Sylvain Perret's 42 summits around the world

Sylvain Perret climbed 42 interesting summits (cumulative elevation 102,000 m) in 25 countries while he traveled around the world in 2007-8. His book 'Aux Sommets du Monde' is out.

There are many peaks in his list that I have thought about climbing, some that I have attempted to climb, but only one that I have actually climbed: Gunung Tahan in Malaysia. With 2.187 meters it's the highest peak in the Peninsular Malaysia. The trail running/hiking distance was well under 100 km, but it was through the oldest rainforests of the world and it took me almost a week. If you are a tough trail person, definitely go for it - just avoid sleeping where the elephants roam. And man do those leeches suck (pun intended). In the video below Perret's Malaysian adventure is between 14:16-16:50.

 
"Aux sommets du monde". Entretien avec Sylvain Perret from Yannick Michelat on Vimeo.
42 sommets gravis – de 600 à 7000 m. d’altitude - 25 pays traversés, 102000 m. de dénivelé franchis. 11000€ récoltés au profit de la lutte contre le cancer.

Alors qu’il occupe un poste de cadre supérieur dans un grand groupe automobile, Sylvain Perret fait le choix de quitter travail, carrière, maison, amis, famille, petite amie, pour partir autour du monde, gravissant au passage le point culminant de chacun des pays traversés.

La découverte d'un cancer chez son père l'amène à imaginer un système de collecte au profit de la lutte contre cette maladie qui va prendre une importance grandissante dans cette expédition.


http://www.facebook.com/Auxsommetsdumonde
Pour se procurer le livre "Aux sommets du monde" : http://anneesommetique.top-depart.com/page-libre-LIVRE__AUX_SOMMETS_DU_MONDE_-2491.html

Jonas Colting @ Ultraman 2011 (Day 3)

The top three most feared things in ultra circles: D, N and F. Jonas Colting did not finish due to an injury that has been troubling him lately. Running a double marathon was simply not possible in that condition. You can read his day 3 report here. Jonas is only 38, so he'll be back. Alexandre Ribeiro (46) of Brazil is the 2011 Ultraman world champion.

 

Jonas Colting @ Ultraman 2011 (Day 2)

Stage 2 of Ultraman was tougher on the bike than usual due to windy weather, as Jonas Colting reports. He leads the race with 15:24:17, but Michael Coughlin is only 7 minutes behind.

 

Jonas Colting @ Ultraman 2011 (Day 1)

2-time Ultraman champion Jonas Colting of Sweden is fighting for a third win right now on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Yesterday he had a good 10K (6.2 miles) swim, despite hitting his head in his lead kayak, coming in second one minute behind Rich Roll. Then the rolling 90-mile (145 km) bike leg put Colting in solid lead after day one.

Today's Stage II consists of a 171-mile (276 km) bike ride with tons of climbing.

The final stage III tomorrow will be a gruelling double marathon (84 km, 52 miles).

Ultraman World Championship is a 3-day, 320-mile (515 km) individual ultra event. Entry is limited to 40 participants and is by invitation only. Each competitor is required to have a support crew.

By the way, check out the cool Recovery Pump boots that Jonas is wearing in the video below.

 

Burzynski the movie

Burzynski is an interesting documentary film about the inventor of non-toxic cancer treatment, who found out that cancer is serious business. If antineoplastons would be approved for public worldwide use, Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski would hold exclusive rights for these medicines. Those who make big money from current mainstream toxic treatments wouldn't like that to happen anytime soon. Spoiler: the movie ends with "to be continued..."

 
Burzynski: Cancer Is Serious Business from BurzynskiMovie on Vimeo.
For more information: http://www.burzynskimovie.com
Go here to get the DVD: https://www.burzynskimovie.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=88

Nordic Ultra magazine 3/11

Nordic Ultra running magazine 3/2011 is out!

Frosty trail run down by the river

The temperature is already below zero (-3 C). We will probably get some snow soon. This time last year we already had plenty.

So, I ran my favorite trail down by the river once again, before it's too difficult. This time it was about 20 km and took a couple of hours. Very nice and frosty.

NYC Marathon with GoPro Hero2

French trail runner Bruno Poulenard ran ING New York City Marathon 2011 the hard way: carrying a 400-gram GoPro HD Hero2 camera. You might also want to check out his race report (in French of course, but with many photos). Shopping for the camera in NYC before the race was apparently a marathon in itself. His finish time was 3:20 - good job!

 

Team PI @ UTMB 2011

A pretty good video of Pearl Izumi Ultrarunning Team at UTMB 2011. Darcy Africa (28:30, 31st overall, 3rd woman), Scott Jaime (29:17, 40.) and Richard Cunningham (29:46, 47.) were able to finish the superchallenging race. Only 1133 finished, less than half of starters. I like the clips shot in miniature mode (featured in some Canon cameras).

