During the build-up to the UTMB, my brother and I decided that we would likely want to escape Germany's dreary November weather and run a race on the Baleares isle of Menorca that both of us had not visited before. 190km and 4400m of climbing at sea level in 3 stages sounded manageable, but we were in for a surprise, particularly as my brother got diagnosed with a stress fracture only days after signing up and making all travel arrangements, which meant that he did virtually no training for the 4 months leading into this event. We definitely went into this event overconfident and under-prepared.
While the course profile indicated a pretty flat race on the "horse trail", there were lots of smaller ups and downs, and the ground alternated between road and technical terrain that was challenging to run even on the flats. We covered what felt like at least a full marathon on paved roads, which was definitely not what I had trained for. Simultaneously, there was a MTB race on mostly the same course, and I did not envy the bikers most of the time (probably just a little on paved roads, though). The race was centered around a hotel which also was the finish line on the second and third day.
First day (68k, 1900m D+, 7.09h)
After a 30min shuttle ride from the hotel to the Northern coast and a short walk we reached the starting line in time to see the mountain bikers take off. Props to doing this course on a bike, I myself probably would have had to carry the bike for three quarters of the race.
One runner collapsed right at the starting line and was led off by paramedics with what looked like stomach cramps, but then still started and finished the race. This only put a slight damper on the enthusiastic race organizers who had us huddle and invoke heart and mind in preparation for a "brutal" race.
We set off going eastwards at a blistering pace which put me just behind pro-athletes Miguel Heras (who went on to win the 3 day event with a big lead) and Pablo Villa (who dropped out during day 1), but I gladly took taking off my jacket as an excuse to let a wide gap open after two completely overpaced kilometers.
Amongst great vistas and rocky trails, foreshadowing the next 2 days, I then ran mostly on my own until the 1st aid station, passing some bikers, and in turn being passed by the two leading women at the aid station.
The trail then continued through a mix of roads, abandoned tourist villages, fire roads and coastal trails.
I managed to kick a rock against my ankle on one of the few technical parts, which hurt like SOB and kept on hurting for weeks.
Second day (56k, 1300m D+, 6.30h)
Feeling already pretty toasted after the first day, and struggling with an ankle concussion that even kept me up some of the night and that made normal walking pretty impossible, spirits weren't exactly at their highest for the second day. Voltaren gel was pulling double shifts.
We were shuttled to Mahon, and then continued to go around the island in clockwise direction. Except for the pros, nobody was starting off particularly fast this day, so I stayed in a group for the first 20km on a combination of rocky paths and roads.
I wasn't having the race of my life, so making it to the final aid station at km 43 already took 5h, including about 15mins hanging out at aid stations. The worst was still to come, though. The last 13k turned out to be a lot of clambering along rocky coastal trails and thus took almost another 2h, before we reached Cala Galdana where the hotel was situated.
As a final middle finger, the course took a detour just 50m from the finish line for another km or so and some climbing.
Third day (65k, 1200m D+, 7.17h)
The third day started out from the same area as the first day, but then went westwards. This time, the short walk from the bus to the starting line already felt like a major effort, so confidence in even being able to finish the day was running low.
However, once we started running, race mode took over and I managed to keep the pace of the first woman until the halfway point. The scenery again was stunning, but strong winds and paths strewn with mid-sized rocks made progress very challenging after the first "easy" 15k.
After reaching Menorca's "second city" Ciutadella, we continued along the coast and were frequently hit by sea spray.
A fellow 2023 UTMB finisher (we had earlier recognized each other by flexing UTMB finisher vests during the hotel dinners) from Spain encouraged me to continue together, but I was happy to keep my own pace and dawdle a bit at the aid stations to let him go ahead without me - the language barrier was also particularly strong with this one, and my active Spanish at this point didn't go much beyond "es duro" and "muy dolor en los pies".
I spent a couple of mins sitting down both at the second to last and last aid station, as the slow trudging over difficult terrain was taking a heavy toll on my feet. The last couple of climbs went really well, though, as my climbing legs hadn't really been used that day yet. I even over-climbed and had to backtrack down a scramble at one point, and was unfortunately also followed by some runners of the shorter distance who erroneously assumed that I knew what I was doing. Finally, I made it to the finish with a total time of a bit less than 21h, which was not that far off from what I had actually expected initially.
For early November, the weather was great with lots of sun and temperatures above 20°C, and strong winds that did not bother me too much. Menorca's coast line is incredible, with lots of small lonely coves, great vistas and an otherwordly feeling in the off season when most tourist towns are completely empty. The race organizer recently announced that 2023 would be the last year the race took place, so we got lucky to make it to and through the final edition.
Race video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPEoGKEICk
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