I suspect that one of the great mountain running records has gone unnoticed by the fell running community.
Rob Jebb; Zegama 2005: 3 hours 54 minutes 18 seconds.
Zegama-Aizkorri is an extremely competitive race. It’s part of the skyrunning world series and the very best specialists in the world meet up here in both male and female catagories. UK fell runners, accustomed to steep, technical terrain and bad weather, seem to adapt particularly well to the circuit. The local runners are training all year around and could probably run it blindfold so bear this in mind when you consider that for the 2005 race Jebb turned up, did a spot of recce on the Saturday and on Sunday morning tore around the course like nobody had done before or since. I guess he was at the peak of his running prowess and he was the overall winner of the skyrunner world series that same year.
Simon Booth was second. Jebb and Booth remain 2 of only 4 runners who have dipped below 4 hours. Kilian Jornet is another.
This year the record will surely fall. Kilian Jornet, undisputed king of the mountains and 3 times winner at Zegama (sub 4 hours each time) is a skyrunner who usually achieves what he proposes:
Skyrunner world series winner 2007, 2008, 2009.
Ultra trail Mont Blanc winner and record holder 2008, 2009.
Ski mountaineering european champion 2009 world champion 2010.
World speed record Kilimanjaro (ascent and descent).
He’s still only 23 year old.
All this just goes to show how good Rob Jebb’s 2005 run was.
Last year and despite appalling weather conditions Kilian was only 2 minutes away. If the weather is good on Sunday, as it may well be, he is unlikely to let the record slip his grasp for a fourth time.
Rob Jebb returned to Zegama in 2006. Everybody expected him to retain his title but a small wiry guy from Mexico City proved to be a worthy challenger.
It’s hard to look at Ricardo Mejia without thinking of the Tamahumara indians. He’s not, he’s from Oaxaca, wherever that is. It’s tantalisingly difficult to find informnation about him on the net. All I know is that he runs a tool shop in Mexico City and that in 2006 he began to appear on the European circuit with spectacular results.
If Jebb’s 2005 record was the best individual performance to date, 2006 was a race that has not been matched since for drama. Mejia caught Jebb on the final descent and only 4 seconds separated them when the Mexican crossed the village square and reached the finishing line. Mejia also took Jebb’s world skyrunning crown. The following year Kilian appeared on the scene and it’s difficult to imagine anybody beating him on his own terrain.
Jebb, the BT engineer from Bradford hasn’t returned since but he has an heir, the appropriately named Ricky Lightfoot. Lightfoot, from the Lake District, was a surprise winner in 2009 but is probably not quite in Kilian’s class. We’ll see on Sunday.
