This post includes my observations and criticism over the TriCity Trail 2016 event:
As I haven’t joined any other event organized by City Trail Team, this was the first time I met with them.. How amazing!.. Like a big cooperation managed by very young sports people.
After a car travel all Friday night I arrived Wejherowo, on Saturday at noon.
- The event center location is great as it is very near to train and bus station of Wejheworo.
When I arrived, it was earlier than the announced time registration would be open. So all team were working hard for preparation of the event. There were two sport halls, I left my staff to the one they showed me and took a one hour nap.
Later I had chance to hang around and make observations.
- Saw the other rooms, teams stayed the night-or nights before, like us, in sleeping bags and worked..
I have enjoyed the Piotr Dymus documentary but I didn’t attend the technical briefing .. Most probably it was in Polish.. 😉 So I can’t make any comment about the briefing.
- After the documentary, I saw lot’s of other runners arrived and we all were going to sleep in the sports hall. Somehow without any trouble we managed to sleep on time. I didn’t have any problem like not being able to sleep because of some thougtless noisy people etc.
- Most of us woke up at 3:00 and taking buses to start point was again smooth.
When we arrived start line, the time left was enough to answer last minute needs. Stretching, giving the deposits, even solving technical problems like my frozen Garmin which required hard reset. (Yes my Garmin didn’t want to run and a gentleman saved my run, Thanks!! )
- Very important point.. Yes! Toi Toi toilets were there. And lot’s of trees for enjoying the open air :))
- Start was on time..
And Lets start to talk about running:
TriCity Trail is a run in a huge forest. It is an ultra cross country 🙂
- Check points: All check points were electronic, and split times were recorded.
- Foods & Drinks: Detailed information was announced before the race. I didn’t check all one by one but my impression was what announced were there. For me banana, gummy, etixx bar, in case i need:isotonic and coke were crucial. So you can check this list and rely on it
- Signs: When I look into the map the night before I gave %0 possibility not to make a mistake. So my goal was `minimum mistake`. There were LOTS of paths and intersections. Whatever organization team does, still runners have to stay focused and careful.
After all competitions, a few runners complain about markings. Of course it wasn’t perfect. There were three points I didn’t feel comfortable as I couldn’t see the next mark, slowed down or walked. Three times I missed the turn and ran to wrong way. (attention deficit) But in overall, when I think the amount of marks on the route, even while I was running, I was thinking “This is too much work. Too many tapes. How will they clean this forest??!! ”
They did, cleaned… See below:
- Check point support: I didn’t have any problem at check points with the team working there. Everything went smoothly. Communication problem either.(Remember, I can’t communicate in Polish) When they noticed I were a foreigner they switched to English 🙂
- Between check points there were lot’s of organization team members, pointing the directions at critical turns.
- All event was punctual: Sometimes award ceremonies start later than they are announced, but City Trail team was so punctual that when I arrived to ceremony area after taking a shower, they were already announcing the 4th woman. Nearly I was going to miss the ceremony 🙂
- Awards: I found the awards satisfying. Thanks Salomon, Suunto and Etixx.
Was everything perfect?
Let’s find something..
After finishing 80K, walking to the event center for shower was painful. But I don’t know how many people needed such a transportation and as finishers arrive to finish line maybe once every ten minutes, it wouldn’t be efficient to arrange something like shuttle.So I don’t have a solution offer for this part.
First time during a race I had problem with my stomach. When I finished the run,my stomach needed hot drink like tea and salty crackers. .. Come on! How many runners need tea at finish in July! But I understood why some runners need salty things or breadlike food during & after races. Hmmm.. I should think about this. Maybe all long distance running events should have some salty food at finish line. (In general I don’t want to see any sugary food after the finish, because of the candies, chocolate, bananas, gels I consumed during the race.. No banana at least for one week!! 🙂 )
What else?…
It would be good have breakfast service to bed, SPA, free manicure for ladies at finish line.. Why not? 😉
What is the output of the event for me?
Does it worth to go?
I know long distance trail runners like challenging mountains.. But…
While I love running in woods a lot, I found it technically worth to go as well.
It is a faster run than a mountain run. Elevation gain and loss is more homogenous.
It is a good chance to meet with your body.
What am I talking about?
In a race which has 500 m elevation gain in first half and 1500m gain in second half, you don’t and can’t run with a homogenous pace. But in Tricity trail, you can do. You can try.
As I don’t have such an experience before, at the beginning I doubted..
Should I keep on telling myself “Calm down. This is ultra”or should I let it go??..
Can I stand till the end if I run faster than I am used to?
But I tried..
I learned many things about myself, my body, faced with my weaknesses and developed new ideas about what I should do to improve my running skills.
And this type of runs, on a soft ground, don’t kill you as rocks on mountains or asphalt do. Comparing to the others, recovery is much more faster. So I think it is possible to set this race between others.
Honestly, Many times I said “No no this is not for me!!” , especially at last 8 kilometers I was saying “Never again!!”.. (An of course, Most probably I will run again 🙂 ) This was second time in my all competitions I finished , I wasn’t happy at last kilometers but it is not competition’s fault. (it is my fault)..
However, It was a very right decision to go and run it. And even during last kilometers I didn’t think the opposite.. Briefly, I strongly recommend to give it a shot
Good Job!
We should talk about running.. 