixth best time in Europe at that distance, which showed me that I could make it somewhere in this sport.

I started to train with the national team and for five years I was almost always in the top 5 at the Polish Championships.

I’ve heard people say that you have as much talent as Henryk Szost and Mariusz Giżyński.

Those are some strong words. You know, athletics is about running short distances up to 10,000m, and doing it very quickly. But I had problems with speed. Due to my genetic make-up, I can’t really run that fast, but I can run long. I’m more of an endurance athlete and that became clear in training. When I asked the trainer what my time for 200m was, he replied, “When you stop running like an old lady, I’ll tell you.” That was pretty good motivation for speed training (laugh).

I only stood out in hurdling, which is about strength. Each lap you have to jump five hurdles, so you need endurance and strength.

That also showed that trail running would be much easier for me.

Were you just training there, or did you also enter some races?

While training athletics I did enter some trail races in the mountains from time to time, first at the Youth Championships in Trail Running, a race of just 3 kilometres. I was 14 or 15 then, I don’t remember. I was competing against athletes who could run 1000m in 2:35, whereas I would do it in 3 minutes. But I beat them at trail running.

That showed me that I could be good at running in the mountains.

And then came the championships in Albania in 2011, where you came sixth?

Yeah, at that point I already knew that trail running was for me. But I still wanted to

photo: ©Jordi Saragossa / 26

photo: ©Jordi Saragossa develop and improve at athletics, because I knew that I wouldn’t have the chance later.

I wanted to finish what I started, to achieve what I could in athletics. This stage of my life finished when I started working. I decided to focus on trail running and prepared for these kinds of events. So, I had seven years of competitive athletics training with some trail running in-between.

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And how did the mountains become such a big part of your life?

They were always there. Głuchołazy lies in the Opawski mountain range, so in fact, all the training I did at home was altitude training. It’s impossible to go for a run and not have to deal with hills. It’s hard to find any flat sections to do tempo training. So I had no choice, I spent the whole time running in hilly terrain. Even when I went to train athletics, I knew that I was good at trail run-

ning. I trained with the national team, with people who could run 1500m in 3:40, but in the mountains they we’re able to keep up with me. That gave me a lot to think about.

The next day they were very tired and needed time to recover, while I felt good and knew I could train hard again. When I was at middle school I knew that I want to run in the mountains and be part of team Salomon.

Did they pay you to say that? (laugh) No, no, it really was my dream! (laugh) So you’ve achieved everything you wanted!

Because that’s what I’ve been striving for. You know, it was back in 2012. Over all this time those dreams were in my head, but not like “Maybe I’ll do some trail running one day,” but “I will go trail running once I’ve finished my athletics training.” Similarly, when I was 19 I knew I was going to be a firefighter.

There was nothing accidental about me being where I am. My dad’s a firefighter, and in this job you work in shifts. 24 hours on, 48 hours off. I saw my dad working one day and spending two at home and knew it’s an ideal set-up which will allow me to continue training. I could earn money and run.

So, you became a firefighter so you could run?

Partly, yes. But I could never have imagined doing any other kind of job. I needed a job where I’d be active and I also like challenges.

And being a firefighter is one big challenge, it’s unpredictable. You have to be extremely resourceful. When you jump into the truck, all you know is roughly what happened, and where you’re going. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You get out and start acting, without thinking. I like it a lot. I can’t imagine a different way of working.

Seriously, you’re saying that you already knew at middle school that you wanted to be part of team Salomon?

Although I was training athletics, I spent time with friends in halls and we did the same stuff all the time, before I went to sleep I would dream of practising trail running, to race and be on team Salomon.

Aren’t you a little afraid?

I get scared, I don’t deny that. When you see a building on fire or clouds of smoke coming out of it, and you go inside and start doing your job, without being able to see anything in front of you ... You know, I work in Wroclaw and my unit has already had 1500 calls this year.

That’s five a day.

Exactly. There’s plenty to do.

And what about your ideals when it comes to the job? Tell me more about them.

What I like the most is that you can help people. Sometimes there’s not much to do, sometimes there’s a lot, and you see people whose eyes are saying “thank you!” It’s incredible. Although of course it’s not that you get good moments all the time and every day you pull someone out of a fire and everyone applauds. We come across lots of situations that are simply idiotic. Or, what’s worse, ones where we can’t do anything. We might arrive on site and have to wait, for example, for two minutes because we need support. That could be because someone is trapped under a train and we’re not able to life 15 tonnes of metal, without doing them serious harm. You’ve done all you can and suddenly you have to wait for 30 seconds, and it seems to last for even. (Bart pauses for a moment.) Then it stays in your head for a long time afterwards.

There are a lot of situations like that. Above all car accidents. The region where my unit works covers part of the A4 motorway and a road running parallel to it. There are a lot of these kinds of accidents there. You see young people, healthy people, lose their lives.

That stays with you.

Do you have some way of protecting yourself? Are you able to cope with it?

Most of the time I can cope, although there have been moments which have stayed with me for longer. But sport helps me clear my head. When I go for a run or have a hard training session I forget about those situations for a while. It helps me get some balance in my life. It’s my way of dealing with difficult things. They don’t happen often.

Sometimes once a month, sometimes three times, you never know.

Did you start training as a firefighter straight after sports school?

No. I tried to, but I only got in after three years. During that time, I studied at the

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BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

Academy for Physical Education in Wroclaw, specialising in sports management. I also continued training athletics. Once I made it to firefighting college, I finished my athletics training, stopped my studies and for two years I was locked away at firefighting college.

for the wake-up call, party in the evenings.

When I wasn’t training much, it was a crisis for me. Once I popped out for a beer, and it ended up being a few more... and the next day I didn’t train at all. (laughs) But after-

and then I started doing it during the day!

The officer who supervised us during the day knew what I was doing, but he turned a blind eye to it. Here’s a quirk of fate – once I would lie to not go training, and at college

That sounds pretty terrifying. Were you really locked in?

Yeah, that’s what it was like. On 1st September I was accepted to the college and from that moment you are subordinated to your superior. You can only leave the premises with their permission. Either a day pass or a weekend holiday. I had to get permission from my superior to go home for the weekend. At school we had to do service. There were two types, “combat” where we join in on callouts, and internal. We had a system whereby every two to three weeks we were able to go home for the weekend. During the week we had day-passes which we could use between 3:30pm and 9pm.

Did you manage to train at all then or not?

For the first six months I wasn’t able to train at all. I spent the first months on the training ground. We lived in tents, then moved into the school but learned what to do and how to behave. I found it difficult to get back to training, because I was part of a school system. It was only after half a year, once I was used to the system, that I started to train. In the first year of college I didn’t train much at all, I did maybe 30-40km around the park in Poznan. In 2014 I entered the Polish Championships in “Anglo-Saxon” trail running, where I beat Kamil Jastrzębski, followed by the Polish Championships in “Alpine” running, which I also won.

How did you manage that?

When I do something, I do it 100%. There was a time when I couldn’t get out of the college grounds to train. But you know how it is in these types of schools. You can bend the rules, escape at 9pm and make it back in time

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photo: Piotr Oleszak wards, at the firefighting college, I wanted so much to train and I was so motivated, that I escaped to go training at 10pm, with my phone in my hand. That was the kind of thing I had to do! At first it was 10pm because I was worried about getting in trouble,

I would do it to actually go training. That’s how much I wanted to run!

Maybe you’re just contrary by nature?

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

No… (laugh) Look, the college grounds where the shape of a rectangle, the premises were closed. Inside you could run 220 metres. Now imagine that I did 16-18km over those 220 metres each day. When I knew that

Achilles. Although I wasn’t running much, I was still training in the gym. But there was a lot of stress and my body couldn’t cope. That was when I got most motivated. Mentally I was broken, because I’m addicted to top-lev-

covered from the injury. And that’s when I started going over the top with everything.

And what was that like?

At college we’d have something called morning exercises at 6am. The whole college goes outside, goes running for five minutes, does some other exercises and stuff. It lasts 15 minutes. Afterwards everyone goes back to their rooms and gets ready for breakfast, which is from 7 to 7:30. But I didn’t go back to my room, I went to the gym and trained for 50 minutes – every morning – from 6.15 to 7. I got back, had a quick shower and then breakfast. And went to classes. They lasted until 3.30pm, then I went straight back to the gym until 6pm. During the winter I used an indoor bike and did a ridiculous amount of kilometres on it. I could bench-press 100 kg, weighed 67 kg and had 6% body fat.

And how much do you weigh now?

62 kg. (laugh) And I have more fat than ever before! Once it got warmer, I borrowed a bike from my dad, a touring-road bike, and did over 1000 km per month on it. And kept on training at the gym. Once I finished college, I joined the fire brigade in Wroclaw and moved here, and my injuries started to get better and I was able to train a little. I started running in October and in the course of a month ran maybe 150 km, just to get myself going again. In November I went to the International Firefighters Championships in Paris. Over the course of the previous six months I’d maybe run 150 km, fairly gently. And at the championships I ran the 18 km cross-country race at a pace of 3:30 min/ km and won the race.

today the officer who wouldn’t let me leave the premises illegally was working, then I ran around the field. Of course, I did all this training being tired. The work we did was hard, there were a lot of sleepless nights, and after a year I got injured. I overstressed my

el sport. During the first three weeks when I wasn’t able to do anything, I was so depressed ... You couldn’t even talk to me. I started to wonder what I’d be able to do so that I can start training for the trails again, once I’d re-

So this year, without any injuries you didn’t win, but back then you did!

Yeah, I was second this year. Two years ago, I thought it’s incredible what we’re capable of as humans. When I came back to competitions, I started working hard, and we’ve seen the effects this year.

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BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

(We had a short break for breakfast. As a carb lover, Bart of course chose the pancakes).

Bart: Oh wow, they look great, can I have some!

Don’t be shy, tuck in. You need the calories! Going back to Poznan, you spent two years there, right?

Yeah, two years of firefighting training. I studied in Wroclaw. Now I’m back here and have been since 2016. It’s just like I wanted, I applied to join the unit I’m currently working for. We specialise in rescuing people from high altitude, and I myself am a young high-altitude rescuer. I’m pretty good at it. (laugh) But I don’t climb, I don’t have time.

It’s enough for me that I get to climb with ropes at work. (laugh) And I have a girlfriend and want to spend a bit of time with her.

Right, how did you meet Patrycja?

I was leading some running training, where I was helping people prepare for the marathon with the Pro-Run Wroclaw organisation. There was a big group of over 50 people, and one of them was Patrycja. So she runs and also cycles.

So, she can keep up with you?

Well, on the bike she can. (laugh) And on the flat, because once the hills start…

How does she cope with all the things going on around you?

She’s also part of it all. We started seeing each other about two months after I moved to Wroclaw. We had the whole winter to get used to trail running. I told her about a lot of things and shared everything with her. Later, when we went to the Bieg Marduła ultra, we met Dominik Ząbczyński for a coffee.

Dominik was surprised that Patrycja knew so much about ultras! (laugh) I live and breathe her work, her painting – Patrycja’s a painter and works for the Academy of Fine Arts, and she also has her own company – and she lives and breathes mine. We support each other in what we do.

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Life’s not boring for you two! (laugh) No! (laugh) When I got into a race in South Africa, I was absolutely delighted, because the trip would be a way to thank Patrycja for all she’s done for me. For the whole year and everything she sacrificed. It’s really not easy for her with me. We travel a lot, and I’m always dragging her somewhere! She spent five weeks with me sleeping in an altitude tent!

You’ll get to sleep a bit more in one, if you travel to the final of the Golden Trail Series in 2019 [the final is the Annapura Trail Marathon, which reaches an altitude of 4122 m] Actually, I’ve just bought a tent like that... (laugh) Bart, tell me, as you spend so much time training, how do you recover?

First and foremost, I see the physio twice a week. That’s the first way I recover. The most important thing, however, is sleep. When I know that I have a particular type of training planned, I don’t put anything in the calendar for the rest of the day. I do my training, eat well, rest, squeeze in a quick nap. You know, I can’t afford anything to happen by chance.

I plan everything in detail. For example, last night I didn’t sleep more than two hours [we met straight after Bart had been on duty for 24 hours – editor] so I’m not going to do any hard training today. I’ll do it tomorrow instead. Today it’ll be something gentle, I’ll go home, rest, eat something and have a nap. Recovery is the most important form of training in my plan, and I make sure I take care of it. It’s also about good nutrition, hydration and planning the day well. On days when I have lighter training, I can also do more. That means that after a tough training session I can focus on just resting. After all, I have a private life and I have to plan it well! (laugh) Unfortunately, I also have to turn down a lot of meetings. If you’d have invited me to Warsaw, I wouldn’t have come! (laugh) It’s great that someone is interested in what

I’m doing, but because of these meetings I have less time for recovery.

I’m really focussed on my training and when I see something that could complicate my training then I drop it straight away.

Do you remember what it was like after you won Bieg Marduła – albeit by just 3 seconds from Bart Gorczyca, but still? Before then no-one had heard of you in the ultra community.

Did you get phone calls, interviews and visits to workplaces?

I absolutely avoid the word “fame” because it’s far from that... But it’s true that the interest grew. For me the race itself was unique.

It took a long time for me to be ready for it. I prepared carefully, thought about it very seriously. When I travelled to the event, I was really wound up. I’d never raced such a long distance before. I’d also never raced against Marcin Świerc. And I’d also never run in the Tatras, so I didn’t know how to approach the race. But I never thought about fame. For me, running has always been about sport. I went there to compete with the best Polish runners and beat them.

But fame has come with your performances.

I always set a goal and strive to achieve it. I didn’t think that I’d get so many calls after that race. I just wanted to win it. But the interest in me was really nice. I was happy that people were following me, reading about me and leaving comments. You know, I run for myself, but knowing that my actions motivate others is really wonderful. I wrote a post that I’m going to the race in South Africa. Lots of people commented on it, wished me luck and crossed their fingers. And I try to remember that when I have a crisis during the race. It’s also motivating for me. I can’t give up because so many people believe in me! (laugh) The two go together: as your sporting performance improves, more people start becoming interested in you.

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

You’re part of team Salomon, which surely comes with some obligations such as having a fan page on Facebook or an Instagram account.

I put off creating a fan page for as long as I could! (laugh) I don’t like to blow my own trumpet... Luckily, Patrycja helps me out with it. But I know that being where I am, I have to add some content about myself.

How long after winning the Mardula race did you join the team? How do you feel as the youngest in the group?

It took six months, so pretty quickly. Przemek Ząbecki was the one who invited me to join, he’d already been observing me and noticed some potential. And I feel really good in the team. The best times are when we meet up.

We all try to show up to the races organised

by Piotr Hercog, because they are sponsored

by Salomon. There are also team meetings, we had one in December. At these meetings I find out just how much I don’t know. (laugh)

photo: ©Jordi Saragossa

Everyone except me does ultras and they all talk about the races – it’s incredibly interesting for me! It’s a time when we talk about what’s been happening. New ideas come up. I always come back from these meetings extremely motivated.

Let’s talk a bit about your 2018 season. South Africa was the crowning moment, and you started competing in the Golden Trail Series at Zegama Aizkorri. After that it was up and down...

(Laugh) Yeah. Now I can laugh about it, but it’s true, it’s been an emotional season. The excitement before the first race... I use the turbo trainer a lot, and to stop myself getting bored I watch films of foreign running events. The most difficult one I’d see was Zegama, although I wasn’t actually aware I was watching that particular race.

At the start of the season I just trained. I knew I wanted to race abroad but didn’t have a specific plan. Then the Golden Trail

Series appeared, and I thought it would be an ideal opportunity because I always wanted to race with the best.

Wait a sec, you plan every single day, but you didn’t have a plan for the season? How is that possible? (laugh) Basically, I didn’t know any of the foreign races! Now I do because I travel to them and race them, and I talk to people. There are tools for that, like ITRA, which allows you to see who raced where, and you can check the races. That’s why I first started to prepare, and then asked Przemek Ząbecki to recommend a race to me. It was then that the Grant Trail Series appeared, organised by Salomon.

As a team member I said I would start in the whole series and it then turned out I’d be able to travel to Zegama. Once I found out about it, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see how I’m doing.

I went to recon the course with Marcin Rzeszótka five weeks before Zegama. I want-

photo: ©Jordi Saragossa ed to prepare really well because it was going to be my first foreign race. It was going to be my first marathon, so I needed to know the route particularly well. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything without checking it out. I have so little experience at long races, at these distances, that I would have crashed and burned. I would have started with the elite and finished up in 20-somethingth place. I took the race preparations very seriously. When we were in Zegama, we entered a local race to see how I’d cope. It turned out that Marco De Gasperi was also running, who came third in the 2017 edition of the Zegama. I finished two minutes ahead of him in that race and it gave me belief in myself.

After returning to Poland everything went perfectly – training and work. I travelled to Zegama, feeling content that I’d done everything I could to prepare well for this race. I didn’t feel like I’d missed anything out

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and had left no stone unturned. When I got there, I only felt stressed just before the start, but not because of the competition, because of the distance. And afterwards... I knew how to run and what was coming on the route.

Everything went well. Even though I didn’t know what to expect. I kept repeating to myself: “take it easy for the first hour, you should feel comfortable.” And that’s what I did. I stayed in tenth position. When I stretched out my legs a bit at the half-way point, I turned out that I was second. It worried me a bit, but I kept on fighting. The guys caught me 15 km before the finish line.

I had thoughts like, no, once again it’s going to be a case of “the Polish guy didn’t make it to the end.” I was knackered. But all those messages I’d got from people, who were wishing me well... They made me want to catch the guys and fight. And all of a sudden the

crisis passed, I was able to keep up with the others and finished third.

And Poland went crazy!

It was really crazy, because the race was broadcast live. And you had Kilian Jornet talking about Bartłomiej Przedwojewski. (laugh) Afterwards I went back home and must have watched the broadcast three times, looking for moments like that. (laugh) After Zegama I made some mistakes, because I grew a lot mentally in that time. I didn’t rest enough after the race. Physically I felt good very quickly, my legs didn’t hurt so I started training hard again. I knew that Karpacz is coming up and the World Championships, where I could challenge and try to win something. And I think I went over the top with my training.

Entering the championships was a mistake right from the beginning. I had stitches,

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

difficulty breathing, and wasn’t able to challenge at all. It wasn’t about competing; it was just about finishing the race. When I got home I was devastated. And I also started to have health problems.

What happened?

I crossed the finish line and felt as if I’d done a recovery run. Something was holding me back during the whole race. Let’s compare it to a car which can do 200 km/h, but had a speed restriction that keeps it below 120 km/h. You know you can go faster, but for some reason you don’t have the power. I had this feeling for a long time, for two or three weeks. I tried to get over it, but I had another race planned in Sierre-Zinal. That’s why I didn’t ease off and thought it’d just pass. Of course, I was wrong, because it all happened again in the Alps [Bart finished 31st there – editor].

I came back from Sierre-Zinal completely demoralised. I took a week’s break, after which I felt even more tired. At work we have to undergo a detailed medical check-up every year – thanks to that I found out that I have slight anaemia. I started taking more iron, mainly from natural products, and added some supplements. I was still concerned about my breathing though. I set up an appointment with a pulmonologist and did a load of tests, which showed that my lungs were working at 60%. The doctor said I had respiratory failure, so basically sports asthma. I was given some medicine for it. But you know how it is with asthma in sports... The doctor told me I can take the medicine in a controlled manner. To be 100% certain and avoid any kind of accusations of doping, I contacted Salomon for help, and they also checked and consulted the issue with their specialists. Luckily the dose I was receiving was permitted. And thanks to the medicine my health improved, and my lungs started working normally again, but the medicine does not improve my performance levels artificially, which is why it’s not on the WADA list.

You could have got a Norwegian passport. (laugh) Right, I wanted to avoid those kinds of comments. You know, I have respiratory failure, which restricts the functioning of my lungs.

It turns out that Holly Page also suffers from it [the winner of the women’s race at Otter Trail – editor] which she told me about in South Africa. I take legal medicines, which everyone in the world can take. Without them, my lungs don’t work 100%. You could also take the medicine, just it won’t change anything for you, because your lungs are ok.

For me it changed a lot. It allows me to train and function normally.

Did you have any problems with your lungs before?

That’s the thing, I didn’t. And I’ve been training for years. But I think that my job could have an influence on that. All I know is, without the medicine I wouldn’t be able to compete.

But it’s not the only health problem you’ve had, is it?

No… my doctor wanted me to do more tests.

My TSH level showed that I have Hashimoto’s, which was confirmed by an ultrasound by an endocrinologist. During the appointment the doctor asked me whether I wake up tired, whether I have to have a nap during the day and so on, and it’s true, after each training session over the last year, I’ve had to have a nap in the afternoon. Every morning I’d wake up tired, even though I’d go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 6.30am. Now that it’s been diagnosed, I don’t have these problems because I’m taking thyroid hormones.

But here I also make sure that I’m allowed to take them and still do sport. I know that my thyroids would be overloaded without the hormones, and my performance would drop.

Thanks to the hormones, my thyroids now function normally. I have started to sleep better, don’t need naps in the afternoon, and my metabolism has improved. I feel better.

How do you remember the time when you were trying to find the reason for these health problems?

