During a 2018 autumn vacation in Southern Tyrolia my brother (proud 2013 UTMB finisher) and I (no runs longer than 20km to date) decided that it would be fun to sign up for the La Palma Transvulcania in 2019 as we had been to the island before and hiked and liked most of the route in segments. We then figured out that the Transvulcania had an entry requirement of one completed mountain ultra in the last 2 years, and the only race within reasonable distance and before the end of the registration period was the S1 Trail Corsa Della Bora in early January 2019. The S1 trail runs from Pesek in Slovenia to Sistiana in Italy, mostly on the S1 hiking trail and on the cliffs overlooking the coast line.
Getting from Munich to Trieste turned out to be fairly difficult as snow storms turned a 2h direct flight into a 5h multi-stop odyssey, but race day weather was forecasted as warm and dry. On the morning of the race we were bussed from Trieste to Pesek for a 7.30am start. The first part of the course was a steep and very crowded downhill, on which a fellow runner managed to slip and injure herself badly enough for hospitalization 50m into the race. But this only put a damper on everybody's mood for a few minutes as judged by expressions and conversations, so I filed it under "common experience during ultras". With this being my first ultra and second race ever, I had decided to start in the back of the pack and go for "finishing is winning". This was alright for the first technical downhill, but then came back to haunt me on the first steep climb when the single trail was blocked with runners seemingly trying to keep their heart rate below 60bpm.
Shortly after, the trail turned into a road with great views of Trieste below us. By now I had found a group runners which was moving at roughly my speed, so I decided that I was doing fine and stuck with the group, taking a few short stops to take pictures and generally marvel at the scenery. After a steep forest downhill on a MTB trail we reached the first aid
station at Dolina. Due to overcrowding and general confusion I spent 5
mins there just to get a piece of banana, and then decided that I better
returned to running. While the S1 trail was advertised as a culinary highlight, overall I made only
sparse use of the food offered at pretty crowded but well supplied aid
stations.
The next section was a steep climb followed by a downhill through unrunnable scree fields under the watchful eyes of the local mountain rescue. At one point a fellow German runner threw a tantrum about the trail, hinting at that his training probably took place far away from anything even remotely resembling a mountain.
After dipping back into the valley, the ultimate long ascent of the race led up to the aid station at Draga Sant'Elia, so more than 50% of the ascent was covered in 1/3 of the distance. Leaving the aid station, the course joined the S1 hiking trail overlooking the Adria. While there were no more big climbs, the course remained challenging due to small trails and lots of rocks. As the sun was out and the feared Bora wind was taking an extended Christmas break, temperatures were at a breezy 5-10°C and just perfect for running. We later saw that the female winner of the race finishing with a crazy time of 5:40h apparently stripped down to shorts and a belly-free top which I would have found a bit chilly after all.
The trail ran for about 25km with some small ups and downs and through various pretty villages in one of which I managed to become lost for a few minutes until dipping down to the beach. By now, I was fully in awe of the runners in the 164km race which I passed occasionally - as I learned later, not cheering them on was probably the right thing to do as people do not like to be yanked from their individual pain caves by some short distance runner who is obviously suffering way less. The slower runners/hikers from the 21 and 8km races also had to be overtaken every few hundred meters which was a bit annoying as they were not very eager to get out of the way, particularly on smaller trails, and I had decided that a sub-8h finish was still within reach.
The beach (which later in the day was going to be flooded by the tide, leading to a very wet finish for the slower racers) turned out to be mostly big boulders strewn among rocks and pebbles with some scrambles, which made for pretty tedious progress. We then reached Sistiana harbour and ran up a final 150m climb to the finish line. After having the home stretch all to myself and being enthusiastically greeted by the announcer, I sat down next to a fence surrounding the finish area and coped with a wave of emotion brought on by exhaustion and the setting. I finished 86th overall in 7:46h and, after recovering for one more day in Trieste, decided that I could actually get used to running ultras.
Owing to the great weather, beautiful landscape, good organization and friendly volunteers the S1 Trail Corsa Della Bora was a great experience and a good start into ultra distance running.
Official race website: https://www.s1trail.com/en/s1t/
Official race video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERanbfCptkc
Race video by Max Bube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZlkvfb_Tfc
Course profile: https://tracedetrail.fr/en/trace/trace/97462
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