In 2019 the legendary Lavaredo Ultra Trail became the La Sportiva Lavaredo Ultra Trail !
La Sportiva Australia manager Matthew Adams and two of our athletes , Gill Fowler & Mick Keyte, travelled to Cortina d’Ampezzo for this very special occasion. Laveredo Ultra Trail (LUT) is one of the biggest trail races in the world and on the prestigious Ultra-Trail World Tour. Held in the spectacular Italian Dolomites the 13th edition was one to remember !
We’ll be there again in 2020 !
Race Report – Mick Keyte – La Sportiva Ambassador
My training in the lead up went well, focusing on climbing with the poles as Lavaredo has 5800m of vertical over 120km.
I arrived a week early and ‘tapered’ by spending time in Milan, Verona & Venice. This involved lots of walking around the cities both day and night to explore these beautiful Italian cities. Maybe not ideal but it’s a very enjoyable part of a European trip for Australians !
After a week in the cities I travelled to Cortina d’Ampezzo on the Thursday before race start on Friday night 11pm. Cortina is a lovely town surrounded by with towering mountains. After arriving and a visit to the race expo it was great to catch up over coffee with Matt and Gill.
That night we all went to the “Ultra Talk” with Anton Krupicka & Mickey Graglia. I found Anton very interesting. Although his life sounds magic, he has a lot on his plate but is clearly a very intelligent guy! The town was a buzz and atmosphere was great. It was also great to see the town so full of La Sportiva !
Friday before the race, was just coffee, relaxing and a sleep before race start at 11pm. Having never done a night start race I didn’t know what to expect.
Race Time !
I arrived 30 mins before the race start and the crowds had already gathered so I had to start a long way back. Gill, a previous top 10 finisher, had scored a front row start !
I caught up to Gill after 3km and we ran together for a while. The mountains go on forever here and I enjoyed the early long climbs. It was a warm night and going to be a hot day but this suits me over the cold. I kept my pace down and took it easy on the downs to save my quads early on.
At 68km I was feeling fine and in control, nutrition was going well and legs felt great. I was ready to roll on and finish strong! I was very happy to be sitting in 50th position and to be feeling so comfortable.
Then all of a sudden and I still don’t know why, my legs just felt like they had DOMS and my joints started to ache. I had no choice but to power walk the hills and trudge my way to the finish. It was very disappointing as I kept in control early on. It also really heated up later in the day and there was some open climbs but I was determined to finish so just kept moving forward.
Crossing the amazing finish line was really great but I was disappointed my legs died after I had put in a really good training block and solid build up to this race. I was confident of a strong race but it wasn’t to be…. but I guess that’s racing.
But the Lavaredo Ultra is an amazing race! It is the best race I’ve done. The views are simply amazing! I would highly recommend this race for the brilliant course and scenery, organisation, atmosphere & aid stations. ( the aid stations have salami and cheese, this always cracks me up!)
And as a finisher we received a La Sportiva ‘Run Jacket’! This is a fully seam sealed waterproof jacket with the Laveredo logo and “finisher” on it. Stoked to be one of 12 Australians that finished and scored this jacket !
I hope to return next year for this race as it’s just brilliant!