After two years of tests and looking for the cause I was completely out of it. It’s a wonder Patrycja didn’t leave me... (laugh) I trained because I knew I had to. Normally, when I travel to the mountains and I see the shape of the mountains, I get excited. But back then I would travel there, sad, thinking “Okay, I’ll run.” I did the training, went back home depressed, not caring about anything. I didn’t contact anyone. If you’d have sat me down in front of the TV I would have sat there. I was in a terrible state. I slept, trained, had lunch, and then had a nap for two hours. And I woke up so tired, it was as if I’d been carrying a tonne of coal around.

Before the Ring of Steall Skyrace I had to declare whether I was going or not. I remember telling Patrycja that I don’t want to go. But she said that now I’ve started the series I can’t give up now and have to fight to the end, even if I finish 87th. Really, at first I didn’t want to go there. I also changed my diet…

Did you start working with a dietician then?

Yeah. I was dealing with the anaemia and started treating my thyroids. When I was on my way to Ring of Steall, I couldn’t wait to get started, just like before Zegama. Then I knew that everything was back to normal. I went there so happy, that I’d got my desire to compete back. And I finished 6th. It showed me that I’d got back on track. Although having said that, at the Ring of Steall I was completely knackered. I couldn’t walk for a week and a half after the race. That was actually a good thing, as I was able to rest and didn’t go back to training straight away. It was only afterwards that I started training for the Otter Trail in South Africa.

I never want to feel like that again. I made a lot of mistakes. I train really hard. In athletics, everything I achieved I got through hard work, and in trail running it’s the same.

Maybe I do find it easy to run in the moun-

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BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

tains, but hard work is the foundation of everything. I never checked my health, I just focussed on training. Until finally, it suddenly turned out that the results were bad.

I guess we have to make these mistakes to learn from them. It was the same with training. I never got so crazy that I overtrained.

I just reached the point where I said - that’s enough. I need a coach. Someone with experience and knowledge, who can keep an eye on me. Because I was going to overdo it.

And when did you start working with a coach?

Andrzej Orłowski has been training me since April. It’s going great, we get on well. It’s the same with the dietician. I have two police officers supervising me. (laugh) The dietician makes me show her what I’ve eaten the last two days and straight away tells me that, for example, I’ve eaten too much or not had

photo: ©Jordi Saragossa

enough carbs. It helps a lot. Because when I’m working, I don’t think about running, I don’t have time to, I have to focus on what’s going on. Straight after work I go training, and when I get back I need to rest. I wasn’t able to keep on top of everything. But these two really help me a lot. The coach sends me a plan, as does the dietician. It’s absolutely invaluable to me. Without them I would probably have overtrained. (laugh) Things have changed a bit now. I’m starting to take things professionally. I treat it like my second job and give it 100%. I go about things very seriously. I’m really pleased that I have these people around me, because thanks to them the situation I had this year won’t be repeated.

Does your older cousin also support you? (laugh) Michał [Rajca – editor] was always the older cousin, and I was the younger cous-

in. Even though we’re family, we didn’t meet that often when we were growing up. It was only once we started running ultras that he got in touch with me, we met up, travelled together and started to get each other’s wavelength. Now we try to train together as much as possible. We even lived together when I finished college. You don’t want to know about the state of our apartment then (laugh).

It was one great big never-ending training session?

I can’t believe our girlfriends never dumped us! (laugh) There was always someone cycling in the kitchen, the girls would be eating dinner while I was doing two hours on the bike.

I’d finish, have dinner with them, and Michał would jump on the bike. Or we’d be playing PlayStation – me on the couch and Michał on the bike, and then we’d switch. We encouraged each other in training and at events,

BART PRZEDWOJEWSKI

So, you don’t want to beat his course record on the ZUK (Karkonosze Winter Ultramarathon)?

No, I don’t like running in the snow. And I don’t think I’d be able to beat his record.

Although ... (laugh) And as you already run and cycle a lot, don’t you want to add some swimming and race with your cousin a bit?

I don’t like swimming. I don’t feel comfortable in the water. It’s not my thing (laugh).

You’re a firefighter! Water IS your thing if you think about it!

I work with water, that’s different. But I do like diving. I can get down to 20 metres. Although every time I try it it’s really stressful. No, it’s not for me. I’ve given it a try and that’s enough.

Let’s play a game. I’m going to say a word and you tell me the first thing that comes into your head, OK? Sagan. Łukasz Sagan!

Not Peto Sagan?

No... I focus more on running. I wanted to follow La Vuelta because I was at a training camp where the event started this year, but I don’t have time for things like that.

Although I have started to read his book.

In February me and Patrycja want to go to Tenerife for two weeks and I plan to take my bike with me. (laugh) You mentioned you’re a trainer. How many people are you training at the moment?

I don’t have time any more to meet them in person, so I coach eight people online. I’ve worked out a system, they are happy, setting PBs and it works well. I like doing it and it gives me satisfaction. My athletics coach always said he saw me being a trainer. He reckoned I have the right instincts for it. When he was away travelling, he’d ask me to lead a few sessions in place of him, even a five-day camp for the national team. You could say I have some kind of coaching instinct.

Bartek, where do you see yourself in five years?

I don’t really think that far ahead. I once said that when I turn 30, I’ll run 100 km. But until then ... I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen in two years. I’m sure I’ll develop from a sporting perspective. I don’t want to run longer yet, only once I’ve passed 30. I want to feel that I’ve done all I can in marathon and marathon-like distance races.

And then I’ll take the next step. It’s like with training: I can’t improve my form by missing out on some element of training, as it’ll catch up with me sooner or later. I’ll take on longer distances when I’m ready. I don’t know when that will be, and I don’t want to force anything. And I also want ultras to be something important for me.

And if any of our readers wanted to join you in an event and compare their own form to yours, where can they find you?

For sure at the Golden Trail Series races. I’d like to take part in all of them. I also want to run the Transvulcania Vertical. In spring I plan to start in the Wielka Prehyba race, which will be my first race of this kind in Poland, and it’ll also be my only race like that in Poland... I’ll enter a few road races because I like to test myself, but I’m not able to say exactly which races I’ll be at.

Bart, I hope that this year you’ll smoothly join the Salomon elite team - that’s what I wish you for this season. Take care of yourself and thank you for the chat!

Bart Przedwojewski

bio

and motivated each other. It lasted for two years, after which we both progressed to the international level. Now we no longer live together, but we’re friends, dream about buying a house next to each other, and meet up a lot.

Every Thursday we have dinner together.

One of the best trail runners in Poland. Thanks to his performance in the 2019 Golden Trail Series, at the end of the 2019 season he became a member of the Salomon Elite Team. He is extremely dedicated to training and highly motivated to achieve his goals. Bart is a fireman by vocation and is dedicated to his work.

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photo: author’s archive

DAVE MACKEY

DAVE MACKEY interviewed by: Filip Jasiński

Filip Jasiński: Dave, do you believe you inspire more people now after your horrific incident?

Dave Mackey: Yes, since the accident in 2015 and amputation I feel like I am more motivated and enthusiastic about trying difficult runs and bike rides. I think that inspires other people, as others runners have said so to me. My goal is to just keep doing my thing, being out there every day. The engine still works and I will keep on inspiring.

And is there any kind of unique prosthetic community that you belong to?

I am a part of the amputee community and an adapted athlete. I’m in that world, but I’m not a veteran and never served in the military, I do not pretend to be anything like that. But as far as people who have physical disabilities, like a traumatic brain injury, physical limitations, I am a part of such community. Not everybody is normal, people have challenges, obstacles, so whatever that may be I feel a part of that too.

Would you have lived through this ordeal without your family?

Well, if I did not have a family, kids, I would have survived. I would still do all the things that I’ve done but my family makes all of that much easier, as far as overall support. Without them it would be much harder.

How was it to watch this ten minute long movie made of short videos that people created with wishes of speedy recovery?

That was fantastic to have that. That was really special and touching, I really appreciate that, made a huge difference.

In an interview for “Running with Ryan” you said that when you wake up in the morning you realize your leg is not there and feel frustration. How does it feel now?

Sometimes when I am actually doing something really difficult, like a 10-miler, I have some pain and I was feeling that pain recently. And that was really frustrating. But day-to-day when I am at a soccer field with my kids I don’t even remember that I have an artificial leg. Today it’s not a big problem but when I run longer I have a little bit of problems. It’s ultra running, it takes time to work through those things. It’s sometimes more major but otherwise it’s not a problem.

Did any of the doctors say: wait a minute, perhaps there’s another way, as after amputation there’s no comeback?

No one ever told me I could not do it, absolutely not. And I live in Boulder, Colorado, it’s very active community, I never heard any resistance.

And what about high-tech prosthetics available on a market now?

Absolutely! It helps a lot, running blades have been around for a long time, 15-20 years. I run on a carbon fiber blade but it’s also the socket that is a part of it. The materials and science behind that is much improved. I just got a new socket two weeks ago and it feels a lot better because of the way they put it on.

photo: Howie Stern DAVE MACKEY

DAVE MACKEY

DAVE MACKEY

photo: author’s archive

DAVE MACKEY

And do you miss being on top of the ultra-running elite?

I don’t need to win races, it’s not my top priority right now. For me at this point in my life it’s ok. When I was younger and winning races and haven’t reached my potential yet I would probably be more devastated. But I’m pretty good now and I can focus my life on my family, on the most important things.

Is there any place that you would to run now in the Unites States?

I tried out running in many places, Hawaii, Alaska. At this point I am not really sure what I would do as far as the events go, I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. I like Colorado, it’s still my favorite place to be.

Your insurance covered the costs

photo: author’s archive

of the operations. But many people in the US find it pretty much

How about skiing?

How about the future of FKTs?

challenging to purchase expensive

It’s not way more difficult, I just need to adjust the socket to the ski boot. And I still ski, nobody really knows that I have one leg when I ski. I used to ski a lot before the amputation.

I just know I am not going to beat anybody with two legs. My goal is to find new challenges instead of setting new records even with a prosthetic leg. And I don’t think that FKTs will become more prevalent, there are a lot of unique races around.

prosthetics. What’s your take on that?

Well, American insurance and healthcare is not the most efficient as far as the costs go.

The technology though is very good. From the insurance side for me all my operations where covered.

What will the prosthetics technology look like in the next decade?

I don’t know, I am not following all the experimental things in prosthetics, but as far as some people have above the knee amputations electronics can be connected to the nerves and initiate joints action. That’s a tremendous front as I can see. The arms are much more complicated though as the nerves are so much more complicated.

I want to come back to the mindset, it’s always a key to success. Many people struggle due to lack of mental resilience

I thank you so very much for this talk.

after injury. What’s your golden recipe?

Thanks a lot and take care!

Physically I’m strong, if not for the fact that I had an amputation of my lower leg. I also miss a muscle in my thigh because of a complication during my surgery. But as far as my resilience and perseverance it’s just who I am, hardheaded, and how it’s engrained in me from so many years of doing it. I am used to pushing on.

When did you change from Hoka to Altra?

I read once that you are now faster on a bike. Is it true?

Well, I was faster last year because I was very acclimated to the altitude but I’m not faster overall, no. I am definitely stronger.

After the amputation Altra was more interested in supporting a video of my recovery and Hoka wasn’t. Their marketing mission was different than other companies but they still sponsored me during that time.

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TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK, OR BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR text: Justyna Jasłowska

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

There really is something to the saying “be careful what you wish for as it might come true.” How else can I explain the fact that I’ve always wanted to run a relay, travel somewhere in a camper van and spend as much time (oops! I mean run as much) as possible in these mountains – real, high and rocky mountains. And I got more that I could ever wish for!

photo: Ian Corless / @infi nitetrailswch

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

photo: Ian Corless / @infi nitetrailswch

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

photo: Ian Corless / @infi nitetrailswch

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

photo: Marek Ogień

photo: Marek Ogień

photo: Marek Ogień

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

photo: Marek Ogień I spent almost all of May up to the end of June in the Italian Alps, Dolomites, Tatras, Bieszczady and back to the Alps, this time in Austria. What was the reason for all this travelling? A few half-marathons+ and two ultras.

Madness? Risky? Fun? There are always pros and cons. Picture postcard views, lost toenails, blisters, lots of pasta, incredible experiences, unforgettable views, being fit as a fiddle and ill, all the emotions on the way, strong legs and a weak head, and then a cold head and heavy legs. But I’m not complaining!

If I’m going to write about the Infinite Trail World Championships, I can’t not mention the Rzeznik I completed less than a week before (where I finished 2nd in the mix pairs with Janusz Kostka). I should also mention the intensive time before then. From the start of May to the June bank holiday I had races every weekend, treating them as training for the crowning race of the season (the

Rzeznik). There were two beautiful races in Italy – the 21 km Lago Magoirre in the Italian Alps on 5th May, then some local, charming races in Poland, the Bieg Sokola in the Tatra mountains, and then the Dolimiti Extreme Trail half-marathon.

When I was in the Dolomites I got a wonderful message – I’d been invited to take part in the Infinite Trail relay in Austria. It was one week before the Rzeznik. At the end of June, I’d already planned to taper my training. But then I got a text message asking about my plans from 27th to 29th June. There was supposed to be this great event, and I was asked if I’d like to take part in it and just run 60 km. The other parts of the relay were already covered – the first section of 27 km would be run by Marek Ogień, and Dominika Stelmach would run the third section of 40 km.

I would have the second section – the most

beautiful part of the route, the most views, most amount of climbing and kilometres...

Of course I said yes! Despite knowing that it was verging on madness, especially considering my condition. But I stayed calm and had no expectations about a fast race.

Even though I’d like to, I wouldn’t manage much at this point. I spend a lot of time worrying about myself, but I was even more excited about this.

Let’s start with a few words about the rules of the event (which you can also read about in ULTRA edition 23). The Infinite Trail World Championships are held on trails around the Austrian villages of Gastein and Bad Hofgastein. The event is organised by Adidas TERREX. The whole area lives and breathes the event for four days. It looks funny, because the streets are full of runners and pensioners enjoying the benefits of the

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

local health resorts. The way it’s organised is also interesting. Only relay teams are allowed to take part – 3-person teams. In total each team has to complete 127 km. The first loop is 27 km, the second – 60 km and the third – 40 km.

The order the team starts in (i.e. when the first runner in the team starts) is set based on the results from the prologue – a 15 km run with 1000 m of climbing, which all the teams complete two days before the start of the main race (individuals who haven’t been able to get a team together, can also take part in the prologue). On the one hand it makes sense but on the other you can tire yourself out in the prologue. It’s worth agreeing with your team which of you is going to push in the prologue and who’s going to save their energy for the main race. Out of 180 teams, we came 72nd.

That meant that the first person in our team, Marek, would be starting at 4.19am.

A large team of us travelled to Gastein – one camper van and two cars. The plan was to take a lot of pictures and videos, as we had a great photographer and film crew with us.

We left Warsaw at 5am. The journey took the whole day, with a stop in the Czech Republic for dinner – I ordered something local (and exotic for me), homemade pasta in egg sauce. Pretty good carb loading. I also ordered a delicious beer and a Kofola cola, and then off we headed. Everything would have been perfect if it hadn’t been for the summer weather! It was 30+ and there was no sign of it cooling down for the race. It put the anxiety out of my mind, but it was impossible not to think about the fact that I was going to be exposed to the sun for nearly 60km in those mountains!

Enjoying the moment, the beautiful route, being aware of yourself, feeling the joy of running, finishing satisfied, knowing that

you had fun – those were my targets for this race. I really needed a rest, and mentally I also wasn’t ready for another fight. That’s why, even though I didn’t finish within the time limit for the first time in my life, I’m really happy about the race, even more so than races I’ve won.

Regarding the time limit – from the moment Marek arrived, I had until 7pm. It seemed like a lot of time, but in the end I missed out on high-fiving Dominika at her start line (and my finish line) by a few minutes.

According to the rules, the runner doing the third leg had to start at 7pm latest, even if the person running the second leg hadn’t finished yet. And even though I was pushing as hard as I could, I passed her on the last few kilometres... Which meant that Dominika had to run in the night and watch out for cows, and our team wasn’t classified. Like many others for that matter.

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

Dominika Stelmach: “I think we need races like this, races which integrate people. Which are about teamwork and allow you to spend a lot of time together.”

Marek Ogień: “It was the first race like this I’d ever done. I’ve always loved running in the mountains, but I never thought that a race could give me so much adrenaline.

I was terrified at the start! Looking up and thinking that I’d have to climb 1900 m in the first 10 km. In the end I wasn’t so worried about the climbing, as I was about the descent afterwards. The whole 27 km route was fantastic, a little too steep on the first few downhills, but after that it was really nice. I made it to the finish line in a time of 4:05, although I still felt strong. I think that if I’d had a bit more experience of these kind of races, I would have risked a bit more at kilometre 15 and speeded up. I’m sure there will be another chance to try.”

My nearly 11-hour run was one of the most beautiful running experiences, I’ve had recently. Although it was not a very good idea from a training perspective, it was something I really needed. It started with some nerves.

Based on the calculations we’d make with Marek, we worked out that he’d make it to the finish line around 8.40. So, I planned to take my time and be ready to go at 7.30.

In the meantime, Marek’s GPS was showing that he was almost at the finish line and it was just 7.15! I ran to the start line in a mad rush, not even finishing my breakfast or having used the bathroom. I closed my rucksack and did up the rest of my clothes on the way!

Then we waited, and waited, and waited ... the sun was now getting hot. It turns out that the GPS had gone crazy. Marek would be there in an hour, just like we planned.

We waited. Without stress or being bored.

The transition zone was full of emotions.

More and more runners were finishing the first stage, with their teammates starting the second. They had good announcers and big

photo: Marek Ogień

TWO ULTRAS IN A WEEK

screens showing all the action. Marek finally arrived, handed me the baton (it was the first time I’d taken hold of one at a race and I intended to use it). And off I went. The first kilometres on the violet carpet led past roaring crowds, then the route passed through the narrow, windy streets of Gastein, with people applauding on the side of the street, and then things calmed down, it was cosy, picturesque and, for now, pleasantly mild. I kept going and passed through the next gates on the way to the peak, in fact they were wooden gates – I had no idea why there were on the route.

I was running alone, feeling the weight of my body and the ease of being. I was in the here and now. I was appreciating it. Observing. And admiring it all. I wasn’t not fighting anything. Not eliminating anything. I was respecting my exhausted legs, sore feet and nailless toes. I decided I would be stay mindful during this race, and not let any crisis get the better of me. I wanted to reach the finish line with some dignity, and not quickly. I had two peaks to reach – Graukogel (2500m) and Stuberkogel (2300m). It looked like running in the mountains should: lots of climbing, sheer rockfaces, a soft trail, challenging downhills, and sections with snow.

I had the most fun on the most difficult sections – crawling on all fours on the final climb of Graukogel. I could have carried on for longer! I felt best on the narrow and steep ridge, where many a tough guy, as springy as a mountain goat, had fear in his eyes and had to get down on hands and knees to get through. And the short downhills in deep, wet snow were also captivating.

Tough, windy, rocky downhills are not my forte, but I still always make up a lot of time on the downhills. I feel like I’m flying and am in my element. This time, however, the pain of those toenails, blisters on my toes and my quads which hadn’t had a chance to recover meant that I had to walk the downhills.

Sideways. I lost a lot of time on them. The last downhill just before the finish was the worst. It could have been an opportunity to

relax after the tough climbs and the whole route. I’ve always been delighted by these end sections of races. But not this time! When I met our support team and the film crew at the last checkpoint, I was super happy and was even dancing a bit. I was so happy because I knew that all the peaks are now behind me and there is only 10-15 km until the finish. Downhill! The boys told me that I probably won’t make it there by 7pm and we probably won’t be classified... I couldn’t believe it. I tried to make the most of the downhills by my legs wouldn’t let me. I ran the flatter and slightly uphill sections, but on the downhills unfortunately I had to walk down sideways, for the first time in my life.

With 4km to go I had around 15 mins left, I passed a few people, and pushed on, but sadly it wasn’t enough...

I don’t remember the technical details – the times, splits, the climbing, the totals, the altitude and other numbers on my watch and stuck on the edge of the course profile.

After each race I always analyse what the race taught me, what I experienced, what my strengths were, and what my weaknesses were. What was difficult on the course, and what was favourable. This time I remembered the views. The beautiful lakes in the valleys, the impressive, tall, narrow, white waterfalls against the black, sheer rockface. The snowcapped Alpine peaks stretching across the horizon. The green, picturesque, floral meadows. The cows, goats and birds. The silence and the sound of bells. Small villages with well-kept homes and gardens. The wooden huts. Most of the time I was running alone, which sharpens the senses.

and people ready to cheer you on. There was no way you could get lost!

The only minus was the fact that the food was exactly the same at all the stations – tons of gels, fruits, snacks, isotonic, coke and water.

Everywhere it was the same. And there wasn’t any substantial food like sandwiches, potatoes or soup. That’s what I could have used on a 60km run in the mountains. But it was ok! I wasn’t exhausted and had no stomach issues. I also liked the fact that it was mainly older people who were at the water stations, nice people who were there to help.

