An event that was equally suffered and enjoyed. The organisers and 1000 participants experienced big ups and downs at the mountain festival, which was held in Yeste last weekend.
Saturday's weather was unpredictable but mild enough to allow the participants to proceed as planned with the trail, hiking and Nordic walking competitions. Sunday was not so fortunate; the combination of rain, hail and a blizzard, which started Saturday evening and went way into the night, forced the race to end early at the 22km mark.
Prioritising Safety
The organisation had already planned an alternative route of 65km (instead of the original 70km), which was unveiled during Saturday's technical conference, but even this could not be completed, and organisers were forced to draw up a Plan C, which consisted of 55km split into two legs. The first 20km leg was located at a point where arrival to Yeste, and subsequent evacuation, could be quick if the weather were to cause any problems.
The following leg should have been a 35km route, but the weather got increasingly worse and, after a night of heavy rain, the 5 ports, technical descents and the rest of the planned route - which should have been really enjoyable - had all turned into a really dangerous swamp.
As such, the initial start was delayed to 10.30am and the first 20km section of Plan C was attempted but, due to dangerous ground conditions, the safety of the participants had to be prioritised and the competition had to end early.
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