Season 2016

[Bierzo Baggie]

Better make that 3 episodes, it was an eventful race. This will probably be my longest race report ever.
 
The Weather
Damp, drizzle but not excessively cold. Misty in places but the route is well marked and it's impossible to get lost. The snow lingers on high ground, deep in places but there's not as much as 2 years ago.

The Start
The plaza of Santa Cruz del Sil is tiny and for 450 plus starters it’s quite a squeeze. The music is loud and the atmosphere is boisterous. Must say that there are a lot of serious runners. Even those who pretend not to be serious are … well, serious. One guy sets off in sandals. There’s one couple dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse. But hey, I suspect that they’ve all trained for this.
 
The Firebreaks
The first part of the race will take us over the hills to the next village at Paramo del Sil. The most significant feature of this section is a series of 3 very vertical firebreaks, down, up and down again. You must be sure of your footing here and feel confident and if not, be very careful.
 
The Accident
Got to the top of the second firebreak in good time. They call it “el muro” (the wall) for obvious reasons. Then halfway down the final descent to Paramo somebody fell. It looked quite nasty at the time as he’d hit his head and I somehow ended up bringing up the first aid kit.
 
The first person to arrive from the emergency services was a big chap but he was still quite far away and he was clearly struggling with the gradient. This was not surprising. What was surprising was that one runner had decided the best plan of action was to physically push the bulky fellow up the hill. This only meant that the poor guy, who was probably only a volunteer anyway, was close to collapsing and that would mean two casualties to deal with! And they wonder why the Spanish economy is in a mess…
 
Ran down to meet them, grabbed the equally bulky first aid kit, hauled it over my shoulder and retraced my steps up the firebreak. The guy from emergency services wasn’t going to arrive for some time. Back at the scene of the accident the battered and bloodied runner had been wrapped in an emergency blanket and another runner who was also a nurse seemed to have taken control of things. The ambulance was on its way along a track that gives access from above. Hung around for a bit, but my only really useful role was to haul things up and down firebreaks and that moment had passed.
 
To be honest by that time I’d given up on the race. All 450 or so participants had gone through and I’d lost about 25 minutes. Not for the first time it was time to chase down the field. Need for speed.


photo (not mine) from last year! Shows one of the firebreaks.