Apart from my impressions of the race itself, I also wanted to share a few words about the runners’ zone. Apart from the standard range of stands, it was also possible to rent or test shoes and clothes, design an environmentally friendly shirt, have a manual massage or a complex one. And it was all free of charge!

I like the way the space was organised. You could chill out on comfortable bean bags, benches, deckchairs or on the grass. The meals were also served in a nice and praiseworthy way – in glass or wooden crockery.

Zero plastic and zero waste. And the food was also great, mainly plant-based dishes. On top of that there was also the music – some on an acoustic guitar was playing good covers, live.

What else? It’s a race I definitely recommend.

You can run solo in the prologue, but the most fun comes from sharing the experience and emotions as a relay team. Mark it in your race calendar. But just make sure you don’t run an ultra a few days before…

As for the race organisation – I’d give it an A+! The water stations were very regular. I might even risk saying that you might be able to do this race withing bringing any food and with a small amount of water. If you were taking it easy it’d be doable. The route was superbly marked! Arrows, poles, tape, dots

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KARL “SPEEDGOAT” MELTZER,

ONE-HUNDRED-MILE DOMINATOR

I don’t know any other ultra-runner from the USA whose nickname has become a trail running shoe brand. And not many 51-year old runners can run like he can. Karl Meltzer: a record-holder and American legend, former barman in the mountainous state of Utah, friend of Scott Jurek, Anton Krupicka and Mike Wardian. A really cool and smart guy, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. interviewed by: Filip Jasiński

photo: Mike Arzt Red Bull Content Pool

KARL MELTZER

I

spent a really long time preparing for this interview.

Wardian gave me Karl’s details and said that he’s overworked, but a really nice guy. But how could I find questions to ask him which he hasn’t heard a million times already? How could I get my head around what he’s achieved in ultra-running – he’s won 40 out of the 74 one-hundred-mile races he’s taken part in. The thing is, Karl started winning 20 years ago and is still winning races, and certainly not by looking for easy events.

Karl doesn’t look his age; I say he’s easily ten years younger. He’s fairly tall and very slim, wearing his indispensable hat and with slightly greying stubble. His friends call him Speedgoat, because no-one can move around the mountains of Colorado and Utah as fast as him.

He started running when he was 12 but has been doing ultras since 1996.

He specialises in 100-mile races and has the most race wins at that distance ever – in 2006 alone he won six of them, and in other years five. In the running community in the USA he’s known for placing great value on the 100-mile races he’s won, that’s his real passion.

In 2015, at the third attempt, he set the fastest time on the Appalachian trail (2176 miles in less than 46 days), beating Scott Jurek in the process. However, he loves the Hardrock and Wasatch races most of all, which he has won five-times and six-times respectively. We should add that no-one has won the incredibly difficult Hardrock race more times than Karl (even Kilian Jornet, who’s won it four times, although he’s sure to come back and run it again). Meltzer has also won the shorter 50 kilometre and 50-mile races several times and set many course records.

Meltzer is a professional athlete and trainer, and his sponsors include Hoka One One, First Endurance, Black Diamond, Kűhl and Drymax. In his free time he likes to play golf, do some gardening, cooking and listen to classic southern rock, while in the winter he loves to whiz down his own toboggan run in the Wasatch mountains in Utah (you have to see watch the hilarious film about it on his website). Mark Wardian was right, Karl is an incredibly nice and talkative guy. He spoke honestly and in detail about himself in our interview for ULTRA, didn’t avoid speaking his mind about the running community, ultra-running friends and the whole ultra-running sub-culture.

photo: Interpret Studios Red Bull Content Pool KARL MELTZER

KARL MELTZER

KARL MELTZER

Karl, what happened to your ski bums community? Do truly independent sportspeople still live in the mountains of the USA? Karl Meltzer: When I moved to Utah in 1989, I actually planned to just go skiing. To enjoy the slopes for a year and find myself.

And not run there at all. In the end I stayed at the ski resort, soaked up the sporting community, and started running as soon as spring came. There was no way I was going back to New Hampshire – Utah’s much nicer. I went running in the mountains with my friends, in the snow, with wild nature all around, and after two runs I was addicted. I wanted this feeling every day.

The mountain running community is very strong and there are a lot of runners, climbers and skiers. So, I hung out with them and suddenly started running well in races. I did shorter distances for about eight years, won a few races but not all of them. (laugh) I caught the ultra-bug in 1996, when one of my friends from work ran the Wasatch 100, organised close to where I lived, and suggested I gave the 100 mile a try.

I said “no way, how am I supposed to do that!?” But somehow he managed to convince me, and I finished the race, like most amateurs, realising it’s not as easy as it sounds. I finished in around 28 hours and at the finish line I said I’d never do it again. Of course, a few hours later I was already asking where I can sign up for another race! Being addicted to finishing and achieving something in ultra-running is an incredible feeling.

You’re often asked why you’ve been doing such a demanding sport as ultra-running for so many years, and you always repeat that it gives you pleasure. Does that mean skiing isn’t enough?

I did start off doing something else, but I realised I actually prefer summer to winter.

I don’t ski as much as I used to now because I run professionally. If you stop doing something for a long time, it’s hard to

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get back to it again. I’m a very good skier, I’m not afraid to go fast and jump around the rocks – but it’s risky. Particularly if you are good at it and want to push your limits.

So, I gave up the skis and don’t do as much these days. It’s about getting injured – skiing is dangerous. And running doesn’t have those risks. Of course, you can get injured while running, but if you damage your knee while skiing it’s game over.

You come from the East Coast but looking at the races you’ve done on the Ultrasignup website, it looks like you don’t go back there often.

I like going back to races in the east, but travelling costs, so most of my races are in the west, although if I’m honest I like the east just as much. Be it the Grindstone 100 or the Massanutten 100, they are races in the woods and the scenery is completely different to races in the west. I like it. I entered maybe 15, 20 races in the east, a couple of times a year to feel those differences, see new places and meet new people. It’s great to race against new people and on unknown routes – it’s a nice way to get to know the country. Sometimes I think that people from the west of the US have no idea that the trails in the east are just as difficult. East coast trails can be very, very technical. Massanutten does not have a lot of elevation, but it’s a very rocky route, and there’s nothing like it in many places in the west. Of course, there are no mountains in the east, but it doesn’t mean that it’s easy.

I’ve done the Appalachian trail a few times – in Maine or New Hampshire the trail is incredibly difficult and technical, with boulders and stones. I love those kinds of places, after all it’s where I grew up.

Let’s go back to the Appalachian Trail. 1000 kilometres far from home, fighting for the course record – Scott Jurek said it was an obsession for you – and with people from Red Bull there as well (there’s even a documentary film showing your at-

tempt – you can watch it on Netflix).

What do you think, was it easier or harder for the current record-holder, Karel Sabbe, because he was doing it completely alone?

Well, I had two people with me, my dad and my support guy Eric. To be honest, Scott Jurek had a massive team with him. When he ran the Appalachians, he had a whole train of people behind him, every day, the whole way. When I was running, I preferred to be alone. No-one planned to run with me, and I prefer to be alone on the trail. But I did have a great team. And what Karel did was amazing. I spoke to him a bit about it. Nothing disturbed him on the route, he didn’t suffer from any injuries and didn’t have any bad days. He had one support guy and one other person who was helping him in his attempt to get the FKT. As for Scott, he was tweeting

KARL MELTZER

and posting all the time, and lost a lot of time by doing that. I spent two and a half weeks helping him run more effectively, although at the same time I didn’t want to get in his way.

But he was online the whole time and lost a lot of time – I think he’d admit it himself now too. He did things his way and there’s nothing wrong with that. His record on the Appalachian trail was absolutely incredible, because he’d never really been there before. In his whole career he’d only run a few miles in Virginia. He just went to the south and started running. He didn’t recon the area beforehand, he didn’t attempt the trail three times before getting the FKT. Okay, he was crawling at the end, but he did manage it. I think it’s a bigger achievement than my own record.

When it comes to Karel, he ran according to plan the whole time, he was incredibly productive. When I was running, things went

perfectly for the first 19 days, and afterwards I started to get shin splints and I lost of load of time. I managed to finish the trail in 41 days, but that’s what running’s like. It was great that Red Bull was able to make a film about my exploits, without getting in the way. They didn’t force me to give interviews or anything like that. They could film me, but they couldn’t interfere with my plans. So they filmed. And paid for the whole undertaking. I was really lucky that things worked out that way, otherwise, without the support I probably wouldn’t have been able to attempt the Appalachian trail a third time.

It’s hard to admit, but it’s an expensive affair. Paying for people to leave their job for a month or a month and a half and live a long way from home. My support team was also sponsored by them. It’s really nice that the

film is still popular on Netflix, although for me it’s all in the past now.

Something that you don’t see very often on trails in Europe are wild animals. Tell me about the time you escaped from a moose.

I was running the Big Horn 100 in 2009 – it was an out and back route. It was already getting dark, around 8 pm, and I was in the woods, near the turnaround point and suddenly ... there’s a moose right in front of me.

A huge two-metre-high creature, right in the middle of the path. And it was moving straight towards me at top speed, so I jumped behind the widest tree I could fine next to the trail, and she was stood on the other side of it, waiting. There was about a metre and a half between us. I was really scared, so I started talking to her “darling, come on, go back

photo: Josh Campbell Red Bull Content Pool

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KARL MELTZER

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KARL MELTZER

photo: Carl Rosen Red Bull Content Pool

It was already getting dark, around 8 pm, and I was in the woods, near the turnaround point and suddenly ... there’s a moose right in front of me. to the woods”. (laugh) A few minutes later she headed off, so I got back on the path and started running, looking behind me. And suddenly she starts following me! I’ve already run 49 miles and am pushing 100% with the thundering of hooves behind me. I looked behind me, the moose was about a metre and a half away, so I jumped into the bushes on the left-hand side and quickly hid behind another big tree, which was luckily nearby.

And again, she was looking at me from behind the tree, and my heart was pounding.

It lasted about two minutes - in the end the creature headed off towards the hill, and I lost my mind. Once she disappeared, I ran to the water station. The moose had kicked me slightly in the hand and the shin, but it wasn’t anything serious. I told the whole story to the guys at the water station and told them to go into the woods and make some noise. I stopped the guy who was running behind me and told him that there’s a moose out there in the coppice, so he should watch out. I slowed down for the next 20 miles, but in the end I speeded up at the finish line and won the race. It turned out that a few people saw the moose and her young baby near the course. I was absolutely terrified. It was definitely the best, or the worst, depending on how you look at it, encounter with an animal on the trail. Apart from that, there are lots of snakes in the Appalachians, two-metre high rattlesnakes, pretty fat ones, but thankfully I’ve never met any.

A few years ago, in a conversation on Reddit you said that, after setting a new FKT in the Appalachians, when you felt you form was about to dip, you simply laughed in the face of difficulty. Tell us more about your way of overcoming the wall.

Over the years, and through all the ultra-marathons I’ve run, I’ve had bad moments during the majority of races. It’s normal to have lows. I make sure I keep some perspective and tell myself it’s just a race. I try to stay in good spirits, because any bad thoughts dampen your appetite, make you lose energy and then everything can go wrong. If you can stay in a good mood for as long as possible, everything will work out one way or another in the end. To some extent I have to laugh at it all because I’m a professional, and us professionals do everything well in theory. But I can assure you this happens pretty rarely.

So I try to look at things positively and get through every low. I often say, “it can’t always get worse”, but it really is the case. In ultras you can feel terrible 20 miles in, but after 70 miles you can feel like superman.

It’s all a bit weird.

I can’t not ask you now about something that’s very important to you. How many 100-mile victories have you had to date, 40?

And do you sometimes wear those famous belt buckles?

Yes, it’s 40, exactly. I don’t think I’ve ever worn any of those special 100-mile belt buckles (laugh) It’s funny, because I have a belt or two hanging in the cellar, with around 30 buckles on them. But it’s not my style.

It’s fun, I get it, but... it’s just a buckle. And I’m a pretty simple guy, I don’t get very sentimental about these kinds of things and I only keep the good trophies. I have loads of them in my cellar, that kind of sentimentality is cool but... Maybe that’s why everything has gone so well for me in sport, because I’m not worried about these things. In general, it’s pretty rare I worry about anything, and that’s helpful in ultra-running. Sometimes

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photo: Carl Rosen Red Bull Content Pool people go to races with plans and charts. But if you focus too much on the plan, it won’t work out because you’re thinking too much.

It’s a bit like golf, and you know, Filip, I play a lot – if you think about your swing for too long, it’ll go wrong. You just have to take a swing and hit the ball. If you have problems, it’s best to face them and push on through.

Many good ultra-runners are able to deal with challenges. The world isn’t perfect and sometimes things are tough.

But don’t seemingly easier races, like the C&O Canal 100 Miler, with virtually no elevation and a route that runs along the Potomac, appeal to you?

Wouldn’t that be an easier goal?

No, not really. I like varied terrain. When I was younger, my strong point was the mountains, like Hardrock or UTMB, difficult mountain trails. But as I’ve got older, my climbing speed has dropped, and I’ve had to get used to that. My strength is very technical terrain, with a lot of stones. Over the last few years some people have said: “Karl chooses easier races so that he can win 1000milers”.

I understand what they’re saying, but I don’t agree. Or sometimes they say I should enter the Western States or Hardrock every year.

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photo: Josh Campbell Red Bull Content Pool I’ve run the Hardrock thirteen times and I don’t have to do it again. It’s a great race, fantastic, but why not do something different?

I ran the Lone Star 100, a small race with not many participants which is easy for me to get to, in Texas in February – the route is awesome, it’s very technical and difficult. So I went there. This year I’m going to run the Pocatello 100 north of Salt Lake City, which is a great event and a beautiful place. And the fact that the world’s elite don’t do these races doesn’t matter to me. Just like it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. Well, okay, (laugh) of course I want to win, that feeling never gets old, but above all I want to see new trails.

I’m 51 and I doubt I’m going to be this crazy until I’m 70. So I want to get to know new places before I hang up my running shoes. I like the local running scene just as much as I like big events like the UTMB. Compared to peers like Jurek, Walmsley and Wardian, you’re a bit of a different ultra-runner – you sometimes eat junk food and like beer. What’s your diet like? And did you really drink five cans of Red Bull a day in the Appalachians?

Red Bull isn’t so different from Coca Cola.

You might not believe it, but it only has caf-

feine, more vitamin D and taurine, that’s all.

The Red Bull brand created the energy drink market, but in the end it’s just sugar and caffeine, and now they’ve added some different flavours. So I also drink coke, because I like the taste. As for my diet, I eat a balanced diet and I like meat. Scott Jurek, Mike Wardian and Jim Walmsley are vegetarians, but that’s not for me. I like a good cheeseburger. I don’t overdo it with food, and I don’t eat fast food, I keep well clear of that. Sometimes I might have a chocolate bar, a Milky Way perhaps, and my support team always has a cold beer for me at the end of the day. Sometimes I don’t even finish it. I just like the way it tastes, yeah I really like beer (laugh).

The secret of your success if your ability to take things easy. However, it doesn’t agree with the method that Wardian uses, for example.

And I also think you don’t enter short races, like Mike does. Is the fact you don’t overdo it with mileage the secret to maintaining such a high level of performance for the last 20 years?

And reacting to the signals your body is sending to you?

That’s true, I do listen to my body. My training isn’t particularly structured, of course I

photo: Interpret Studios Red Bull Content Pool have certain principles, but I run simply because I enjoy running, and not because I have to push myself to the next level. When I go running every day in the mountains and do a kilometre or so of elevation, then I sit down, relax and enjoy the view, wondering how hard I should run. I’m not going to lie, I’ve got a gift, it’s all genetic and I’ve got no doubt, I’ve probably got good genes. It’s something I really appreciate, but I still always listen to my body. Thanks to that, when I’m tired, or something’s going wrong, I can always slow down and no overdo things. I’ve been doing this now for over 25 years and I know when to pull back and when to go all in. Someone like Wardian is a freak, but I love the guy, he’s in incredible sportsman.

Taking into account his diet, he’s been able to run at a high level over different distances for ages. He beat the FNK for the Israel National Trail, doing almost 100 km a day, and two weeks later he ran a marathon in 2.35 – that’s insane! You can get used to the distance, but your legs won’t be that fast.

And do you do CrossFit too? (laugh) No, I don’t do CrossFit, I’m a runner. I do other things to recover after a race, I might jump on the bike to give my knees a rest. But apart from that I just keep to my

training schedule and allow my organism to do whatever it’s able to do.

Let’s talk about money. You’re a professional, you’re sponsored by a few companies, and organise the Speedgoat 50K event with a friend. Can you make a living from ultra-running?

Yeah, it’s possible. I’m able to get by. A lot of people do online coaching, especially later in their career, and that’s also been a good idea for me. It’s not like I’ve got some fancy accreditation or anything, but I’ve been involved in ultras for a long time, and in general I’m able to motivate and inspire people to train the right way and listen to their own organism. I don’t work for Red Bull anymore, but when I did the money wasn’t enough to survive on. But if you put it all together, Hoka One One, coaching and my Speedgoat 50 event, it’s pretty good, although it’s not like I’m making a fortune. But I get by.

The guys who are just running aren’t even able to buy a house and pay the mortgage.

But people don’t talk about that in the ultra-running community.

Okay. You’ve been involved with the guys who “give you wings”, Jurek has recently been working with the

Spartan team, and Dean Karnazes has been promoting The North Face Endurance Race for years. Do you not miss the romanticised model of a skier’s life or an easy-going runner?

That’s a difficult question. Scott often gives talks for money, that’s his main source of income. One way or another, we all dropped the easy-going lifestyle, to start a new stage of our life. For example, I’ve never written a book – my wife says I should. But I’m not a writer, so it’s hard to motivate myself. I focus on what I like doing, that’s what my world is like, that’s how I work. I was asked if I wanted to cooperate with Spartan, but some of the things they do didn’t suit me, so I said no. But they’re doing cool stuff with Scott, who believes in them. The most important thing is to know how to continue your running career. Scott really looks after his image, but that’s not my thing. If I have an opinion about something, you can agree or disagree, it’s fine with me.

Rob Krar recently released his own ultra-socks, Jurek has been advertising Brooks for years and Krupicka La Sportiva. How do you remember working on your Hoka One One

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shoes? And how does it feel, seeing people on the trail in your gear?

Filip, it’s one of the best things you can see!

When Deckers bought Hoka One One, their owner had no money and they were barely making ends meet. That was when I gave them the trademark rights for “Speedgoat”.

It’s a great name for a shoe – I suggested it

She’s a terrible golfer… (laugh) She’s finished three hundred-milers, she’s not a fast runner, but she really enjoys it. When I met her in 2004, I was working as a barman and was a ski bum. It was the last day of her stay in Snowberg, she’d come with her friend and they wanted one more drink before flying back home. So, she goes into a bar, meets me,

I’m not going to lie, I’ve got a gift, it’s all genetic and I’ve got no doubt, I’ve probably got good genes. It’s something I really appreciate, but I still always listen to my body. to the boss in 2014 because they didn’t have a moderate shoe, one that wasn’t too high or too low. My idea was to make something soft, but with the right tread and the right cushioning, not too much and not too little. I told them exactly how I saw it and they said they’d try to make a shoe like it. Back then I was more well-known than I am now, so everything went well. The first model was okay, but some people reported problems. It was only once the second model appeared that people said “Wow”! And now, seeing these shoes on the trail is a great feeling, because people say the shoes are great regardless of whether they recognise me or not. Seeing shoes with my nickname on them is priceless! (laugh) It’s cool to go to races and see one, two, three, four, ten pairs of my shoes, it’s a really nice feeling! You have the feeling that you’re having a good influence on people.

And the shoes themselves sell great, so well that Hoka is still producing them. You know, Jurek doesn’t even have his own shoes (laugh) And the problem with Anton (Krupicka) is that he’s constantly injured, which is a shame because he’s a good runner.

How does your family react to your passion? Does your wife Cheryl share your addiction to the trails – after all she supports you at many races. Does she run with you sometimes, or play gold?

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and a year later moves to Utah and marries me. When we spoke for the first time, Cheryl ran maybe a mile a day in Pennsylvania, maybe two after Easter. And now she loves running with her friends in the mountains. It’s a great set-up, because she supports me at races and I support her. And she understands that I also have to live where I am at the moment.

I don’t live abroad, but at the same time I do the things I like instead of always having this feeling that I have to work, I have to go to the office. I don’t want to work at all, if you get what I mean. People always tell me how busy they are, and in my opinion that’s a mistake.

If I can manage financially, I don’t want to work again. I want to retire, play golf every day and run in the mountains. (laugh).

In his book about the Appalachians, Scott Jurek wrote “it was hard for me to imagine him using a phone or even owning a cell phone”. What are you like on social media? Recently you haven’t been seen much on Twitter, and your website hasn’t been updated lately.

I don’t feel like I have to tweet and be online all the time. Okay, I use the internet like anyone else, I’m not going to deny that, but sometimes I think people spend too much time on social media. When I do post something, I try to be creative and honest in what I say. Sometimes I come across some idiot

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and it looks pretty bad. Scott’s funny, because he loves it, in the Appalachians he had his phone in his hand the whole time, he was constantly talking. It all depends what kind of person you are, Mike Wardian, for example, is online the whole day, and it seems to me that’s all he does. (laugh) Of course, he does tons of other things too, like running...

