Successful Grand Raid des Pyrenees

After most of the day recovering, I can report that I completed the GRP yesterday. It is definitely the hardest event I have ever completed. I had done a couple of recce runs on Tuesday and Thursday where I managed to complete 25km  of the course in 3 hrs 20, the outward 11k followed by a connecting run then the final section back to the finish, so had some idea that I may even better my target of 17 to 18 hours.on the basis that I'd run 20% including 20% of the ascent in 3 hours. How wrong could I be : it's not the climb that's the challenge but the sections with rocky boulder fields. Of the 937 starters on the 80k, I'd reached my first checkpoint at Restaurant Merlans well ahead of schedule, and in 572nd place, in fact ahead of a 16:20 schedule which would see me finish at dusk. The next section to Artigues had more downhill in it combined with rocky terrain, so I had lost 30 minutes on a daylight finish schedule and was now in 713th place. Approaching noon, it was also now quite hot.
After a nourishing ten minutes or so, it was a relatively easy climb to Pic du Midi, no rocky terrain to contend with, an initial steep bit by a waterfall and then a steady climb, just 1700m or about 5,700 feet in the next 10k and only one small stretch of ice to negotiate. It was only as I neared the summit that I realised I could have got a cable car up there (but I would also needed to find its starting point)..By now, despite having regained 50 places I was at nearly 10 hours, so would need to complete the second have in 6:20 to finish in daylight. The descent for me was fast, after the initial tricky bit, I was ably to get a reasonable speed going, By Turnaboup, I'd lost only about 20 places, which for me on a descent is good going and on the next section I seemed to fly past many who were walking on what I thought was excellent terrain for sub 10 minute miling.However, we were all heading back into the rocky terrain, so even though I was going as fast as anyone around me, the pace slowed drastically so the next 16k with about 4000 feet of climb, took the best part of 5 hours with the last hour in the dark, The final section from the checkpoint at Restaurant Merlans was fairly tricky in daylight but in the dark and previous week's damp weather made it treacherous umderfoot. The route I'd completed on Thursday in well under 2 hours took 3 hours 20. Finslly I was down in the village of Vignec with about 8 others who'd passed me on the last descent down a greasy version of Georges Lane, but narrower. Somehow, despite felling so dispirited for the past three hours, I summoned up some vitality and picked up the pace. After 80km and nearly 21 hours, I completed the final kilometre at about 7 minutes per mile, taking four minutes out of the group from Vignec..I wasn't surprised that Julie was no longer at the finish but she was there until 1.15a.m. so I only missed her by 25 minutes. She had been keeping track of me but we had no means of contact such is the vagary of Tesco Mobile.My final finishing time was 20:39:20, long day out but not as long as some, the final finisher taking over 26 hours. Of the 937 starters, 790 completed, my final position being 658th.Michelle also achieved her goal, 728th in 22:13:48 whilst Albert competed the full 160k Ultra, 154th in 38:39:55. As can be expected, there was a high attrition rate in the 160 with only 404 finishers of 658 starters.
Would I do it again? I doubt it. It is very demanding, I know I could be fitter, despite the improvement in the past few months and if I were 10 years younger, then maybe, However, I have to say it is probably the best organised race that I have ever competed in, It is not cheap to enter, but you do get so much back and the care taken by the organisers is immense, Veille Aure is smaller than Belmont, yet there are hundreds involved both in advance and during the 50+ hours that the races are on the go. I would highly recommend it.
(I'll add pics, links etc when I get home)