Burning it up on Mount Etna

To say I was a little aprehensive about today's race is an under statement. Since the High Wycombe Half Marathon 2 weeks ago I have 'trained' 5 times, partly due to injury (my hamstring) and partly due to an excess of late nights and too much beer (weddings etc.). When I went for a 20minute jog yesterday around the village of Francavilla I considered not going to the race...my legs were tight and I felt terrible.

However when I woke this morning (at 6.30am) I was suddenly filled with the thought that it doesn't really matter how I do...I was going to run on Mount Etna!! Europe's most active volcano (well apart from 'what-do-you-call-it' on Iceland). So Alison and I jumped into our bright yellow, convertible Punto hire car and made our way across the mountains to find the start of the race.

When we arrived at the start area (1700m above sea-level) we were glad we had not decided to 'take the roof off' our car, it was freezing! but as the sun rose so did the heat!

In typical Italian style the other runners slowly started to arrive at the start, none too worried about the 9.30 start time. As usual during our warm-ups we were all checking out eachother's stretching techniques, foot wear etc. trying to gauge who the 'competition' would be! from what I could work out it looked more like the start of a road race, with more Asics then Salomons. But as the announcer started to talk I learnt there was some of Sicily's best trail runners and also the Italian Ultra-trail Champion.

The first 2km were on roads, which I feared a blistering pace. However I soon found myself in the lead and actually turned to ask why we were going so slow, I thought maybe something had been lost in translation and maybe we hadn't started, but we had so I picked up the pace. Only one person came with me, Roberto Bellanca. I lead for the first 7km over broken lava fields and felt good, the course at this stage was undulating and actually really good fun, with tight turns and steep desents.

By the time we reached the first drinks point, where Alison was eagerly awaiting with her camera, I had started to feel the effects of all my missed training. Roberto started to ease ahead. On the up-hill sections I found it hard to respond, however when it came to the steep technical sections I was able to catch up. The whole way up Etna it was like a game of cat and mouse, with Roberto pulling ahead and then me catching him up again. Once we reached the highest point in the course (2100m) there was a very steep descent, on which I was able to retake the lead. By this stage I knew I was the better descender, and I think Roberto did too. I started to try to put a little pressure on, and stepped it up a gear. I thought I had the race 'in the bag' as I presumed it was downhill all the way to the finish. However I was wrong. We suddenly hit another incline, not steep, but covered in loose energy sapping lava. My head went! Roberto easily over took me and I had nothing to respond with. I was beaten. 

The final times were Roberto 1:39.24 and I followed in 1:40.32, with 3rd place nearly 15minutes behind.

MORE TOO COME...