Walmsley is on Twitter non-stop. But they just talk to themselves all the time. I don’t want to shove anything into anyone’s face, I can honestly recommend something, say whether I like something or not, even if it’s about my sponsor. I run for a few companies, I love my shoes, but I don’t have an agent to look for extra sponsors or more money. That’s not my style. Some runners have agents, but is it really honest if a guy’s running for three different companies for four years? Did he really like those shoes? I doubt it, it’s more about making money. And that’s not good. If Hoka decides to cancel our agreement in two years, I’m not going to go to Altra and tell them they can sponsor me. If I did that, I’d lose my authenticity. When I entered races wearing the Hoka prototype in 2009, people were saying: “what the hell are you wearing, they look like moonshoes”. I told them that I like them, they’re comfortable, and that wearing them I’ll kick their butts. So, I was in shape, I had my moonshoes on and was climbing over some fallen trees around 40 miles in, suddenly a dry branch snapped and I broke my arm. That’s was it for me, race over, I had to crawl to the next water station.

And although everyone thought I dropped out because of my shoes, that wasn’t the case.

The shoes had nothing to do with it. But it made them popular, because there was a story about them, and people were intrigued.

When the shoes appeared on the market, I went to two running shops – it turned out that they had sold out before they could even put them on the shelves! It happened because people knew me, and I recommended them.

It was crazy. I run in Hokas now. I used to run in La Sportiva shoes, but they didn’t

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fit me well, although the company itself and the employees were really cool. At first Hoka didn’t offer me anything, I just liked the shoes they made.

Coconino cowboys have been winning foreign races lately – they’ve been getting good results in China, and had success in trail races in the south of Europe. In an interview for The Intelligent Racer podcast, you envied the training conditions of people living in Chamonix valley.

Would you like to move to the old continent any time? John Kelly, for example, has been living near Bristol for a while and getting local FKTs. I dream about living in Europe. If I could, I would move there straight away. I’ve been to Switzerland a few times, to the south of Germany, and of course Chamonix. You’ve got a lot of mountains. I’ve got three-thousanders near me, but the mountains in Chamonix are twice as high. It’s a different league. I like the old continent, but my best years are behind me now. That part of the world is incredible, the food is awesome, the mountains are amazing, the people are cool and speak different languages – in the States we’ve just got one...

You once complained that the elite in the US use pacemakers, while they are banned in Europe. What is it about pacemakers you don’t like?

There’s no problem, as long as the stay in the middle of the pack. It’s just, my opinion is that a race is much more satisfying if you rely on yourself. I don’t need to hear someone behind me clapping and shouting, “faster, take a gel!” I like to do things my way, even if it means it’s not easy. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, which I’ve put right. When I went to the Appalachian trail the first time, I didn’t ask anyone for advice. I think that doing things yourself is more rewarding. All the fast guys in the Western States have their own pacemakers – why don’t they run without

them? I think Jim (Walmsley) ran by himself last year, beating the course record. It’s not like someone is carrying you on their back, but maybe picking up a gel you dropped is kind of like being carried? (laugh)

When our interview is published, you’ll probably have done the Pocatello 100-miler, and in August you’ve got La Sal. What other long races are in your plans this year? Hardrock as usual?

No, I don’t think I’ll return to Hardrock. Not because I don’t like the course, but because a lot of people want to enter the race. And I’ve done it 13 times now, well, and it’s tough... (laugh) Pocatello 100 is on 31 May, so I’ll go to the East Coast and do the 233-mile Long Trail in Vermont with a friend. We’ll hike it like normal people. Then I’ll go home for the Speedgoat 50 event. After doing the Ute 100 in La Sal I don’t actually have any plans. But I guarantee you I’ll do something cool.

Karl, I hope you soon set the a new magical record for the number of victories in 100-milers. And you’re welcome any time to come and do an ultra in Poland. We run similar distances over here, although of course in the summer it’s not as hot as in Utah or Colorado! Good luck and maybe see you at the Speedgoat 50K! Sure, if you want to run just let me know, and say you know the race organiser. (laugh) It would be great to have you as a guest. I’ve enjoyed talking to you. It’s nice to give interviews, but I find people usually ask the same questions all the time. Yours, on the other hand, were different. I’m getting on a bit now and I like that.

Łemkowyna Ultra Trail Michael Wardian photos: Karolina Krawczyk / Łemkowyna Ultra-Trail®

MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

I

am going to tell you the story of my experience racing the 150K at the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail.

My name is Michael Wardian and I am professional runner and I feel so fortunate to get to live my dreams and chase my passion. I love competing in all distances from 1600 Meters to 400 Kilometers and everything in between.

I don’t just run trails but on roads, treadmills up and down buildings and just about anywhere I can. I even hope to even run in Space one day.

But this story is about my first trip to Poland

I really enjoyed the small town of Krosno. It was charming and where the race Headquarters were located. We took in some great food before the race in the local square and got to dine in some catacombs.

The day of the race arrived and I attended a breakfast at the local gym with delicious local food. There were apples, plum jamwhich is a local favorite, fresh honey, warm bread that is customary to the region. All this really showed how much the race cares about the runners and goes out of their way to share Polish culture and for me made the race very special and unique and you could

LEMKOWYNA IS ONE OF THE MOST GORGEOUS PLACES I HAVE SEEN ON ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS. THE LANDSCAPE OF ROLLING HILLS, WITH SMALL TOWNS, FARMS, PASTURES, MISTY RIDGE LINES AND INCREDIBLE TRESS OF VARIOUS COLORS IN PEAK FALL COLOR. I WAS STUNNED BY THE WAY THE SUN REFLECTED OFF LEAVES AND DAPPLED THE COUNTRY IN SHADOW.

and how much I enjoyed the incredible opportunity to be part of a world class event called the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail.

I learned that Lemkowyna means “not so high mountains” and that was true, however, what the region of Lemkowyna lack for in huge mountains and altitude it made up for in beauty. Lemkowyna is one of the most gorgeous places I have seen on all seven continents. The landscape of rolling hills, with small towns, farms, pastures, misty ridge lines and incredible tress of various colors in peak fall color. I was stunned by the way the sun reflected off leaves and dappled the country in shadow.

I was surprised by how far Lemkowyna was from Warsaw so I had the pleasure of sharing a very long but fun filled car ride to and from Warsaw with some great new friends.

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tell that a lot of thought and love went into the preparation.

After breakfast, I took another long ride to the race start location, which was Krynica, which is a little village nestled in the mountains that is world renowned for being a spa and healing destination. I quickly grabbed my race number/bib from the Krynica-Zdroj race start line and then attended a press conference.

During the press conference, we talked about the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail (LUT) and also how Ultra Trail Lemkowyna was part of the Ultra Trail World Tour (UTWT). It was nice to share the stage with Krzysztof Gajdzinski, the race director and Marie Sammons head of the UTWT. We quickly talked about race strategy and how I thought it would go. I joked that my

goal was to stay near the front pack and out kick them at the end and of course, with any long race you can never know how it is going to go especially as I had been coming off one of the biggest events I had ever done which was running 300K on the C&O canal in Washington, DC and breaking the fastest known time (FKT) of 36:48 by a mere 12 mins running 36:36 in early September.

I felt ok, leaving the press conference and took in some food quickly and tried to sleep.

LUT, starts at midnight so I had a few hours to rest before the race and believe it our not after dinner I did sleep but when I woke something was feeling off. My stomach was gurgling, which is never a good sign and I kept having to go to the bathroom. I tried to eat a bit but everything was going right through me. I thought maybe I had something bad at dinner but I was super careful.

I knew it wasn’t nerves as LUT was my 43 race of the year, I had already raced more than 1700 Kilometers in 2018, so my legs and mind were strong, just something was off.

I made it to the start line with my mandatory kit, and I was ready to go. The weather was perfect, no rain, chilly but not cold and clear so we would have great views of the stars.

I absolutely love running at night, especially in the woods with friends and I considered everyone I meet in Poland a friend, there were so many people that came up and welcomed me and brought me into the community that I was stoked to share some kilometers with them. I took a few selfies, did some posts to social media and waited.

I quickly fit my bag on my back and noticed something odd. The bite value on my bag was leaking a little... hum, that is odd, why I think and then I felt more water gushing out all over me. I realized that when I took a sip of water before the race that the bit value broke and was not leaking. Not ideal, what to do. Luckily, I had soft flasks I packed for when the sun came up and if we were on any long exposed parts so I could carry a bit more fluid; however, I was planning to use my backpack bladder to carry the majority of

MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

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MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

my water. Well that is not going to work now.

I tried to tape the value but it was broken in just the right spot that nothing could repair it. Lesson learned, double and triple check your kit prior to the big day.

One of the biggest things I think happens in an ultra is people get overwhelmed and fail to adapt but with any race and especially with ultra marathons if you don’t adapt you don’t finish. The only thing you can count on in an ultra is that whatever you thought was going to happen probably will not and you need to be prepared and ready to deal with anything.

I just decided ok, my bladder is not working, how can I adapt and I just decided I would go with the 2 soft flasks and suffer when the sun came up.

I was also trying to determine just how bad my stomach was. I tried eating again and of course, the food went in and came right back out. Again, not the best pre-race confidence booster. I figured I don’t feel sick, just sick to my stomach so I will start and see what happens.

I went to the bathroom a few more times, grabbed my busted backpack and headed to the starting line. The scene was terrific, there was music and lots of nervous energy.

On the way to the start, I knew I was racing in Europe as I saw a few guys taking their last few drags on cigarettes. I just smiled to myself those are few less guys I have to worry about catching me but also, they are complete bad arses. I can’t imagine being a smoker but so glad they are out pushing their limits too.

As the race started, I immediately knew that my plan of staying with the leaders was impossible. I settled into a much easier pace and just tried to keep from going to the bathroom. It kind of worked for a bit but then we started having to run down a lot of hills and each downhill caused my stomach to drop and push on my guts which caused me to have to use the bathroom by 20K, I wasn’t sure I could continue but my new friend Miki was in charge of the 40K stop and I had to see him and say hi so I pushed on. I knew Miki

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had put in so much time and energy to get his aid station going I wasn’t going to miss it.

I finally arrived at Miki’s aid station and immediately went to the bathroom. I stayed inside the bathroom for ages and when I finally left, I decided I would take some anti-diarrhea medicine and try and eat some food. I did and got out of the 40K aid station, well back of where I wanted to be but still moving forward.

I eventually was able to move forward

let’s push till 80K and then grab something special from your drop bag.

I also took full advantage of every aid station, asking for soup, water, hot tea, anything that sounded good and had calories. I knew I was behind but I was determined.

I really enjoyed my time in the Beskid Mountains and following the trails that connects them. I felt like the point to point course had me highly motivated to keep going so that I could see what was next.

I LOVE THAT DURING AN ULTRA YOU CAN HAVE A BAD PATCH, WHICH COULD LAST HOURS BUT IF YOU KEEP MOVING FORWARD EVEN SLOWLY YOU CAN DO INCREDIBLE THINGS. I JUST KEEP PUTTING ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER AND EVENTUALLY, I STARTED CATCHING PEOPLE AND WAS MOVING UP.

quicker as the medicine kicked in. I was able to eat a bit more and then started to feel a touch better.

My stomach was still hurting but I wasn’t having to stop and I started to be able to increase the pace.

I love that during an ultra you can have a bad patch, which could last hours but if you keep moving forward even slowly you can do incredible things. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually, I started catching people and was moving up.

I also learned that whatever was in the mineral water was not agreeing with my stomach so I switched from water to Pepsi/Coke and that made a huge difference. I was able to stay hydrated and used the calories in the soda to keep pressing.

I kept making short term goals and those little victories got me to the finish line.

I would be saying I bet the sunrise is awesome, let’s push until the sun comes out or

I also enjoyed how challenging the course was. The track reminds we a lot of running by my house in Washington, DC, the mountains we have close are also not so tall but they are steep and after many hours of running you know you have accomplished something. I loved how runnable the course was.

If you had the energy and stamina you could crack the downhills and flat.

I hope someday to have the chance to visit Lemkowyna again and take part in the event.

I know that I didn’t have the day I wanted but I was definitely stricken by the beauty and people of Lemkowyna and Poland and I can’t wait to visit again.

I can’t recommend the race enough, they do an incredible job and really know what runner need and want and spare no expense to provide it and support you along the entire journey.

I ended 5th overall and I believe first veteran in 18:56:08.

MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

I hope you will give Ultra Trail Lemkowyna a try and maybe I will see you there in the future. Be careful if you do go, I know you will want to visit again I am going to tell you the story of my experience racing the 150K at the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail.

My name is Michael Wardian and I am professional runner and I feel so fortunate to get to live my dreams and chase my passion. I love competing in all distances from 1600 Meters to 400 Kilometers and everything in between.

I don’t just run trails but on roads, treadmills up and down buildings and just about anywhere I can. I even hope to even run in Space one day.

But this story is about my first trip to Poland and how much I enjoyed the incredible opportunity to be part of a world class event called the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail.

I learned that Lemkowyna means “not so high mountains” and that was true, however, what the region of Lemkowyna lack for in huge mountains and altitude it made up for in beauty. Lemkowyna is one of the most gorgeous places I have seen on all seven continents. The landscape of rolling hills, with small towns, farms, pastures, misty ridge lines and incredible tress of various colors in peak fall color. I was stunned by the way the sun reflected off leaves and dappled the country in shadow.

I was surprised by how far Lemkowyna was from Warsaw so I had the pleasure of sharing a very long but fun filled car ride to and from Warsaw with some great new friends.

I really enjoyed the small town of Krosno. It was charming and where the race Headquarters were located. We took in some great food before the race in the local square and got to dine in some catacombs.

The day of the race arrived and I attended a breakfast at the local gym with delicious local food. There were apples, plum jamwhich is a local favorite, fresh honey, warm bread that is customary to the region. All this really showed how much the race cares

about the runners and goes out of their way to share Polish culture and for me made the race very special and unique and you could tell that a lot of thought and love went into the preparation.

After breakfast, I took another long ride to the race start location, which was Krynica, which is a little village nestled in the mountains that is world renowned for being a spa and healing destination. I quickly grabbed my race number/bib from the Krynica-Zdroj race start line and then attended a press conference.

During the press conference, we talked about the Lemkowyna Ultra Trail (LUT) and also how Ultra Trail Lemkowyna was part of the Ultra Trail World Tour (UTWT). It was nice to share the stage with Krzysztof Gajdzinski, the race director and Marie Sammons head of the UTWT. We quickly talked about race strategy and how I thought it would go. I joked that my goal was to stay near the front pack and out kick them at the end and of course, with any long race you can never know how it is going to go especially as I had been coming off one of the biggest events I had ever done which was running 300K on the C&O canal in Washington, DC and breaking the fastest known time (FKT) of 36:48 by a mere 12 mins running 36:36 in early September.

I felt ok, leaving the press conference and took in some food quickly and tried to sleep.

LUT, starts at midnight so I had a few hours to rest before the race and believe it our not after dinner I did sleep but when I woke something was feeling off. My stomach was gurgling, which is never a good sign and I kept having to go to the bathroom. I tried to eat a bit but everything was going right through me. I thought maybe I had something bad at dinner but I was super careful.

I knew it wasn’t nerves as LUT was my 43 race of the year, I had already raced more than 1700 Kilometers in 2018, so my legs and mind were strong, just something was off.

I made it to the start line with my mandatory kit, and I was ready to go. The weather was

perfect, no rain, chilly but not cold and clear so we would have great views of the stars.

I absolutely love running at night, especially in the woods with friends and I considered everyone I meet in Poland a friend, there were so many people that came up and welcomed me and brought me into the community that I was stoked to share some kilometers with them. I took a few selfies, did some posts to social media and waited.

I quickly fit my bag on my back and noticed something odd. The bite value on my bag was leaking a little... hum, that is odd, why I think and then I felt more water gushing out all over me. I realized that when I took a sip of water before the race that the bit value broke and was not leaking. Not ideal, what to do. Luckily, I had soft flasks I packed for when the sun came up and if we were on any long exposed parts so I could carry a bit more fluid; however, I was planning to use my backpack bladder to carry the majority of my water. Well that is not going to work now.

I tried to tape the value but it was broken in just the right spot that nothing could repair it. Lesson learned, double and triple check your kit prior to the big day.

One of the biggest things I think happens in an ultra is people get overwhelmed and fail to adapt but with any race and especially with ultra marathons if you don’t adapt you don’t finish. The only thing you can count on in an ultra is that whatever you thought was going to happen probably will not and you need to be prepared and ready to deal with anything.

I just decided ok, my bladder is not working, how can I adapt and I just decided I would go with the 2 soft flasks and suffer when the sun came up.

I was also trying to determine just how bad my stomach was. I tried eating again and of course, the food went in and came right back out. Again, not the best pre-race confidence booster. I figured I don’t feel sick, just sick to my stomach so I will start and see what happens.

I went to the bathroom a few more times, grabbed my busted backpack and headed to

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MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

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MIKE WARDIAN ŁUT

the starting line. The scene was terrific, there was music and lots of nervous energy.

On the way to the start, I knew I was racing in Europe as I saw a few guys taking their last few drags on cigarettes. I just smiled to myself those are few less guys I have to worry about catching me but also, they are complete bad arses. I can’t imagine being a smoker but so glad they are out pushing their limits too.

As the race started, I immediately knew that my plan of staying with the leaders was impossible. I settled into a much easier pace and just tried to keep from going to the bathroom. It kind of worked for a bit but then we started having to run down a lot of hills and each downhill caused my stomach to drop and push on my guts which caused me to have to use the bathroom by 20K, I wasn’t sure I could continue but my new friend Miki was in charge of the 40K stop and I had to see him and say hi so I pushed on. I knew Miki had put in so much time and energy to get his aid station going I wasn’t going to miss it.

I finally arrived at Miki’s aid station and immediately went to the bathroom. I stayed inside the bathroom for ages and when I finally left, I decided I would take some anti-diarrhea medicine and try and eat some food. I did and got out of the 40K aid station, well back of where I wanted to be but still moving forward.

I eventually was able to move forward quicker as the medicine kicked in. I was able to eat a bit more and then started to feel a touch better.

My stomach was still hurting but I wasn’t having to stop and I started to be able to increase the pace.

I love that during an ultra you can have a bad patch, which could last hours but if you keep moving forward even slowly you can do incredible things. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually, I started catching people and was moving up.

I also learned that whatever was in the mineral water was not agreeing with my stomach so I switched from water to Pepsi/Coke

and that made a huge difference. I was able to stay hydrated and used the calories in the soda to keep pressing.

I kept making short term goals and those little victories got me to the finish line.

I would be saying I bet the sunrise is awesome, let’s push until the sun comes out or let’s push till 80K and then grab something special from your drop bag.

I also took full advantage of every aid station, asking for soup, water, hot tea, anything that sounded good and had calories. I knew I was behind but I was determined.

I really enjoyed my time in the Beskid Mountains and following the trails that connects them. I felt like the point to point course had me highly motivated to keep going so that I could see what was next.

I also enjoyed how challenging the course was. The track reminds we a lot of running by my house in Washington, DC, the mountains we have close are also not so tall but they are steep and after many hours of running you know you have accomplished something. I loved how runnable the course was.

If you had the energy and stamina you could crack the downhills and flat.

I hope someday to have the chance to visit Lemkowyna again and take part in the event.

I know that I didn’t have the day I wanted but I was definitely stricken by the beauty and people of Lemkowyna and Poland and I can’t wait to visit again.

I can’t recommend the race enough, they do an incredible job and really know what runner need and want and spare no expense to provide it and support you along the entire journey.

I ended 5th overall and I believe first veteran in 18:56:08.

I hope you will give Ultra Trail Lemkowyna a try and maybe I will see you there in the future. Be careful if you do go, I know you will want to visit again

bio Mike Wardian American based professional marathon and ultramarathon runner, team USA member, national and world ultramarathon champion, Guinness World record holder. Michael runs on roads, trails, treadmills, mountains and every where in between

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First place goes to nature text: Katarzyna Kucab-Klich and Kamil Klich image: Zofia Rogula I truly hope that many people are able to improve their attitude towards protecting the environment, despite my experience to date. It doesn’t matter how many people go to the mountains, what matter is their relationship with nature. (...) We shouldn’t go walking in the mountains if we have to fight with nature, but only if we love it with all our heart.

G. Reinisch, Wanda Rutkiewicz.

A Caravan of Dreams, p. 30.

THE CITY OF ULTRA RUNNERS

T

he ultra-running community was shocked in mid-October after hearing that the race director of the Łemkowyna Ultra-Trail®, Krzysztof Gajdziński, had decided to disqualify Edyta Lewandowska and thereby change the women’s leaderboard on the 70 km event.

Edyta Lewandowska finished the race in first place, but after hearing from supporters that she had thrown away empty gel packaging in front of them, and in doing so had broken one of the rules, the winner of one of the most popular running events of this distance in Poland was disqualified. The runner owned up to her actions but did not agree with the organiser’s decision to strip her of her title. There were heated debates on running forums, splitting the running community into two groups.