 

Yucon Arctic Ultra documentary

A one-hour documentary film about the world's coldest ultra race: Yucon Arctic Ultra. The trail length is marathon, 100 or 300 miles, and 430 miles every other year (next time in 2013). You can mountain bike or xc-ski it if you like, but most choose running - not counting those who prefer to just watch it on Vimeo! The next race will start on February 4th, 2012.

 
The Yukon Arctic Ultra from Yukon Arctic Ultra on Vimeo.
Documentary covering the world's coldest and toughest ultra race.

TraiLisOn 2011 videos

France seems to be full of nice little trail runs nobody knows about. For example Le Trail de la Source du Lison, or simply TraiLisOn, on October 23, 2011. Lison is the local river. Even the longest course available is only 45 km, but it comes with a respectable 2000 meters D+.



TraiLisOn 2011, le clip from thomas-chatelain.fr on Vimeo.
le clip du "trail de la source du lison" 2011 par thomas-chatelain.fr

Unfortunately there are a couple of things that usually prevent me from taking part in races like this.

First, the start is located in the middle of nowhere - not easy to reach with public transportation. Like in this instance, you would have to travel to a small village called Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne (from there the organizers provide a bus to starting area). If could fly to Geneva in there hours without any problems, but I'm not sure I could ever find the race location!

Second, all races in France (and other Mediterranean countries like Italy and Spain) require participants to have a recently written permission from their doctor. In Northern Europe we do not really understand bureaucracy like this at all. Hmm, maybe that's why the European Union is falling apart. We go to the doctor only if we have some issues they can help with, not to get a useless piece of paper. But rules are rules, I guess.

Anyway, Arthurbaldur managed to run this race, and here is his video documentary. Beautiful scenery!

Anton Krupicka in Brazil

Anton Krupicka had a chance to visit Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro last week to help launch NB Minimus in Brazil.

 

Kilian's Mt Kinabalu Climbathon video

Team Salomon's latest video shows how Kilian Jornet won 25th Mt. Kinabalu International Climbathon 2011 in October. Italian Marco De Gasperi, who won last year, was 3 minutes 39 seconds ahead of Kilian at the summit. On the way down Kilian passed Marco and beat him by 44 seconds.

The race is only a half-marathon in length, but it's a steep course up and down Kinabalu. The highest point is Low's Point at 4095 meters. The lowest point is the finish at Kinabalu Park HQ (1564 m). Kinabalu is located in Borneo, the world's third largest island. The rain forest there is older than Amazon.

 

Test everything before a race

Everyone knows that you should test everything before a race - especially if it's an ultra. However it may challenging or impossible to simulate all the race conditions exactly during training. Even if you try the same race again, it might be quite different the next time due to weather and so on.

You should study everything about the race course and probable weather conditions. You should try your shoes, socks and other clothing and gear during long training runs. You should make a list what you need on race day, including your drop bags, and then double-check and triple-check everything.

Still, people do make mistakes in races due to nervousness. Like when I once forgot some unprotected salt caps in the back pocket of my shirt in the bike leg of Ironman Hawaii triathlon, but that's another story.

Race nutrition is certainly one of the most difficult things to get right. Some people like Geoff Roes try to keep it simple and take only gels, salt and water all day. That sounds like a good starting point for experiments, although most people would prefer to eat some sort of 'real food' at some point.

The video below shows how Michael Arnstein prepared for Western States 100 Mile Run in 2011. The Fruitarian had DNF'ed in 2010, so he wanted to prepare really well and get everything right this time. He thought it would be a good idea to eat avocados and dates, since had used both successfully before. Unfortunately he had never tested them together...

    

A gorgeous autumn day outdoors at Cherry Park

A gorgeous autumn day (October 1st, 2011) at Cherry Park. It's our favorite location for outdoor activities. It's not too big an area, but it's close.

This is an experimental film project directed & shot handheld by Jon on October 1, 2011 (except the beginning and end, which were shot by me). We have a tripod, but decided to leave it home. There's a trade-off between stability and fun.



Jon says he is going to become a movie director when he grows up. Or possibly sooner, if his dad can get him a better cam than this cheap Canon Legria.

World's steepest run?

Well I'm not sure if this is the world's steepest run or not, but it's definitely done in Hokas. MattInTheWild says it's 2134 meters D+. Well done.

 

Online European trail magazines

Trail Magazin 5/2011 (German) and Generation-Trail Magazine 10/2011 (French) both have articles with great photography about UTMB, Tor des Geants, as well as other trail running stuff. Both are available free online.