Zegama-Aizkorri 2011

[Bierzo Baggie]

(Aside - I wondered: what the hell are tenterhooks exactly? So I looked it up. Tenterhook: one of the hooks or bent nails that hold cloth stretched on a tenter. Obvious, really.)

Thanks for that Dan.

As I was saying....

Mrs Woo’s daughter comes to the English classes and she told me that her mum had a fine selection of kagools all in different colours.

Just what I needed.

I’d noticed that ISF (international skyrunning federation) regulations insist on rainwear for most races and although the weekend forecast for Zegama was hot and sunny they probably wouldn’t turn a blind eye. I decided to take something small and light that would fit snugly inside a bumbag. The “chubasquero” I’d used at Busmayor was far too bulky and I’d ended up scrunching it up and carrying it in my hand before eventually offloading it!

So, to Mrs Woo’s shop I went where I was sold a bright yellow rain poncho for 60 cents.

Just the job.

Little did we know that this innocent purchase would play a major role in the events ahead.

6:30: Sunday morning. Start the one hour drive to Zegama from Miranda del Ebro.
The police stop me at the first roundabout out of town.

“Good morning sir, have you been drinking alcohol?”
“No officer, I haven’t.”
“Then you may continue.”

They didn’t even ask me to blow ffs! They probably took one look at me and thought “this weirdo’s on his way to Zegama, he can drink all the cider he wants!”

Entered the Basque Country. Left the motorway and immediately joined a caravan of vehicles descending the tortuous hairpins through the woods which lead to Mecca, Zegama and its very singular race.

The village is a hive of activity. Volunteers with fluorescent coats direct me to the nearest parking place. It’s a long way away, at the top of a hill on the very edge of the village. No worries, there’s plenty of time.

Amble down the hill to the start. There are a lot of camper vans. One belongs to the Andorran mountain running team, another to the Catalans. Hear French, Italian and Russian. Also hear more Basque than Spanish. And all the while Aitzkorri and her rocky edge rears up overhead. Her presence is overwhelming.

10 minutes to the start and I join the queue to enter the korrikalari warm-up area. There’s not a cloud in the sky but they’re still checking for the mandatory rainwear. I open the bumbag and the race official shakes his head firmly.

“No vale,” ..this ones not allowed.

“Eh, ...it’s a rain poncho.”

“No vale, you can’t enter.”

Shit.. and I’m not the only one. There’s this exasperated French guy who looks like a serious skyunner and who doesn’t understand what the the race official is telling him. I show him Mrs Woo’s rain poncho... “no vale.”

And I have 10 minutes to find ISF regulation rainwear, before the French do...if not, my race is over before it's started.