After analysing the rules of the most important ultras around the world, it’s clear that they also have non-littering clauses with penalties for runners who don’t follow the rules.

The penalties range from disqualification to time penalties (e.g. the Eiger Ultra Trail).

This situation set a new precedent in Poland.

The decision might seem shocking, because it affected the winner. But there have been other situations like this around the world. In January 2018, Liang Jing, the winner of the Vibram HK100, setting a new course record in the process, was disqualified for receiving support and littering. An equally strict approach to the rules, in particular those concerning respect for nature, is represented by Sébastien Chaigneau, who is both a member of the Environmental Protection Commission of the ITRA and organises various runs as part of the Trail de Glières. People who litter during his events are removed from the course and lose the chance to take part in the race again. You can read all about in the 2016 summer edition of ULTRA magazine.

We asked Dr Michał Węgrzyn, member of the Regional Council for the Protection of the Environment at the Regional Office for

Environmental Protection in Krakow, for a statement about this.

“We should ask the question - Why such a difficult race is organised in a protected region, which is wild and remote and where valuable animal species and flora coexist? You might say that it’s about running in mountainous terrain, so that the route can offer a sufficient amount of climbing and the right length. But you can find other areas in Poland that are not protected, where there is enough space to organise this kind of event (...) The answer may seem simple and it comes down to our natural instincts. Because we feel good when we’re in wild and virgin terrain. And we feel even better competing with others, not to mention winning. I have no idea how difficult it is to run 70 km from Krynica to Komaczy in under 13 hours, but I do know that it takes months of work to document the current condition of the natural environment in this region. If someone asks why we need to count the number of predators, wolves, bears or lynx in the Carpathian Forest, and why we need to count the number of natural habitats and determine the status of protected plants, fungi and lichen, it is so that we can better protect the last fragments of wild terrain in Poland and Europe. It is also so that we are able to organise events like Łemkowyna in protected areas. So that we know how to minimise the negative effects of the run on protected elements of nature. This discussion got heated, because the disqualified winner twice threw away plastic energy gel packaging. She threw them on the mountain trail in a protected area. I don’t know where exactly, but probably somewhere deep into the race.

It could have been in the Carpathian beech forest, or perhaps part of the meadows with variable humidity content. For the runner it made no difference. It was just one small part of a terribly tiring race. Was is a one-off? No, it happened twice. The clause in the regulations was not put in there on a whim, but because the race organisers take on responsibility for the whole area in which the compet-

itors run. We are all guests here. If someone can’t follow the rules, they are asked to leave.

That’s what the organisers did and respect to them for doing that. By taking such as brave decision, they proved that they deserve the trust of people who look after these areas on a daily basis. The organisers showed that the clauses in the regulations are not just there for show, so it’s not that they are officially in place, but no-one observes or enforces, but that the clauses have been developed and formulated specifically to protect the area. The disqualified runner apologised to the organiser and offered to take part in a clean-up of the course after the race, hoping that they would change their mind. Their decision stood, however, and unfortunately the runner didn’t make the effort to clean up, even on part of the route, just out of principle. But it’s even more unfortunate that other runners didn’t help her out.”

This statement covers the core of the matter, looking at the issue of rivalry and competition, which often blind runners about the need to protect the areas made available to them for this kind of event.

And finally, many people might be concerned by the rather liberal comments about the issue of keeping the trails clean. Lots of comments online also questioned whether the sport is going in the wrong direction, both with regards to waste, and the attitude of some runners to the issue. From our perspective it is. Why do we think so? Because there needs to be a rule saying that you can’t litter on the course. It’s very sad that such obvious behaviour has to be enforced with an official regulation.

It’s a shame that we still seem to be missing some basic cultural principles about respecting the place we are in. Especially as the undoubtedly unique nature of Beskid Niski region should be respected by everyone without exception.

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SCOTT JUREK interviewed by: Marcin Rosłoń / Kingrunner.com photos: Marek Janiak

SCOTT JUREK

SCOTT JUREK

SUPPORT Support is… There is the external support and there is the internal support. And I feel like you have to have that external support, people around you, I mean physical, at the end of the trail like I had every day when Jenny was following me, but it also means support systems where it means people supporting you in terms of like … yeah… you need to run because that’s what keeps you balanced and whatever, and having family, friends that are supporters of that. That’s probably even the most important than actual physical acting like cheering for you.

CRISIS Crisis… that’s I think that’s when humans are at their best or we can also be at our worst and I think we learn the most when we… I think… come back from those crises or deal with those crises in a very effective manner and not to be afraid of them

OFF TRAIL What kind of person are you – the same or different?

I think I’m similar. I think there are a lot of similarities off trail. But I can also be pretty competitive when I turn on the trail, so off the trail I am less competitive but there are still elements that come through, so I have to say it, there are a lot of similarities, for sure…

TRAIL Trail is not only a physical path but I also feel like it’s a thread or a vein that we travel in life and it can be one that’s very uphill and steep at times and then sometimes it’s like all downhill just feels like there is no effort whatsoever. So trail I think it’s our journey in life.

TRIUMPH Triumph… this one is interesting cause if I had to say the basic thing that oh, it’s like that exhilaration, the feeling like that one

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has done something, which is a part of it but I also feel like rather than conquering something or just achieving something, it’s the growth that happen to get there because it’s not so much about the triumph thing like the victory at the end or the finish. It was everything that it took to get to that celebration or that moment of achievement.

JENNY Jenny is… she is… I have to say the words that describe her - she is my best friend, but she is also somebody who challenges me. I

think a partner is someone who can be both loving, supportive, but then they also know how to challenge and Jenny obviously, reading North you probably understand, she can be… she tells it how it is and tells me like, you know… she gets the best out of me because she is honest and she challenges me and holds me to my words. That’s good to have that in a partner. Somebody who can respect me and understand why I want to do this and be supportive and yet grow together.

SCOTT JUREK

ULTRA Ultra means on a superficial level going beyond and I think going beyond in a sense of who we are as people deep inside. Yes, ultra means beyond a marathon, it’s beyond what we think is possible, but it’s also who we are deep inside. And I think we go beyond what we think we’re made of.

vehicle for exploration, for travelling to places that we didn’t think that we could go. And I think the beauty of it is it’s so simple and it’s something humans have been doing for ever. And that’s what I love about it. It’s one of the simplest modes of transport and no matter what size and how fast you are, you can run.

RUN

EAT

Run - beyond the idea that… there is a flight phase where lifting up both legs and both feet at the same time - running is a

Eat is… it’s nourishment, it’s sustaining our bodies but it’s also like there is a pleasure.

That’s one thing on the Appalachian trail

Ultra means on a superficial level going beyond and I think going beyond in a sense of who we are as people deep inside. like eating was something, yes, it was about getting maximum amount of calories but there was also like a pleasure of sitting down like I loved hanging out in the van sometimes too much you know having a meal with Jenny at lunch. It was also this social experience. I think eating is beyond just putting in calories into our body it’s an experience of sharing with others and having that social interaction.

KIDS Kids [laughing] are interesting one. As I like to say. They are… they are… I don’t know…

They are some of the most amazing and also some of the most like distracting things we have in our lives. As I like to say, it’s the best of times and the worst of times. But even the worst of times when I look back at those moments, it’s like aaah, I miss. Sometimes Jenny and I miss our life without the kids but at the same time they’re such a part of it. They add so much to life and create this whole other dynamic. So yeah, as much as I say, they’re way more… they are like the ultras of ultras.

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SCOTT JUREK

SCOTT JUREK

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SCOTT JUREK

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LIKE A CHAMP

PLENTY OF OXYGEN, NOT MUCH RECEPTION text: Magdalena Mrozowska

SZTAFETA GÓRSKA DISTANCE: classic relay, the route is split

into three different sections (E1-28.7 km, E2- 21.7 km, E3- 22.9 km).

ELEVATION: +/- 3000 m COURSE: The route leads along the tourist trails of the

Polish Stołowy Mountains and Broumovske Steny in the Czech Republic and passes through unique places such as: Skansen Pstrążna, the Błędne Skały labyrinth, Sovi Hradek, Kovarova Rokla, the Szczeliniec Wielki labyrinth, Białe Skały and other places.

START AND FINISH: Park Zdrojowy w Kudowa-Zdroj

photo: Piotr Dymus

LIKE A CHAMP

Even if you never miss one the great national road marathons, if you enjoy running in exhaust fumes and listening to the curses of fed-up drivers, if you can’t imagine a race without the discrete stink of blue Portaloos, and the smell and texture of the asphalt trigger the best kind of memories, get out of your comfort zone next year and try this mountain relay.

And if you also have a good, fast team then, on top of enjoying the beautiful landscape and the extraordinary atmosphere, you might even be able to achieve a result you could never have imagined running alone.

They should all go and run in the woods, somewhere like Kampinos forest. They’d have more oxygen and it’d be better for their joints. And the city wouldn’t be paralysed. ~slen

Why don’t all those smart people do their stupid galloping along the banks of the Vistula river, in Olszynka Grochowska, Reduta Ordona or somewhere else in the city instead?

I

t’s Saturday. Twenty hours and around 500 km from the Orlen Warsaw Marathon. In the mountains, somewhere past the town of Karłow.

I feel strange. It’s the first time I’m running alone in an organised race. There’s no-one in sight. A light snow is falling quietly, and I’m alone in the woods. I’m trying to make rhymes in my head. I’m having to detox from technology as my watch has given up on me and my phone has crashed. I don’t know where I am, how many kilometres I’ve done and how many are left. It’s a bit cloudy, sleepy, it’s hard to say what season or day it is.

The views are familiar but are made unfamiliar by the lack of people – in the summer this place is full of people, snacks and balloons.

Today everything is empty and quiet.

Runners pass by every few minutes. I don’t manage to catch anyone. I try not to think

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about it, it’s depressing. I stop counting them.

But I do count the stones I leave in my wake. ~wkurzony

Why don’t they go and run in the forests, or at least in the green Bialoleka district? I get so annoyed by these runners – everything’s just for show. ~anty biegacz

Keep them out of green Bialoleka... let them run in the districts full of lemmings and smog :):)

for my turn, sipping a coffee and enjoying our success. Thanks to the guys we were in an incredible position overall. We were really high up. I’ve never been so close to the top in all my time running in the mountains. And then I started my leg. ~dev

Typical Poles. Instead of chasing the wolf together, they send him to the neighbours’ sheep pen. ~mlody

And where would you send them? Berlin?

There’s no-one here. If the route wasn’t so well marked, I’d be sure that I was lost. I look behind me... phew, someone’s running, the high-vis shirt is dimmed in the thick humid air.

I need to get a grip and speed up a bit. I warned the guys that I’m slow and my mind wanders a lot, but I can’t let them down this much. And more than anything I need to get back to civilisation, to people…

I’m doing the relay. Running our team’s third and final leg. The first runner in our team was Maciek. He ran so fast that we hardly made it in time for his hand-over to James, who’s almost as fast. The hand-over was well organised and went well – the organisers told us the runners who were arriving on a megaphone. It was similar at the second hand-over point. I sat in a warm coffee show at the bottom of Szczeliniec, waiting

~nina

Move to Zyrardow!!

Sadly, I’m not pushing to the limit. The melancholic early spring scenery in the Stolowe mountains slows me down. Couldn’t I just stop in the Błędne Skały labyrinth of caves and look into the depths of a black hole, which might just turn out to be the eye of a cat or swirling embers? Or take photos of the leaves covered in light snow? Or talk to the only person I meet that’s not overtaking me?

Or wish those faster runners good luck, smiling while at the same time stifling my bitterness? Or send my friends a message, tripping at the same time? Or eat a gel? Or lose my tissues and search for them amongst the tree roots, as after all littering is bad, just think

photo: Rafał Bielawa

~tubylec

photo: Rafał Bielawa of the state of the planet, the climate disaster and World War Three?

It would have been better not to do all of that, but to achieve that kind of state of focus you need to train, be a sportsperson and not a Sunday warrior like me. And if you ask me, the conditions shouldn’t be this beautiful, this foresty, full of oxygen and with the sound of birds, but more urban, like Ursynow, Tarchomin or Nowa Huty. In those conditions I wouldn’t have got carried away.

There’s something tragic in this story and the romantic conflict. The main protagonist can’t complete the mission she has been given, because it’s too beautiful to focus... But if it had been ugly, she wouldn’t have taken on the challenge at all.

Okay, enough of all this romanticism, I get a grip and start flying along the route. Literally, because it was a 3 km section of downhill asphalt, enough to give a runner wings.

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What nonsense was I going on about before with the scenery, mother nature and roots under my feel? Jeeze, I must have been hallucinating from too much oxygen, or too little reception? Now the asphalt is my friend and helps me feel like I’m a Kenyan. Dear moment, please last!

It doesn’t last long. Now it’s only up, up, up. But at the top of the hill is a pleasant surprise! Kudowa-Zdroj! The finish line! As sweet as the dessert at Dom Zdrojowy hotel.

Why didn’t anyone warn me it was so close?!!!

I would have hurried up... ~Głodówka

When the route of this marathon that the authorities of Warsaw love so much ran along ul. Surowieckiego, you could have died of hunger because the only grocery store – Megasam – was cut off by the runners.

~nick

And you didn’t know the marathon was on that day; you couldn’t have gone shopping earlier? Only on Sunday once they’d closed the streets did you realise it’s critical and you’re starving? ~Czerstwy

We don’t like old bread.

At the finish line, the guys welcome me like a saviour. Or like a catering company. The hungry, loyal boys had been waiting to have a team meal together. The welcome was as warm as freshly roasted cheese. The hugs like dumplings in steamed cabbage. When we all sat together with our garlic soup, I felt like a fully-fledged member of the team.

In the end, we finished in less than three hours, myself included.

photo: Małgorzata Telega It’s evening. Ten hours to go until the Orlen Warsaw Marathon. At the Kosmiczna (literally cosmic) restaurant in Kudowa Zdrój it’s ladies’ night, runners and patients, the mountain support crew dance with each other and everyone else, after all, they are volunteers.

A golden-tongued Elton wearing a solid-gold jacket is playing music and singing. The rest are wearing whatever – sports clothes, a panther outfit, a cougar costume, a boa and compression socks, breathable or sealed and non-iron. The dancing doesn’t stop until Elton’s applause dies down. The tired watches stop counting steps, the tired waitresses yawn instead of filling more golden glasses. ~wjm

In protest I reckon we should have a “BOYCOTT ORLEN” campaign. Maybe then the management from Plock will take a moment to think before making people’s

life and free time more difficult at the weekend. And if they have to run, then they should invite the runners to their own town ~Maseczka

Good idea! Why don’t they run around the market square in Plock? Or on the streets?

There’s bound to be less exhaust fumes than in Warsaw and they can even run without wearing a mask. * The third hour of the Orlen Warsaw Marathon. A petrol station of the hated (albeit only today and only in the capital) national oil company, on the route between Wrocław and Warsaw. Filling up with dirty petrol and drinking coffee from single-use cups, we cheer on all our friends running along the congested streets Warsaw. *quotes taken from an internet forum

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THE WORLD

OF ULTRA RUNNING ACCORDING TO VIKTÓRIA MAKAI text: Viktória Makai photo: RUN AWAY Campaign

When I run, I feel that I’m who I want to be. I’m myself, although not always the same person.

Running has taught me to love change. It’s taught me to be open to different situations, and to be flexible and creative in solving problems and controlling situations.

photo: RUN AWAY Campaign VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

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VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

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VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

Running is my buddy

M

y name is Viktória Makai, I’m an amateur ultramarathon runner, a seven-time champion of Hungary, 2015 Ultramarathon Runner of the Year, four-time representative of Hungary, a mum twice and a wife once. I like talking about my achievements most when I can show the path that led me here, which offers some tangible proof and perhaps inspiration for others. (I have to admit, the look of surprise on people’s faces when I tell them it’s possible to run 225 km in 24 hours does amuse me, although if I only felt satisfied by showing off my results, I think I’d prefer to be doing magic tricks).

For me, running means personal develop-

On the other hand, in difficult times when we have to focus on other things in our lives, running strengthens us and gives us energy.

Running is my friend For me, running ultras means developing and having fun.

I like training and it helps me keep my ego in check. Task-orientated and speed training teach me discipline, concentration and how to cope with stress.

I love long runs, which teach me patience, endurance and to be present with a warm heart but a cool head.

During a long run I feel like both a particle and an element of god. It’s a fantastic experience for me because it’s real. Our personal-

Our personality achieves balance when we feel both our mortality and immortality at the same time. ment, a lifestyle which guarantees quality. A less important, but wonderful side-effect is that I haven’t changed the size of my clothes since I was 14, when I started running. When I met my husband, we started running together. We travelled to every event organised in the country. For eight years, until we had children, everything we did, the visits to our family, trips or holidays and any knowledge about geography – everything was based on where and when we could run. These activities were associated with experience, which had an influence on our lives. Thanks to them we gained motivation which inspires us to this day.

Having two small children meant we had to modify our activities a bit. We had to think about how important running is to us and “how much it’s still worth to us.” It was then that we realised we love running, that it’s part of us and gives us the energy we need to function at our best.

During easier times in our lives we’re able to devote a lot of time and attention to running.

Then it is strengthened and energised by us.

ity achieves balance when we feel both our mortality and immortality at the same time.

Endre Gyökössy, a Protestant priest and psychologist, once said: “Happy are they who can see a cot, table and coffin in a walnut tree, and see a walnut tree in each of them, because they do not just look, they see.”

I get this feeling when running in nature: going uphill, and then downhill.

I love all forms of running: on the trail, road, and treadmill.

I love experiencing it in different forms: at competitions, for pleasure, during events and on pilgrimages.

Running doesn’t always give me the same thing. I think that’s why it can become part of life.

In 2016, I was invited to the European Championships in 24-hour running. It was an amazing feeling to wear my national team jersey, identify with my country and all the people who have represented it in the past,

photo: Salomon Ultra-Trail Hungary / 96

photo: RUN AWAY Campaig

VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

VIKTÓRIA MAKAI

and will represent it in the future, to the best of their ability.

A year later I was invited back. Unfortunately, the things that motivated me last time around, now weighed on me and stopped me achieving the result I wanted. Last year, instead of going to the championships again, I went on a month-long running pilgrimage, during which me and my husband ran a 1420 km relay on the Mariazell–Csíksomlyó route over 30 days. My mum and our two kids were in the camper van with us. It was a great experience to be able to show our children the true side of running, that it doesn’t just mean Mummy and Daddy going training on Saturday morning, but also a relationship with yourself, with the family, with god, with people, with nature...

Ultra-running is like life itself – or like the every flavour beans in Harry Potter.

Running is my partner In autumn 2018 I was attacked by a man while out running, who beat me and abused me sexually. My husband saved my life. He came out to search for me because I hadn’t come home when I’d planned. His arrival prevented my rape and my death. I felt like I got an opportunity to live my life anew, and approach it in a different way.

I didn’t plan to publicise it much – but let’s be honest, sadly it isn’t a rare occurrence. I wrote a bit about it on a Facebook page for sportspeople, just like I write about all the good and bad things associated with my running. The story got a lot of traction. It led to surprise and fear. But I didn’t want this incident to only lead to that, because it’s not true.

Yes. On the one hand I lost trust in people, in the world, while at the same time I received a lot from my husband and the people close to me. My losses and gains are real. So, this terrible thing happened to me? Yeah, it did, but what I experienced is also a miracle - life is valuable, and the love of my husband is truly like something out of a fairy-tale. Except there’s no fairy-tale about a prince rescuing his loved one from a dragon after 15

years of marriage. In films it would seem sentimental, but in real life it is a challenge for your whole life!

In short, in that situation, as in many cases, it was time to decide: Which wolf do I want to feed? The self-pity wolf or the grateful wolf?

That’s why the awareness campaign RUN AWAY is so important to me, a project I created together with my cousin László Szilágyi, which consists of six photographs and two films.

I believe that in life, things happen that are not only evil.

I intended to find values and opportunities through my attitude and my actions.

For me, the story of this attack is associated with running, but not only because it happened while I was out training, but because I was able to use what I learnt from running in this situation – i.e. “getting back up again” after the attack.

Here’s an example: From the perspective of a human being, are you worth more when you have a gold medal around your neck? Are you worth less if a race doesn’t work out?

Or other questions with the same conclusion: Is it true that someone running uphill is slow and a loser, while someone running downhill is Kilian, because they feel like they flying like he would?

A human being is always valuable!

Whatever has happened to them and whatever others say, be it negative or positive. (Winning or losing, I always try to be myself. It is also hugely important in this situation: I wasn’t a broken person, but someone who has just experienced a breakdown).

Flexibility and the ability to adapt to unexpected situations! It’s the ability I use most in everyday life, which I have gained thanks to running ultras. Without flexibility you can’t achieve your goals.

The experience of your own path and responsibility! You have to be able to accept help in difficult situations, although sometimes every one of us has to fight alone: at birth, death, salvation, when returning to health. It’s also about trauma and overcoming it.

Changes always happen outside of our comfort zone! Despite the fact that getting out of my comfort zone was not my decision, it really helped that when it did happen, I wasn’t in an unknown place. I also don’t think of my condition as an unknown place, but I feel like I’m changing.

Running is like therapy and deep prayer for me. What’s strange is, that it was also the stage of the attack, as well as my return to health.

And it is also the stage for my commitment. Not all that long ago, I wanted to believe that running set me apart from others. But today I want everyone to feel unique thanks to running.

Development and exercise are all down to hard word, motivation and gradual improvement!

We have astonishing reserves of possibilities dormant within us! For me, ultra-running is proof of how little I believe in what I’m capable of. I still don’t believe that someone could run the whole day without a break, and yet I’ve done it many times! I still haven’t reached the limits of what I’m capable of. It shows how much knowledge the brain is able to take on and what the heart is capable of!

I hope you’re able to know that you’re a unique person capable of great things – and, if possible, through running.

And to finish things off, I’d like to add one final fact: Everyone gets tired running for the bus!

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TRANSGRANCANARIA

TRANSGRANCANARIA

G

ran Canaria is the third largest of the Canary Islands, an archipelago made up of seven main inhabited islands and five smaller ones. Fantastic weather is the norm here, with temperatures between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius (64-75 degrees Fahrenheit) all year long. In antiquity, the Canaries were called the Isles of the Blessed.

A people known as the Guanches lived there

text and photos: Jacek Deneka

and the Greeks and Romans visited. Currently, they are a part of Spain.

A variety of races are organized in the Canaries, one of the best-known being Transgrancanaria, part of the prestigious Ultra Trail World Tour circuit. The crowning distance of this event takes runners along a 128 km (80 mile) trail from the capital, Las Palmas, to Meloneras on the opposite end of the island.

The race oďŹƒce is set up in the ExpoMeloneras hall, also home to the finish line for all distances. Nearby, a small hill oers the view seen in this photograph. On the horizon, we see the outline of the mountains making up the central part of the island, which runners of every distance will traverse.

TRANSGRANCANARIA

Ultrarunning is slowly becoming a Polish national specialty. There are Polish runners racking up successes on the international level and more and more Poles can be found at the starting lines of large international running events, sometimes constituting the second or third largest national group. It was no different at Transgrancanaria, where around 120 Poles took part. There was also no lack of Pol-

ish names on the participant list that would be mentioned among those contending for the podium. We all quietly hoped the title of fastest woman for the main, 128 km distance would go to last year’s champion, Magdalena Łączak of Salomon Suunto Team Poland.

Kamil Leśniak of Salco Garmin Team and Katarzyna Solińska representing Hoka One One Poland were, based on ITRA points, po-

tential winners of the 42 km (26 mile) race, while Katarzyna Winiarska was a contender for the 65 (40 mile) km title. With all this in mind, about two weeks before the event I made the spontaneous decision to fly out and accompany our athletes with my camera. My intuition was telling me Poles would be the big winners of this Transgrancanaria.

TRANSGRANCANARIA

The marathon distance began Friday at 9:00 a.m. near the highest peak of Gran Canaria, Pico de Las Nieves, a lofty 1949 meters (6394 feet) above

sea level. Before the start, Kasia and Kamil seemed relaxed and happy to be here. Kamil has been coming to the Canaries for quite a while now. Thanks to his new sponsor, Salco,

he prepares for the season in warmer climes with more training options. The previous day, he had let drop that he would be running without much stress on the result.

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When 1:00 p.m. rolled around, it was very hot. The air temperature hovered around 27 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit). After 3 hours and 45 minutes, Kamil appeared at the mouth of the canyon. With about 6 km (3.7 miles) to go, he didn’t look tired. He was smiling and full of energy

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A happy Kasia and Jem Klopsa at the finish line. Kasia won the women’s marathon distance and Kamil came in as the 6th man, which for something approached as a training run is an amazing accomplishment. We can’t wait to see what these athletes do next.

For them, the running season is off to a very successful start.

With Katarzyna Solińska’s victory in the marathon having whetted our appetites, we waited impatiently for the 11:00 p.m. start of the festival’s main attraction, in which Magda Łączak would compete. Last year, she won.

Everyone was asking the question: what will happen this year? Will she stand up to the pressure, what kind of mindset was she in?

Magda was well-known and well-liked at the event. It was nice watching them announce her to the audience before the start and seeing Catherine Poletti, the organizer of UTMB, the biggest trail running event in the world, come up to greet her and ask if Magda would be participating in the UTMB. Magda’s fiercest competition on the participant list, Caroline Chaverot and Azara Garcia de Los Salmones, would not start due to nagging injuries. Thus our star runner would be facing a young and very fast Chinese runner, Miao Yao, who last year was the top woman in the UTWT rankings, and a very experienced Brazilian, Fernanda Maciel, from The North Face team, as well as the American Kaytlyn Gerbin from La Sportiva, who came in second among women at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in 2018. The competition among the men’s leaders also looked to be fierce, the chief favorites being Hayden Hawks and Pau Capell Gil, who were fourth and sixth place in the ITRA rankings.

The initial, nighttime stage of the 128 km distance played out as predicted. Hawks and Capell shot out ahead of the pack, while for the women, Miao Yao maintained a 12-13 minute lead over Magda Łączak at the 40 km (24 mile). After that, Yao could not keep up her previous pace and started to slow. Her lead began to melt.

At the aid station near Artenara, around the 64-km (40-mile) mark, Magda was the first to arrive. Her lead was small, but it was

now clear Yao was exhausted and wouldn’t be able to drag herself along much longer.

As was indeed the case. At the next aid station, in Tejeda, around the 75th km (47th mile), Miao Yao pulled out of the race. For the men, Hayden Hawks and Pau Capell ran together into Fontanales, 39 km (24 miles) into the race. Later, the Catalonian switched into high gear and built a sizeable lead on the American, who was no longer able to keep up.

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TRANSGRANCANARIA

As daylight broke, the race leaders reached Roque Nublo, roughly 81 km (50 miles) along the trail. The Rock of Mists is impressive, an 80-meter (262-foot) monolith thrusting out of a small plateau. The locals consider it sacred; touching it is said to bring good luck. It is one of the symbols of Gran Canaria. The situation at the front of the pack had seen Pau Capell lengthen his lead over the rest. Hayden Hawks continued to slow, reaching the rock in third place, having let Pablo Villa Gonzalez pass him. He really wanted to win this race. He even flew here in January for an extended training camp to get familiar with the trail. In the end, utterly exhausted, he pulled out of the race at the next aid station, Hierbahuerto, at the 101 km (62 mile), letting Cristofer Clemente Mora take his place in 3rd. Where he would stay until the finish.

TRANSGRANCANARIA

TRANSGRANCANARIA

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Magda Ĺ Ä…czak reached Roque Nublo around 9:38 a.m. She was the first woman there, but with only a small lead over Kaytlyn Gerbin and Fernanda Maciel. The women spotted each other on the so-called safety pin, a small section of trail heading to and from the rock along the small plateau. Magda started her big push. The remainder would be almost entirely downhill and the day was getting hotter by the minute. Her big push proved a grand success. Magda won Transgrancanaria yet again, finishing almost 13 minutes

ahead of second-place Kaytlyn Gerbin and third-place Fernanda Maciel.

By winning the Transgrancanaria again, Magda has proven she is in tip-top shape. I am convinced she could now compete for the highest spots on the podium in any ultra race.

The second half of her season includes a supreme challenge, for she has decided to take part in the prestigious Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in the main, 170 km (106 mile) distance. Which is further than she has ever run.

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A TRANSCONTINENTAL

ULTRA LEGENDS

L, 400-LEGGED CIRCUS Once upon a time in the West, back when drivers didn’t need to pass any exams before banging their Model Ts over the gravel roads of the Great Plains, a certain gentleman dreamed of a Great American Footrace: something that would mesmerize the whole country, that newsboys would shout about to hawk their papers, that would be on the lips of society ladies at fancy soirees from New York to Los Angeles and that would line the roads with farmers eager to witness their heroes in action.

text: Krzysztof Dołęgowski images: Zofia Rogula

ULTRA LEGENDS

T

he year was 1928. The Great Depression had yet to come crashing in and the economy still roared at its loudest.

Charles C. Pyle was a sports agent promoting internationally-famous tennis stars and football players. He also owned a theater.

Not a runner himself, he enjoyed a lush, lavish lifestyle and most of all wanted to profit off quickly growing entertainment market.

Inspired by cycling’s great Tour de France, he had the idea of organizing a coast-to-coast run along the now-famous Route 66, then a newly built highway, the first to span the continent. He invited runners from across the globe to join in. One of those answering his call was the great South African champion of the Comrades Marathon, Arthur Newton, one of the few athletes in those times who regularly raced ultra distances. Also joining were Phillip Granville, an Oxford-educated Canadian Indian; Ed Gardner, a black runner known as “the Sheik of Seattle”; a millionaire’s son who boasted he could run any distance without getting a single blister; a baker; and a Pacific coast dockworker. The Swede Gunnar Nilson threw his hat in the ring, with a wary eye on his Scandinavian rival, Willie Kolehmainen, one of a famous generation of “Flying Finns” who put the fear of God in their opponents. They were 199 runner in all, representing a colorful mix of nationalities, ages and training levels.

Among them were Italians, Jews and Englishmen, men who had come to see a hunk of this amazing world, others tempted by the hefty prize for the winner: twenty-five thousand dollars. To dangle a similar-sized carrot today, you would have to put up several hundred thousand dollars or an elegant mountain chalet. Those who missed out on the main prize wouldn’t be left empty-handed: second-place would get ten thousand dollars in cash, also a sum able to dramatically alter the life fortunes of a worker or farmer.

So why don’t the names of these daring athletes ring a bell? Why did no Olympic gold medalists put a toe to the starting line? The reason was simple. Anyone competing as an official representative at the Olympic Games or other such competitions could not dirty themselves by taking money for a race. They had to be “flawless amateurs.”

Taking part in the dangerous and uncertain endeavor that was the Transcontinental Footrace would have meant the end of any plans for an amateur career. More than one athlete had been stripped of their laurels after it came to light they had once accepted a cash prize for a small local run.

That is why there was no Hannes Kolehmainen, four-time Olympic gold medalist. Instead, he sent his brother, who was in fact the faster of the two, having run a marathon in under 2:30 in 1912. You wouldn’t know it to look at the official record books, but the fastest amateur before the war ran the marathon about 10 minutes slower than the best “pro.” Yet this was, all in all, a small hitch compared to the others we’ll come across in this story.

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The runners had to arrive at the meeting spot a full three weeks before the start and undergo a thorough medical examination. No one really knew what would happen to the human body after such an enormous exertion. They expected cardiac hypertrophy, bone damage and general bodily depletion and… wanted to measure it. The runners themselves had no clue what it would be like to run 50-90 kilometers (30-55 miles) a day for almost three months. .

Go! After the first stages, the newspapers were all in on Willie the Finn winning it all. He went out like a rocket and blew his opponents away in every stage, finishing dozens of minutes ahead of them each time. He paid no heed to the fact that almost 5500 km (3400 miles) remained to the finish line. An entire continent’s worth of deserts, mountains, heat, frost and rains.

There were snags, of course. During the very first night, it turned out the tents provided by the organizer leaked, and sleeping was further hindered by the traveling theater C.C. Pyle dragged along with him. The performances they put on in each town every evening were supposed to attract local attention and increase the race’s budget.

There was a fun fair complete with carousel, plays, freak shows and the mummified remains of some famous bandit. This wasn’t a charitable endeavor, after all. The promoter was counting on the mayors of the towns they passed along the way agreeing to pay a small fortune to host the runners, just as mayors today shower money on the organizers of prestigious races to have them locate the finish line on their town’s square.

Unfortunately, this business quite quickly proved untenable. The race boss rode in a spacious camper, while the dusty and dirty runners froze every night in horrible conditions. In these circumstances, the boss’ vehicle seemed a scandalous provocation, with its two bedrooms, fully equipped kitchen, bathroom complete with shower and hot water, and, the cherry on top, air conditioning.

A hundred years ago people were used to certain discomforts, but they clearly didn’t expect conditions that rough and, after five days, one quarter of the participants had already withdrawn.

To everyone’s surprise, soon joining the DNF list was the leader Willie Kolenhamien – one pulled groin muscle was enough to slow the Finn to a hobbling, pained walk, and then he set off for home. Adding to the misery were the mountains and the accompanying problems of elevation. Headaches and nosebleeds knocked runners off their feet as they mounted the passes. They also had to deal with diarrhea caused by horrible hygienic conditions at camp, general malnutrition, sore throats, tendonitis and all the more common ailments familiar to runners to this day.

After the first weeks, the race’s ragged initial tempo stabilized and a leader emerged: the old South African master, Arthur Newton. He

ULTRA LEGENDS

was 45 and knew how to run in the mountains. Furthermore, his So instead of cheers and confetti, they met with an additional 20 km training consisted of multiple long-distance runs. He knew what it (12 miles) run around the city on side roads, followed by a cold night was like to rack up 200 km (124 miles) in a week. He also knew outdoors. After these adventures, the pack thinned out by half. Only how to finish a flat 160 km (100 miles) in 14 hours. He was, after the wealthiest and most determined of runners were left, running now all, the world record holder for that distance. As well as the organiz- in an increasingly tightly spaced and tightly knit group covering dozers’ clear favorite. An Englishmen by birth, he was well respected by ens of kilometers a day. Most of them no longer entertained hopes for the grand prize; they simply wanted to survive. They would catnap his fellow runners.

Yet even he could not avoid an unlucky injury. After 800 km (500 on the side of the road in the middle of a stage; a few were fond of miles), his feet, clad in heavy tennis shoes, had swollen so much they sleeping on bridges. Stray dogs started following them, adding further had lost their anatomical shape. Every step hurt, all the more so since color to this band of misfits. he’d also developed a serious case of Achilles tendonitis. Though he During this time, the list of leaders at the front of the pack shortstill had an enormous lead, one day, after a few miles of fighting ened. The name Gavuzzi began showing up quite frequently. He was through the pain, he simply sat down by the side of the road and stayed put.

Pyle picked him up and, after a short A hundred years ago people were used to certain recovery period, Newton was named discomforts, but they clearly didn’t expect conditions technical advisor for the race. In this that rough and, after five days, one quarter of the position he was supposed to act as a participants had already withdrawn. [...] Adding to sort of facilitator for conflicts between, on the one side, the magnate in his the misery were the mountains and the accompanying luxurious land yacht and, on the other, problems of elevation. Headaches and nosebleeds the band of roughs who were more and knocked runners off their feet as they mounted the more often at his throat. Their compasses. They also had to deal with diarrhea caused plaints included rancid, filthy bedding by horrible hygienic conditions at camp, general and meager food rations that left them malnutrition, sore throats, tendonitis and all the more begging the locals for bread. Combine common ailments familiar to runners to this day. this with long hours running or trudging for miles on end and you had an explosive mixture. Especially since not all in the pack suffered equally. The wealthier among them had coach- half-Italian, half-English with French roots. He ran with a beautiful, es and staff who arranged lodging in hotels. Furthermore, during the light step and flourished on stages longer than 50 km (30 miles) (but stages passing through Texas, racial issues arose: the black runners shorter than 100 km (60 miles), as the longest distances were the rewere forced, in accordance with local law, to sleep in separate tents, serve of Italian Guisto Umek). Gavuzzi grew an impressive beard and while locals hurled slurs at them as they ran. The European runners sewed a British flag on his shirt. He spoke several languages and was the darling of the press. For many stages, he ran shoulder-to-shoulder were shocked by the scale of racism they found in prewar America. with the other favorite, Andy Payne. Payne was an Oklahoma native and the route went through his hometown. This must have given him No Prospect for Improvement Albuquerque, New Mexico was the first large city on the route. The an extra boost, because as the runners entered Oklahoma, Andy took organizers were counting on this stop to fill the holes in their tattered the lead. Finally, the race seemed on track. budget. They hoped for a warm reception and cheering crowds. Yet Entire towns started coming out to meet the runners. Farmers left again, their hopes were dashed, and to top it off, their enemies had their fields to see the daredevils running an entire continent, but most spread some unfortunate rumors. Before the pack of runners reached of all to see “their boy,” Andy, battle a wild British pirate. the city limits, the mayor’s team blocked the road into town. They Gavuzzi was both tireless and strategically cunning. He contented were afraid of the burglaries and robberies which they had been told himself with second place for many days as they crossed the Great occurred whenever the runners spent the night in a city. Furthermore, Plains. As they went north towards Chicago, he got more spring in they did not want any of the imprudent spectacles or prostitution his step. He let the spotlight shine on Andy from Oklahoma while they were in his backyard. Then he took the lead. He flew through which they imputed to Pyle’s theater troupe.

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ULTRA LEGENDS

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ULTRA LEGENDS

Chicago, and just when it seemed nothing could stop him, all of a sudden… he announced his withdrawal.

Surprisingly enough, his trouble lay not in his muscles or feet. The bearded young man had a serious case of tooth decay. Before the race began, he was meant to go to the dentist and have some teeth pulled, but feared he’d catch an infection or otherwise be weakened before the race. As his diet during the race leaned towards the sugary, his cavity-ridden teeth started to scream for mercy. His gums grew swollen and for days, only soup and coffee passed his lips. He was withering away in plain sight but remained in first place, with a commanding

he finished at the back of the pack or withdrew, he would have sizeable debts to repay.

Fortune, however, smiled Payne that year. He was the first to cross the finish line, taking home 25 thousand dollars from a pool of 48 thousand. Over 84 days he had maintained an average pace of 6:15/ km (10:04/miles) while running 5507 km (3421 miles) in weather fair and foul. He only went through five pairs of shoes.

After he returned home and paid off the farm, he had enough left over to buy a car. This was his last race. He decided a career as a clerk in a local court was more attractive. He died in 1977.

He was the first to cross the finish line, taking home 25 thousand dollars from a pool of 48 thousand. Over 84 days he had maintained an average pace of 6:15/km (10:04/miles) while running 5507 km (3421 miles) in weather fair and foul. He only went through five pairs of shoes. After he returned home and paid off the farm, he had enough left over to buy a car. This was his last race. He decided a career as a clerk in a local court was more attractive.

six hour lead over the next runner. Ultimately, however, the official race doctor announced Gavuzzi’s resignation... with a mere two weeks left before the finish!

The Home Stretch Financially, the race was stretched to the limit, but still holding together. The runners didn’t have much to eat, but they could still count on the sandwiches handed out along the route. They could also use the services of the shoemaker traveling with the race. At the halfway point of each stage, they were met by an unusual support vehicle: a kettle-shaped car handing out coffee. A certain producer felt this would be a good publicity stunt to spread word of his coffee brand across the US. As they neared Pennsylvania, 73 days later, only 53 runners remained.

Andy Payne had a lead of over 20 hours over the second-place runner and now only needed to stay healthy and survive to the finish.

He was not the leader the organizers would have wanted: he was reluctant to give interviews and when he did answer questions, he spat out curt, one-word or even one-syllable responses. He was a farmer and a Cherokee. He had heard about the race months before the start and trained intensely for it. He ran 20 or even 50 km (12-31 miles) a day. He trained to win, not just finish. He hoped by winning the astronomical sum offered as a prize, his parents could pay the mortgage on their farm and he would the pride of his community. He had no savings and had borrowed the money for the entry fee; his race expenses were covered by his hometown Chamber of Commerce. If

Twilight C.C. Pyle sank a lot of money into his Transcontinental Footrace, only to discover the press was not in fact all that eager to write about the exploits of young men running such a gigantic distance; instead, they considered it something of a freak show. Residents of the small towns along the way were happy to step outside and watch the runners pass, but not to pay a few cents to be in the finishing zone to watch the stage winner slowly trot across the line.

The race was held one more time, in 1929. This edition was, unfortunately, even more unfortunate: Arthur Newton, a prospective winner, was hit by a car (we mentioned the lack of driver’s exams for a reason), and the winners never received their promised cash prizes.

Then came the Great Depression and all thought of extravagances such as three-month traveling festivals was buried beneath the simple need to survive.

Since then, every now and again someone tries to revive the Great Footrace. More often, though, are solo attempts to complete the now-classic Los Angeles to New York route. The current record is 42 days, 6 hours, 30 minutes. It is held by Pete Kostelnick, who averaged a mind-blowing 115 km (71 miles) a day!

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PIOTR HERZOG

I’M STILL SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING INTERVIEW WITH PIOTR HERCOG He’s a runner, race organiser, public speaker, traveller, climber, instructor, adventure racer, and finally a father and a husband. He has as many different interests as several people put together. And he’s still involved in them. Because Piotr Hercog isn’t the kind to rest on his laurels. interviewed by: Ola Belowska

photo: Kasia Biernacka / kasiabiernacka.com

photo: Kasia Biernacka / kasiabiernacka.com

PIOTR HERZOG

W

e met in May during the Getaway Festival in Poznan. Piotr’s a busy guy, earlier that morning he picked up his passport from the town hall in Wroclaw, then he jumped in the car to ... talk to me, and afterwards was due to give a speech at the festival. He also had training planned for the day. In between it all, he checks at his watch, because he’s getting millions of messages, sorts out some things for the house he’s building and his upcoming trip to Columbia. (Yes, we updated the interview after his return from South America and before he headed off to Spitsbergen). I’m amazed that he found time for me amongst it all. I guess this multitasking comes from his adventure racing past. Are you curious what else he does? Then read on.

Kingrunner: I know I’m supposed to ask these kinds of questions at the end, but I’m going to start with one.

Do you feel fulfilled as a runner?

Piotr: I’m still searching for something. (laugh) I’m still motivated! I feel fulfilled, I don’t feel any pressure to race, get particular times and be in rankings. I got that out of my system a few years ago. That’s why I choose events in special locations, where the trip itself is something extraordinary. And if you can have some competition there, and I’ve had this competitive spirit ever since I was young, then I enjoy it a lot. And it’s not just me, because I think my support team also shares these emotions and the fun of it all.

Looking at your pictures online, it really does look like they have fun with you. (laugh) Our goal is: we find a place that’s worth visiting and we have to have fun, whatever the result. There’s no point in going on a big trip if we were just focussed on the result.

Do these unusual races that you take part in just find themselves, or do you look for them based on some particular keyword or crite-

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ria? Say you want to go to the US, does one of you find the Moab 240 Endurance Ran and say: “Piotrek, you’ve got to run this!”?

We search for the races ourselves – in the areas we would like to visit, although sometimes we come across races by accident. We might hear something from someone, and suddenly we decide to find out more about the event.

Sometimes we do actually get an invitation from the organisers, with some kind of financial support, and sometimes we find a race and finance the trip ourselves. An example of the latter is our trip to Columbia, where we only took Kasia Biernacka with us, who took photos of the trip.

On the one hand, we want to travel to a cool place, and on the other hand they are also races which might be interesting for potential runners who aren’t aware of the event. For example, Everest, 240 miles, Baikal, Siberia.

There’s a wow-factor to these events. There are interesting for people and therefore easier for me to make use of.

Which is very important for sponsors.

This year I must have been to 30 different festivals or meetings, and after the States there was even interest from television, but unfortunately none of it led to any financial support. I paid for the trip to Columbia with my own money and paid for part of Kasia’s ticket too.

You mention Kasia. But it could equally be Piotrek Dymus or Łukasz Buszka. You usually have incredible pictures from your trips.

It’s not just times and results that give you popularity on social media. It’s important to have great pictures, so you need to bring a photographer with you, have good press releases and access to the media, because they don’t just find you by themselves. There are a few people in my support group who work on this. I’m not a professional. I don’t run those kinds of times, maybe I could if I

turned professional. But I don’t want to do that. It’s just a passion I have. If you’re a professional and get injured, it’s game over.

Going back to Columbia, you like travelling to that part of the world, don’t you? I mean South America.

Yeah, I especially liked the region after going to Chile – those wild and high mountains.

To be honest I was thinking about Peru for a year and a half, but I had to adjust the dates I could travel this year, and they didn’t fit with the event in Peru I wanted to do. So, I had to find something between May and the start of June. There were two options: South Africa or Columbia. So I chose Columbia.

You went there and took part in the 100 miles Chicamocha Canyon Race, finishing second, just under an hour behind the winner. Can you tell me a bit about the race?

We arrived in Columbia 10 days before the race. Not to acclimatise, but to see some of the country. At first I was worried about the humidity and the big, thick bushes on the route. A few days before I did a recon and notice tall grass after around 3-4 km. That made me worry that I’d wear the wrong clothing – it was too warm and humid for long leggings. Even in training I was sweating buckets, so I decided to go with shorts.

And that meant that if I was running at the front, I’d have to fight my way through the bushes and beat a path. So my plan was to save my legs at the beginning, even if I felt like I could push more. I also heard from the organisers that there are some sections with thick, prickly or even firing cacti and I was concerned that running through those parts could end badly for me.

Did you have any targets before the race?

One of my main goals was to save my energy, make sure I didn’t overheat and look after my feet. With such high humidity, sweat was pouring into my shoes, and I didn’t know

PIOTR HERZOG

photo: Kasia Biernacka / kasiabiernacka.com how big the rivers would be on the route.

As it turned out later, we were constantly getting wet. The first river we had to cross was at the 15-kilometre mark. The route was tough, sometimes very difficult. What I remember above all are certain sections of the route, maybe four or five places, where it went along landslides, where there was no trail. I think a lot of runners might have felt uncomfortable there. You had to take a few steps on unstable rubble. If your leg slipped, you could fall. You’d be unlikely to survive the fall and the organisers wouldn’t even know where to search for you. Looking at

the race as a whole, I’d say it was difficult. I felt more knackered after it than I did after running 400 km in Utah.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

Where did you catch the sports bug? Was it the desire to compete that got you into it?

Woah, I don’t think I can remember that far back!

Come on, don’t exaggerate! (laugh) I’ve had it as long as I can remember. My outdoor adventures started when I was about

11 or 12. We’d travel somewhere, and look for some caves or holes in the woods in the Jura mountains. I also got into orienteering, and that’s where everything took off – it was only walking, it was supposed to be for fun, but there was still a competitive element.

Later, when I was at high school, I entered the Polish Championships and Polish Cup in orienteering. I also played football until I was 19, but after breaking my leg I never returned to playing it actively again. Apart from that, as early as primary school I wanted to be a PE teacher. That’s why I studied at the Sports University in Poznan.

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MY DAD PLAYED AND COACHED FOOTBALL FOR 40 YEARS. I ALSO PLAYED, ALTHOUGH EVEN THEN I WAS ALSO GOING TO ORIENTEERING EVENTS OR TRAVELLING TO THE MOUNTAINS. BUT AS A BASIS FOR AND A PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT DUTIES AND PERSONAL HYGIENE IN SPORT IT WAS GREAT. That’s why you like going back there.

Yeah, I have great memories of lots of good times and events. That was where I started competing more seriously, although during university I was in much worse shape than now. (laugh) I wasn’t training consistently, I kept doing orienteering events, some hiking and a bit of climbing. I also accidentally did my first adventure race, the Adventure Trophy in Jura, in 1999. There were two 60 km stages, mainly running with some special tasks. My friend, who was heavily involved in climbing back then, saw an advert for the event and said: “You know how to orienteer, I know how to climb – we’ll finish this somehow”. But we didn’t do any running back then at all. A week before we ran 5 km, and four days before the event we did 11 km, which completely killed us... (laugh) Okay, let’s see. My partner Marcin took his climbing shoes to gain some time on the difficult sections, but the paths had been especially prepared so you could manage them on all fours. When he saw that, he put his shoes away and did those sections in normal shoes. (laugh) We finished the first section within the time limit, which allowed us to enter the second stage the next day. But we ended up just cheering the other guys on, because Marcin’s knee had swollen up so badly it was almost the size of his head! (laugh) But I caught the bug and each year I came up with more and more ambitious ideas.

Exactly. Reading about you, you’re described as a climbing instructor, caver and coach. In fact, there are

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so many titles used to describe you that I wonder how you found time to do it all? It’s not like you’re 60!!

I started early. On top of that, the 10 years of doing adventure races expanded my range of experience. Particularly when we were preparing for bigger and more important events. You don’t have to master every discipline, but you had to at least be very good in each of them. Cycling, kayaking, swimming, rollerblading and orienteering. All the tactical stuff and the endurance I learnt through that turned out to be very useful later on, of course. But after doing all those events I think I’m now allergic to the cold. Every year when the temperature drops, I end up coughing up whatever’s on my throat. It lasts until spring, when it passes. However, if I go away somewhere in February, for example to the Canary Islands, somewhere warm, the cough is gone in three days.

That’s interesting, because it seems to me that you prefer colder temperatures and races in colder weather. Is that true?

I like running in winter, because it mobilises the whole body and I have less problems with stitches. But when it comes to chilling after training I prefer the Canary Islands. (laugh) Then maybe Asia?

That’s another part of the world that appeals to me. Asia and South America. In Asia, particularly after a few beers, I can get by with my Russian. (laugh)

Your first adventure race was in 1999, right?

Yep. The following year these kinds of races were organised as proper events. I think it was somewhere near Kłodzko, and the course was around 300 km.

I’m interested in the football you played, because if we look at the other sports you played, apart from football, they aren’t individual sports.

My dad played and coached football for 40 years. I was born fairly late, when my dad was 40, and he played football until he was 44, after which he was a coach at a club in Czestochowa. I joined the club as a junior.

It was sort of a family tradition – I watched my dad and joined the club. Even when I was playing football, I was still going to orienteering events or travelling to the mountains. But as a basis for, and a place to learn, a sense of responsibility in sport and personal hygiene it was great. I spent around five or six years playing football in the end. I even got into one of the regional teams when I was young.

Then my leg got broken in a match against Ruch Chorzow, and it was the time to move from the juniors to the seniors... and I didn’t fancy playing anymore.

Back then, adventure races were hugely popular. The Eco Challenge race was shown on TV, races were reported in the press. In 1999 you caught the bug, you said, for 10 years. What made it last so long?

The same thing that keeps me going now.

Albeit not in adventure racing anymore. On the one hand you were discovering new places – adventure races in particular took you to places you would normally never visit on holiday. Linking competition with travelling – together with cool people, like the teams we have now. At first the teams were put together haphazardly, but in practise we soon worked things out. They were also teams of friends. We felt good in each other’s compa-

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ny, not just during an event, but also afterwards, beforehand and in our free time.

You used to train together, didn’t you? I remember you racing with Piotr Dymus and Artur Kurek.

That was later. We had different teams, and at the higher level we started to pick people racing in Poland. At one time I entered races as part of a team called “Bergson Mapy Ścienne Beata Piętka” – do you remember that name? (laugh) Bergson was our team – me and Pawel Fąferek, and later we met some guys who had a good set-up with the company Mapy Ścienne. But they weren’t really able to orienteer. We often took part in two-person races, and we’d often see them at the checkpoints.

Although we’d casually walk up to the points while they’d be running. Another 15 km to the next checkpoint and again, we’d be walking there, and they’d be running like crazy.

They were absolutely mental! There really wasn’t much between us, which is why we got talking and decided to race together. So in the end we raced in their team, particularly with Darek Bonarski, for two or three years. In the meantime, Dymus was racing with Napieraj, and I moved to the Navigator team.

Once, when I was away exploring some caves in Austria with Andrzej Ciszewski, I got a call from Paweł Moszkowicz offering me the chance to race with his Bergson team along with Szczurek, Justyna Frączak and a strong team. I told him that I’m in Austria and I’m not prepared. He replied, “Well, maybe you’ll manage somehow?” “I get back to Czestochowa at 9 pm”. And the race was supposed to start the next morning in Karpacz. You need a ton of equipment for these kinds of races, skis, boxes etc. I jumped in the car, got to Karpacz at around 3 am, I must have slept two hours. In the morning I had to put my equipment into the boxes, because it was supposed to be a 4-day event.

I just about managed it. Then came the first night... At this altitude we could have gone on through the first night no problem. We were somewhere up on Sniezka, the course

markers sticking out of the snow. And I said to my teammate: “Look, Mirek! Wigwams!” (laugh) Everyone looked at me and thought “Okaaaay... let’s call it a night!”

After that it was okay. Then I joined Speleo and entered loads of races with them.

You more or less had a set team then, didn’t you?

Just the girls changed?

Yeah. Before Piotrek Dymus, we had Piotrek Kosmala in the team, but he had problems with his leg. He travelled with us, sorted stuff out and supported us. There was also Remik Nowak, but his form fluctuated. And as for the girls, well… they changed. (laugh) You didn’t just stick to Polish girls, you also raced with Irina, Tatiana, and Sara from Brazil. (laugh) You stopped doing adventure races after around 10 years. Was it because you got bored, or was it because their time in Poland had come to an end?

It was a combination of a few factors. When we had our biggest successes abroad, we were in team Salomon, entered very prestigious races in France where we finished in good positions. But at this time Salomon was already moving from adventure racing to trail running. In Poland, however, we thought we could wait out the storm. We were only

lomon saw it and Broniewicz got a slap on the wrists. Because we did too well! (laugh) It showed us that the company was going in a new direction. The financial support from them ended, although to be honest we covered the vast majority of the costs ourselves.

There was more and more pressure to have a runner on our team who would do well in trail runs, while we could continue doing our adventure races. So Jędrek Bargiel and Marcin Świerc joined us. We also had Miłosz Szcześniewski. At that time, trail runs in the mountains were only just getting started, and we were also doing running events, because of the pressure from our sponsor, although we treated it as good training. And from these training events is where it all started, my first race was the Rzeznik together with Artur Kurek, which we won. And as we managed to win, all of the elements came together and there was more desire to do more and repeat that success. For a year or a year and half we entered both running events and adventure races. I felt, you might say, burnt out with adventure races, which was because ... of the lack of sleep. You can’t prepare for several days without sleep. Although the runs are long and difficult, they aren’t as tough as those adventure races.

Plus they’re shorter, right?

Less recovery time and the costs are also lower.

I FELT, BURNT OUT WITH ADVENTURE RACES, WHICH WAS BECAUSE ... OF THE LACK OF SLEEP. YOU CAN’T PREPARE FOR SEVERAL DAYS WITHOUT SLEEP supposed to enter trail runs alongside adventure running. At the event in France, the prologue was a trail running section, which was also a separate trail run with its own classification – anyone who wanted could enter.

But we finished in a good position and it turned out that French television broadcast a report about it. Of course, the bosses at Sa-

These days I need a lot of time to recover after a very long run, up to three weeks even.

After a race like Moab (240 Endurance Run) it took me two months.

But you said yourself that it was your longest trail race so far. After

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photo: Kasia Biernacka / kasiabiernacka.com a race like the Rzeznik you need less time to recover.

I think that after a race like that I could be back in form and enter races again after two weeks. I work with a few athletes and tell them the same thing when they ask how long they need to recover after a race - it all depends on how well-prepared the body is.

For example, someone like Kilian Jornet - I met him many years ago in La Palma, where he’d arrived straight from a ski touring race.

He landed on Tuesday, did one long training session, which is where I met him, and he then went on to run the Transvulcania. And he was up there competing with Luis Alberto Hernando for the win.

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I TOOK PART IN THE KARKONOSZE MARATHON ONE MONTH BEFORE THE RACE IN CHAMONIX, THEN DID THE ULTRA GRANIA TATRA RACE, AND TWO WEEKS LATER RAN THE UTMB. BUT I WAS IN PERFECT SHAPE FOR IT, WHILE OTHERS WOULD STILL BE KNACKERED FOR ANOTHER TWO WEEKS And Luis finished second there, I remember the finish line at Los Llanos de Aridane and the disappointment of the crowds who were expecting the Catalan to win.

I think he finished a minute behind, he was a dead man walking. The 70-odd kilometres in that heat did for him. A week later he ran the Zegama Aizkorri in Basque country – a shorter distance at a much faster speed – and won it. A top athlete like him needs a week to

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photo: Kasia Biernacka / kasiabiernacka.com recover. But others, who are in worse condition, might need a month to recover.

But Kilian has been training since the age of about 5, first he was skiing, then there was ski touring.

Sure, he’s an extreme case. One right from the top level. When I was training for the UTMB in 2015, I also knew that my body was in good shape. That’s why I took part in the Karkonosze Marathon one month before the race in Chamonix, then did the Ultra Grania Tatra race, and two weeks later ran the UTMB. But I was in perfect shape for it, while others would still be knackered for another two weeks.

You finished 11th then, although you ended up in 10th place in the final classification.

That’s right, they changed the results because one runner was disqualified for doping.

It was pretty hot that day, wasn’t it?

Yeah, it was a hot one. But I ran pretty comfortably, except for the last hour. The sun really started to heat up around 10, and there were a lot of sections lower down, on the road. In Chamonix itself the temperature was around 25, and the air was stuffy. Yeah, the weather could have been a bit better.

But that doesn’t change the fact that it still remains the best time by a Pole in that event.

The best time and best position, that’s right.

I also ran in 2013, but it was a shorter route due to the weather conditions. Then I finished 15th. Let’s see how it goes this year, because we’ve got Magda Łączak, Paweł Dybek and Marcin Świerc all racing.

Piotr, you’re 43 years old. One the one hand, it’s not that old, but looking at your sporting career, you’ve been around for a long time. What’s your recipe for sporting longevity?

That’s true, when I get in the car I feel a bit old. (laugh) I keep moving. All the time. You

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know, I think you need some goals. To want to achieve something so you don’t lose your motivation. After the race in the States, I didn’t have another run on the horizon. And it dragged on and on. I was still training, but you know what life’s like – there are always things to do, and something always comes up. And I stopped doing tough training sessions. The last few months of training weren’t as intense as I wanted. So maybe things didn’t go as well before Columbia as they could have, but all those years of training plus the experience I have meant that I don’t force things with training. I think I’m too old to train intensively, which might help protect me from injuries.

Plus there’s your experience, right?

Yes. When I know that something isn’t working, there’s no pressure on me to go out and

athon, which we wrote about extensively in the 15th edition of ULTRA – editor). Back then there was a discussion about it on some forum. When I choose the races I want to enter, the most important thing is the location. And finding an unusual and difficult race. The competition in these kinds of races isn’t ideal. Let’s look at the races where the best runners take part. They aren’t held at Everest (the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon – editor) which you need to spend a month and a half preparing for. Look at the race in Patagonia – with the flights and everything, the costs are huge. The races are held in the countryside, where there is no phone reception for 100 km. There’s no support, which is a factor why many elite runners don’t consider these races. Kilimanjaro, like Everest, is at high altitude (the race starts from the peak).

Moab, on the other hand, is a very long race.

ALL THOSE YEARS OF TRAINING PLUS THE EXPERIENCE I HAVE MEANT THAT I DON’T FORCE THINGS WITH TRAINING. I THINK I’M TOO OLD TO TRAIN INTENSIVELY, WHICH MIGHT HELP PROTECT ME FROM INJURIES. go running. I can get on the bike instead or sometimes take a rest. I’m not worried about my times. Of course, if I run a good time, I’m happy. That’s the way we are, success drives us. I’m starting to wonder if I really want to carry on running, because there are other things I’m interested in trying, more travel related.

The Hercog Mountain Challenge.

Your big, long-term project. Have you faced criticism that you don’t compete with people at your own level in races the Moab 240, and just choose popular races with lots of media coverage, where you’re almost certain to win?

That comment was made after my race in Kilimanjaro (the Kilimanjaro Extreme Mar-

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Many elite runners don’t enter races that are longer than 170 km, because the recovery time afterwards prevents them entering other events. On the one hand, you could say that I choose races that aren’t very popular, but on the other hand, I look at the location and how difficult the race is. And so what if the elite aren’t there? Maybe it is easier for me to finish in a good position.

When I went to the Moab, I didn’t know how good the other runners would be. Americans are also a bit different, they often think America is the best and don’t enter races elsewhere, like in Europe for example. Some of them specialise in 200-mile races. I didn’t know how good the guys are who enter races of that distance. I always analyse the splits of other competitors I know, but there I didn’t know anyone. Of course, it’s great to win,

because there wouldn’t have been as much interest if I’d have finished second or fourth.

At Everest you didn’t finish first overall, but there was still a “wow” effect.

I think the Nepalese are incredible athletes. It would be interesting to see one of the world’s elite runners go to Everest and try to prepare for the race in the “classic” way. It’d be interesting to see how they do against the Nepalese.

Or have a Nepalese runner enter a European race.

They’ve done that. A year or two ago, a team from Nepal took part in the World Championships over 50 km. They finished in the top ten. It was their first race in a completely new region for them, and they finished in the top ten! They beat the elite.

Which of your races do you have the fondest memories of?

Which one has given you the greatest satisfaction?

That’s a really good question! I don’t think I can choose one. Each race was difficult in its own way, as well as being great. There are a few races which were unforgettable for me due to the scenery, such as the whole of Chile, Patagonia and Everest – those races stuck in my mind. Out of the older races, I remember the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run together with Marcin Świerc. We were under pressure to run a good time, especially at the end, when we were constantly swapping places with a Swiss team. In the end they beat us. I also have good memories of La Palma, which was my first training trip, where I got to see a new place, enjoy myself and make a film.

The adventure races are gone. Now ultra-races are booming. Now there are a couple of events almost every weekend. And new races keep cropping up. Do you think it’ll come to an end at some point?

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photo: Piotr Oleszak I think about this all the time. Particularly as a race organiser. At first I thought we’d have three or four years and the interest would die away. But there’s no sign of that at all. With hindsight, I think it’s a very easy form of training, exercise. 80 percent or more of the runners are amateurs, who need a goal and some excitement. Many of them overdo it, of course, I can see that from my athletes. But I think things will stay at the same level for the next few years, unless something else comes along which will catch people’s interest. Cycling? Okay, road bikes are very popular, but they are quite expensive. Although having said that, ultras cost too.

Cross country skiing?

MANY ELITE RUNNERS DON’T ENTER RACES THAT ARE LONGER THAN 170 KM, BECAUSE THE RECOVERY TIME AFTERWARDS PREVENTS THEM ENTERING OTHER EVENTS. ON THE ONE HAND, YOU COULD SAY THAT I CHOOSE RACES THAT AREN’T VERY POPULAR, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, I LOOK AT THE LOCATION AND HOW DIFFICULT THE RACE IS. If we have snow. I talked to Salomon about this two years ago. The company completely dropped cross-country skiing because sales were dropping fast. We might think that it’s a discipline that’s being more popular, but how many prepared routes do we actually have?

Jakuszyce? Jamrozowa Polana? They’re empty during the week. At Pasterka we had 40 pairs of skis for rent, and there was interest, so we bought some more and... then there was no snow for the next four years.

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there will always be something not quite perfect. Even though we try to take care of every detail. Thankfully I now have someone who follows all the comments and deals with them.

You can do ultras all year long.

If it’s raining, you can still go out and run.

But you won’t get the road bike out if it’s raining. That’s why I think it will take a few more years, but the market will tell which events survive and which don’t. The best ones will stay, those with the best organisation and atmosphere.

ish athletes, regardless of whether they take part in adventure races or runs, are incredibly pretentious. They would like to write the rulebook, interpret the rules, tell you how to do things better, even though they’ve never organised an event in their lives and are completely unaware of some of the nuances which lead to one decision being taken

Do you see any problems with the world of ultra-running? Something that annoys you?

In general, I try to think positively and notice the good things. I haven’t been heavily involved with the Polish ultra-running community for a while now. Although I was recently a guest at the ZUK (Karkonosze Winter Ultramarathon), and I was also at Szczawnica.

POLISH ATHLETES WOULD LIKE TO WRITE THE RULEBOOK, INTERPRET THE RULES, TELL YOU HOW TO DO THINGS BETTER, EVEN THOUGH THEY’VE NEVER ORGANISED AN EVENT IN THEIR LIVES

You didn’t finish the ZUK. Yeah, two days after the event I was due to leave to go to Chile. The plan was to get in some good training for the race in Patagonia. I told Agnieszka (Korpal) about it beforehand. I got some bad cramps; they were so bad I couldn’t stretch my legs out on the uphills and downhills. I might have been able to fight on through it, but it would have been at the expense of tearing muscle fibres and the whole training plan for Chile could have gone out the window.

So it wasn’t Marco Olmo syndrome?

Because it happened just when Michał Rajca overtook you.

No. (laugh) I don’t think I’m a good enough athlete to think I could win a race with so many strong runners in it. I’m not at that level. It’s more that I would have finished if I hadn’t got injured.

I wanted to ask you about Ultra Trail because you also a race organiser. What conflict is there between Herci the organiser and Herci the runner?

My opinion about this has been the same for years, since I was doing adventure races. Pol-

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over another. I think it’s something specific about Polish customers. I remember one thing which changed the way I look at rules and regulations at races. I once took part in the Adventure Running World Championships in Scotland with the Speleo Salomon team. The race had a particular formula. At one point the organisers told us to do something which didn’t make any sense to us. We asked another team, from Sweden, about it and they looked at us strangely and said: What are you on about? You’re the ones that came to this race, which had clearly specified rules, and you’re trying to say it doesn’t make sense? Either accept the rules or don’t come.

For them, questioning the decision of the organiser – not to mention abusing them on a public forum – was something unimaginable.

Since then I looked at myself and understood that as participant consciously taking part in a race I’ve chosen, I can think what I like, but not make comments publicly about it.

Unfortunately, in Poland everyone tells the organisers what the rules should be.

Do you check what people write about your event online?

I used to spend more time on Facebook, because I cared about people having a good opinion of the races. However, even though we try to prepare the event as best as we can,

And apart from that, in Poland we like to write more negative comments than positive ones. If

everything is okay, then I won’t write anything. But if something goes wrong, I’m going to make sure they know!

Yeah. And the numbers back that up. Even if 50% of people are satisfied, and 50% are unsatisfied, 90% of the comments online will be negative ones. Unless we’re making some huge catastrophic errors which I’m not aware of.

You’re a big promotor of the Stolowe Mountains.

When I moved there to run a shelter, I was enchanted by the place. Many people in Poland have no idea about the region.

Really?

Yeah. After races, people often come to me and say thanks, not so much for the race and the organisation, but for the opportunity to see these mountains, labyrinths and rocks. They’ve never seen anything like it up close. Their enthusiasm has been a positive surprise to me.

Would you like to add anything else to the events you currently run?

No. Although I’ve had offers to expand it, I think, like with running, you need to find a middle path. I don’t want to spend all my

PIOTR HERZOG

time being a race organiser. I split my time between different things. Organising these four events, training people, running my company, and as an athlete. I try to make sure none of these activities dominates.

I want to keep a balance. And of course, there’s also the family.

Of course. I have no idea how you manage to do it all! You run, organise races, travel, are a husband and a father. And to me it seems like you’re constantly travelling.

When I publish a picture, it’s usually of something that I don’t do every day. There have been days, for example the May Bank Holiday, which I’ve spent with my family, but on the other six days of the week I was in six difference places doing six different training sessions. At the Ojców national park, Babia Gora mountain, and the Stolowe mountains. If I’d have published a picture every day, it would have really looked like I travel a lot. But in actual fact, we travelled as a family for the next five days to visit friends.

We had a barbecue, did some sightseeing and visited some museums. I spent an hour each day training, and the rest of the time I really was with the family.

In the last two seasons in particular I’ve spent a lot of time at home. I probably spent more time at home than most people with a normal job. I had a lot of work, but it was on the computer. Which also isn’t great, because I don’t spend enough time with my kids. I’m nearby, but the need to make money falls on me - my wife is a teacher.

of Kilian Jornet and Emilie Forsberg will be under pressure to run and compete, or whether it will happen naturally?

There won’t be any pressure on her. I can see from what happens at our home. The kids will observe things and be curious about want their parents do, so there will be no need for pressure. I notice it at the kids races in Lądek Zdroj. Fairly often you see parents pushing for their kids to stand in the front row. Everyone asks me if my kids are going to follow in my footsteps. No, they won’t.

Recently we were away somewhere with the family, I grabbed my running top and told them I’ll do a loop and catch up with them on the way. When I finished training, Maks asked me: “When do you want to go running with me?” “Let’s do it!” Of course, he doesn’t have the fitness, but he’s really enthusiastic.

My daughter, on the other hand, has got into gymnastics, and goes to the Czech Republic to do gymnastics and acrobatics, but she does it for fun. Every time we visit a new city we have to pay a visit to a trampoline park.

I’ve looked at your pictures from Moab. You had a big support team, three camper vans, two families with little kids. Smiling, playing, having a great time. But I didn’t see your children there!

They had school. Although it wouldn’t have been a problem for them to come, they would have caught up with what they missed. But my wife Gośka, teaches at the school. She can’t take holiday. We knew straight away that she wouldn’t be able to go. And I couldn’t take them by myself, if I was supposed to be running and training. Soon they’ll be old enough to look after themselves – they’re 9 and 11 at the moment. I already take Marysia, the older one, to events like the ZUK, because even if I have an hour’s talk, she’s able to organise her own time. And Marysia also likes it all – the adults, the trips. As soon as possible, I’ll bring my family. Even just the kids, because I think the cost of catching up on a week of school is worth it, because they’ll learn something worthwhile. They’ll experience life, interacting with people, and solving problems.

It will give them much more than learning some chemical formula.

Children get to experience relationships with their parents while travelling, what they get out of it outweighs the difficulties.

I think travelling teaches them to be resourceful. To be open to different possibilities in life.

Then it’s easier, you can choose to do what you enjoy and live life to the full. You have to broaden your horizons and children notice that if we show them it from a young age.

After the teachers’ strikes we can imagine how tough it is.

That’s why she looks after the kids more than I do and spends more time with them. My work is at the expense of the children. And our kids are really wonderful.

This morning I was talking to Grzesiek Łuczką and we were wondering whether the daughter

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FROM THE STORE TO THE TRAIL:

Natural Born Runners

A Centre of Culture for Trail Running photo and portraits: Piotr Oleszak

NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

WE’RE KICKING OFF A NEW SERIES OF ARTICLES ENTITLED “FROM THE STORE TO THE TRAIL” AND STARTING AT A SMALL SHOP WITH A BIG HEART – NBR IN POZNAN. THE NATURAL BORN RUNNERS TEAM, MADE UP OF MANAGER GRZEGORZ LUCZKO AND HIS ULTRA-COLLEAGUE ANDRZEJ KOWALCZYK, MAKE A GOOD DUO. WHAT IT IS LIKE FOR THEM TO WORK SO CLOSELY TO SOMETHING THEY’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT? WHO ARE THEY AND WHAT HAVE THEY MANAGED TO CREATE AT THEIR SHOP AT UL. SCZANIECKIEJ 7, IN THE ŁAZARZ DISTRICT OF POZNAN? SEE WHAT THEIR CUSTOMERS, WHO QUICKLY BECAME COMPANIONS ON THE ROAD TO ULTRA-RUNNING, HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE “NATURALS.”

written by: Kingrunners pictures: Piotr Oleszak

NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

ZOSIA WAWRZYNIAK-WACKO: Grzegorz, the owner, and Andrzej, the customer consultant, have created this wonderful place in Poznan. They’re always ready to offer advice about which shoes to choose for a particular race, and at the same time tell you about their races all around the world. However, there’s a BUT! Don’t expect to get your shopping done quickly as time seems to stand still there. Apart from shopping you have to take time to talk about (trail) running, enjoy the fresh coffee and the famous chocolate sweets!

That’s what NBR is all about!

right destination for your next running trips, sometimes they also hold talks (Krzysztof Małkowski could do a podcast or even a TED talk about running), but always kit you out from head toe and now even offer you a coffee too! On top of all that, they also offer NBR VIP loyalty cards, which is kind of like their version of a passport.

ZOSIA WAWRZYNIAK-WACKO: Natural Born Runners is more than just a running shop.

It’s a place where everyone – not just runners – can feel at home. NBR is supplementary

ŁUKASZ NOWAK: NBR isn’t a shop... For me and many other amateur runners, it’s a Centre of Culture for trail running in the Łazarz district of Poznan. NBR is a community offering training, meetings, chances to talk about experiences, a strong running team and at the same time a place where you can find the best trail equipment. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that Grzegorz and the NBR team have “raised” many of us over the last few years, managing to infect us with a love of running in the mountains.

AGNIESZKA KORPAL: I’ve been observing NBR right from the very beginning. I know Grzes (short for Grzegorz) really put his heart into that place, and now it’s become part of his life. He has to carefully consider every single decision he makes, systematically achieving the goals associated with NBR’s activities.

There’s an incredible and friendly community around the shop and that’s its big advantage.

Sometimes you might have to wait two weeks for an answer (from Grzes, not the shop!), but I think we’ve all got used to that by now.

Andrzej is a calm and modest guy who always has a smile on his face, a great customer advisor who always knows what he’s talking about. He’s also surprised many people in recent years with his running times.

Bartek Mikołajczak: For me, NBR functions like a trail-running embassy in Poznan. It comes to your aid in foreign lands (i.e. in the flat-as-a-pancake city), recommends the

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training outdoors (even when the temperature drops below zero!), it is meeting inspiring people from the ultra-community, all in a friendly atmosphere.

SEWERYN SOCHA: NBR – three small letters that mean so much. The Naturals are much more than just an ultra-running shop. First of all, they’re original. Everyone who’s had anything to do with the shop knows that it radiates positive energy. Grzegorz and co do their utmost to adapt the gear to the needs of their customers, which isn’t easy. Luckily, there’s always a jar full of chocolates to cheer

you up. Secondly, you can rely on them. If you ever have to make a complaint about equipment, they will always offer you their full support. They’re extremely professional and have a great attitude to customers.

Thirdly – it’s a family company. Because NBR is, more than anything, a unique place in Poznan, where you can meet other positive running maniacs who are similar to you.

And where else does the free coffee taste so good?

BARTEK MIKOŁAJCZAK: Grzegorz – I’ve known his philosophy for five years now. We used to try to meet up for training, and managed it ... twice. (laugh) Once in Radojewo, Poznan and once in Cisna, in the mountains, because we were running the Rzeznik ultra together.

It’s a strange friendship, but I really enjoy talking to him. Lately he’s even started smiling. He is so calm. He’s let slip his love of dancing to me, and I think he still has many hidden talents we’re unaware of.

I’m not on first name terms with Andrzej yet because he’s a man you respect. A super quick runner, an all-rounder of the running world, one of the organisers of the City Trail series and small, family-run ultra-marathons (three race packages are taken immediately, and at the finish line you get a home-made schnitzel made by Andrzej’s family). I like racing with him, and even managed to beat him once.

Now we know plenty about NBR, it’s time to find out what Grzegorz and Andrzej have to say about their day-to-day work, their passion for ultras and the world of trail running.

ULTRA: Do you get something like “professional perversion” when you’re running an ultra and analysing every step of the way what people are wearing?

GRZEGORZ: Not just at ultras, but on the street, in the woods – everywhere! After selling trail shoes for so many years, the first thing I look is at the shoes. Or rather, I try not to evaluate them, just observe what people are running in. It’s interesting to hear comments of run-

NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

ners from abroad when it turns out that we have everything that they run in at home!

ANDRZEJ: Oh yeah, it happens. I mainly look at the shoes and bags. Any most often, if someone’s wearing something we offer I wonder if they bought it at our shop. Maybe I even know the runner’s name? It’s pretty rare, however, if we do get talking, that I ask where they bought their gear. I can also remember seeing a man with long hair on a road race, with some facial hair and some stuff from Buff’s Anton range. If it wasn’t for the fact I work at NBR and had heard of that collection, I would never have realised that the runner was a fan of Anton Krupicka, and in particular an ultra-runner. (laugh) Do ultra-runners recognise events or in the shop?

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Do you every “betray” your own brand and run events wearing other clothing or shoes? Come on, admit it!

GRZEGORZ: In shops with multiple brands you don’t really have that problem. And in the end, my opinion is that almost every brand has some great products – something that they’ve designed really well. As well as, of course, products which are just average and lack imagination. I have my favourite brands, like Inov-8 and Newline, but I also have products I like from other companies.

ANDRZEJ: The longer I’ve been working in the shop, the more often it happens. People recognise me and vice versa. Of course, I’m not able to remember everyone, but I can remember a lot of people. Sometimes I remember a person when they tell me what they bought from our shop. That helps me remember the visit in my mind as well as the other things he or she tried on but didn’t buy.

GRZEGORZ: It helps me understand my clients better. I remember we tried selling running sunglasses for a while, it was something completely new and alien to us. And it was hard work, it was difficult to get our bearings and even more difficult to recommend something to our clients. In the end we gave up on it. But as for the rest of the range? It’s as if you’re sitting an exam and your favourite topic comes us, which you know inside out, making the exam a piece of cake! And that’s what ultra-running gives you!

ANDRZEJ: Although they say a cobbler always wears the worst shoes, you definitely become more credible running ultras. Customers often ask what I run in and what gels I take.

It’s easily to tell someone how something worked for you. And vice versa, you can also learn a lot from customers. When ultra-runners come into our store its often to discuss things. And it’s easy to get hold of gear. I find the knowledge I need to get the right gear while I’m at work.

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GRZEGORZ: I’ve taken on a model of business which is strongly based on my own personal brand. People know that Luczko is the guy behind Natural Born Runners. Of course, that also means that customers recognise me and trust me, which is a big responsibility.

We have a small company, and don’t target specific brands. People often just pop in to talk about races, someone recently came in to return a pair of shoes they’d bought and ended up talking about their adventures for half an hour. That’s how we build really good relationships with people and later, at events, we become friends and are also able to offer them good advice about what gear to take to ultras.

What does your experience from ultra-races give you? And vice versa?

Who are the customers to talk to?

ANDRZEJ: NO! Well, maybe sometimes.

Most of the equipment available at NBR covers what I need for running. If I have anything that’s not from the shop, then it’s the CITY TRAIL shirt, which I really like! Oh yeah, and I can’t buy track spikes in an ultra-running shop. (laugh)

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difficult

GRZEGORZ: Over the years we’ve been running this shop, we’ve had over 20,000 clients, online and in our shop. I can count the number of really difficult, unpleasant dealings I’ve had on one hand, even the hand of a lumberjack. The running industry is very specific, we have, if I do say so myself, a very good attitude to customers and that brings good results.

ANDRZEJ: Passers-by who drop in and ask about children’s clothing or flip-flops. Although at least they’re not interested in long conversations. But in all seriousness, you can tell sometimes that someone doesn’t want to buy anything and then it’s quite difficult to talk to them.

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There is always plenty to do in the shop – when do you find time to train for events?

GRZEGORZ: I’m my own boss, so my schedule is pretty flexible. I’m able to adjust it to suit me.

Andrzej: I usually trail in the morning, before work, although if the boss doesn’t notice then while I’m working too. And of course, you could say I train at night too, because sleep is the basis for training, its power is huge.

Can you tell at first glance what kind of ultra-runner a person is? A racer, tourist, beginner, connoisseur, layman etc.?

GRZEGORZ: Yeah, you can usually tell at first glance, although also from the questions they ask, or the ones they don’t ask.

ANDRZEJ: That’s what I used to think, but while running I’ve sometimes been surprised by someone I didn’t expect overtaking me.

Now I don’t think anyone could surprise me.

Working in an ultra-running shop is all about knowledge of products (and more). How many – more of less – of the ultra-products and their technical details stay in your head?

Grzegorz: Hmm, if you were to ask me the weight or number of pockets of a particular rucksack, I would probably get it wrong. But more or less, I know the details of around 1000 products, and a few hundred for sure.

In that sense, I’m able to tell you that this shirt has this cut, I’d recommend that rucksack for a short, fast run and not for an ultra, and those shoes would be best on this surface and not that.

ANDRZEJ: Hmm? Tens of products, so somewhere from 20 to 99. (laugh)

Do your clients often ask about your experience from races? Do they appreciate what you have to say?

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GRZEGORZ: Yes, of course! It’s the basis of our customer service. Talking about our own experience is extremely valuable, it makes it easier for us to seem credible in the eyes of the customer. People often ask us about a range of things, even things not associated with the products themselves, such as our experience of races etc.

ANDRZEJ: With most visits that’s the case.

Sometimes I even talk about my experience without being asked. How can you not talk to someone about a shared passion? But I do also ask them about their experiences.

Do employees of ultra-running shops make mistakes and get black nails, trenchfoot, blisters or blood on their chest?

GRZEGORZ: Of course we do! I remember once I did the Łemkowyna ultra with shoes that were a little too small, actually maybe it’s better not to write about that... (laugh) But in all seriousness, those mistakes make up experience which we can learn from afterwards.

It’s one thing knowing in theory that shoes which are too tight could cause you problems on the downhills, and something else to have black nails for the next three months.

ANDRZEJ: For a long time, I’d only heard about issues like this from other people. That was until the skin rubbed off my heel, and a year later I got trenchfoot. I must have listened to a lot of stories about it, because I knew what was up before I even took my shoes off. Actually, to be honest I already knew what had happened while I was running!

Have you ever given someone advice during a race? For example, said that they are overdressed or underdressed?

GRZEGORZ: Giving unwanted advice? (laugh) No. If someone needs help, then sure, but I’m not going to overstep the line and try to be smart.

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photo: Jacek Deneka / Bieg Ultra GraniÄ… Tatr

NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

photo: Jacek Deneka / Bieg Ultra GraniÄ… Tatr

NATURAL BORN RUNNERS

ANDRZEJ: Hardly ever. I try not to lecture anyone, particularly if they haven’t asked for my opinion. I assume that he or she is ok or will suffer and learn from the mistake.

After all it’s not like I have tons of experience of ultra-races.

Admit it – do you check the times of people who work at other shops and brands?

Chojnik. I was running the half. Andrzej was doing the marathon, we had our stand before the race, did our events and a week afterwards we were talking with clients, who had now become more like friends, about our impressions of the race. At this point the boundary between salesperson and client is blurred and we’re simply talking to each other about running. That’s really cool!

GRZEGORZ: On the side, maybe, but not obsessively. (laugh) I remember Patryk Aida’s great times from Sport Guru, plus a few other guys. But in general, there is no unhealthy rivalry between us.

ANDRZEJ: When you get injured, it makes you feel like we’re all the same as runners.

And cramps simply tell you that you didn’t prepare properly for the race, so it’s best that you don’t have them. (laugh)

ANDRZEJ: I don’t go about it inquisitively, but I try to check the results of everyone I know, so they’re also part of that group.

The ultra-running community in Poland is small but growing. What is dominating, cooperation or competition between the shops?

GRZEGORZ: The way I look at it, you have to compete above all with yourself and your performance the day before. Of course I look at the competition, what they do, what direction they’re going, and I know they also do the same to us. But there’s no real tension between us, and we can always count on help if someone is suddenly missing some shoes in a particular size or a rucksack. We help and others help us.

ŁUKASZ NOWAK: For the last three years our coffee shop and architect’s office has been dangerously close to NBR... and I always looked for a pretext to drop by, even just for a bit. To have a coffee together and talk about recent races, running plans and opinions about gear - we’ve had hundreds of morning meetups like that. The team are my closest running friends. You absolutely have to visit the small store, full of trail-running enthusiasm, which will rub off on you just by being there.

ANDRZEJ: I think we know some of them so well that there is no rivalry. Well, unless it’s at a race. And we help each other out from time to time.

Do ultra-running injuries or cramps make you look credible in the shop?

GRZEGORZ: Sure they do! After all, it gives us a chance to share our experience with the customers. What’s cool is when some of our team enter a particular race, such as Ultra

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