2013 World Mountain Running Championship...29th Edition!

The smoke has cleared, the season has slowly started to dwindle down and I'm finally back on US soil. The final stop of my Euro season was the World Mountain Running Championships hosted by Poland in the resort village of Krynica-Zdroj.

My overall impression of the village remains positive. The food was great, the hosting Local Organizing Committee for the Championship were very fluid and handled things in an organized manner. There were no hang ups really. However, I must say I thought there would be MANY regarding the World Championship course.

Pre Race

 

I spent some time training before the big Championship in the High Tatry mountains in what I refer to as my "secret training location", yet to be revealed! My days in the Slovakian mountains were some of the most relaxing of my whole European season. I got in town and my buddy Poprad, Slovakia took me to get some groceries before a nice drive into the High Tatry alps. Slovakia became one of my favorite countries due to one underlying fact. It was cheap. I love to eat and I love to eat a lot. In Slovakia I was able to eat much cheaper than any other place I had been this summer. I use one example to give people the idea of price. I feel using the price of a snicker bar is quite international, therefore its usually an example I refer to. In America a snicker bar can range from 55-70 cents. In Slovakia, the USD equivalent would be slightly under 50 cent!

 

Beyond the food the training environment was amazing. Not a drop of rain the entire time I was there and the sun was out literally all day. I made my way up a few peaks in the High Tatry accompanied by the sunlight the entire ascent so the lack of warmth never was an issue. I found the mountains in the Tatry to be quite rocky, technical and quite steep once you got off of the Southern plateau that approaches foothill of most peaks. My kinda running!

I quickly found that my Slovakian was less than efficient so I had to enhance my skills with hand gestures. Thankfully, when it came to food I was ok. It seems like the words for food were easier to pronounce.

My last days in the Tatry were bitter sweet. I had a big race coming up which garners a lot of stress and expectations. On the other hand, I woke up to a beautiful setting of the sun on the High Tatry in a peaceful warm climate knowing that I had to leave to Poland in less than 2 hours. I wish I had more time there, very beautiful country and also a great place for value seekers who love to travel. Off to Poland I went. I got a ride from a local of Krynica-Zdroj and he welcomed me with great discussion regarding the Euro currency, Slovakian culture, and of course Polish history and his thoughts on Poland joining the European Union. Interesting and informative. On top of that, he drove like a nascar driver. So, a trip that was meant to last 2 hours was cut to 80 minutes. No complaints there.

 Once we neared the border I told him I wanted a pic of the border. He laughed. I asked, "what's so funny"? To make a long story short, the border was not glamorous by any means nor would you even realize you were crossing into another country so the camera was unnecessary. In America whenever you cross a border its a big deal. Customs, border patrol, drug dogs etc. Many of the countries in the EU don't have huge elaborate borders so many times you could pass right through and not even realize you jumped into another country.

World Championship time

My feet touched Polish soil for the first time and to boot, in a 4-star hotel right across the street from the race site. Logistics were already 100% better than last years' in Italy where the USA team had to travel down a mountain pass to reach the start line. Anyway, I won't be bitter about past years. Happy with the hotel we received and of course the food was top notch. They had a coffee machine that became a big hit with all the other countries we shared the hotel with. Mostly the English speaking countries with the exception of a few. Nerves started to soak in once I saw the faces of the guys I knew would be top competitors on Sunday including an Eritrean that I had raced a few weeks back, and of course the Ugandan team...The whole Ugandan team. Unlike some of the other countries Uganda had a team of guys who were interchangeable, each capable of medaling. Sadly, for one guy on their team and of course the rest of us only a Gold, Silver, or Bronze could be awarded.

View from the top of the course

 Race day arrived and during the warm up all I could think of was the possibility of our team getting a medal that has slipped between our hands too many times. With the team we had this year, no doubt I felt we could leave Sunday with a Gold medal that would shine all the way across the Atlantic. I pondered my individual chances for a medal after battling with the 2012 Silver medalist at the World Mountain Championships in an event just a few weeks ago. I knew he was in good shape and I felt at this moment I was in better shape than he. I was not oblivious to the others who would vie for a medal and I knew just because I could beat the former Silver medalist, didn't mean that a medal was guaranteed at this Championship. I had a whole host of other athletes to think about from Italy, Russia, Turkey and even my own Team who I felt had 3 guys who could be top 8 in the World. I was humbled in my thoughts just minutes before the race.

View from hotel window

Being humble made it easy for me to get out comfortably. My teammate Max K. was able to get to a great start. As we were on the start line things got hectic. I was not able to get on the front line as athletes were packed shoulder to shoulder giving no room to other teams as more than a few teams placed 3-4 of their top guys on the front line. Max K. shocked me and I'm sure other athletes on the front line with a huge act of sportsmanship and team camaraderie. He could see my start position was not suitable for a good start and allowed me to switch spots with him up front. I was shocked from this unexpected gesture and will always remember it. I would do the same for him if tables were turned and he had won the USA National Champs back in July as I had. That would make him the leader of the team and I feel the National Champion gets front line start for each team. In 2011 he was the leader and of course he earned his spot up front and definitely he used it to score a great win. This day would be much different for us all.

In 2009 the event known as the "World Mountain Running Trophy" now became an International Assoc of Athletic Federations sanctioned WORLD Championship. This meant African countries would now start to enter the Championship, better drug testing and funding, and of course more publicity, prestige and visibility on the International scene. Visibility alone adds competition. African nation representation adds even more. In previous years the World Trophy had no African countries in attendance. One athlete from Kenya I believe showed up in 2008, but that's all I can remember. As the years went on more and more athletes from Africa started to come as well as top athletes from road races, track and cross country shifting towards mountain running due to the "World" Championship title as opposed to the World Trophy in previous years. The possibility of increased media exposure and funding has attracted top elite athletes from countries across the globe for the World Championships and looking at the guys on the start line you can easily see this.

To my right I look and see a few guys who had medaled or won European Mountain Running Championships. To my left, a few guys I recognized who were fast on the road (sub 2:15 marathoners) and some who had even run fast 5k's on the track. The competition has become quite versatile making strategy all the more difficult to establish.

Race

The course featured 3 laps totaling 13.5 kilometers and a unique challenge....a downhill start and uphill finish. Each lap started downhill dropping for about 2 miles then climbing steep for about 1 mile or so. The weather was dry and dusty and the late start for the Men's race made it a warm day. This to me was a good sign for the USA team as most of us had been training in climates very similar. Max and I got off to a great start. The group had gotten off so fast that I had no time to check back to see how the team was doing. Even more problematic was the first turn, one of two each lap that we had to negotiate that I thought would be a "danger" to the racers.

The first turn was about 450 meters into the race and it was rocky and tight. These two features add up to injuries in most cases especially in a race as competitive as this where you will easily have 50 guys bottle necking into the tight turn at the same time.

Fortunately I was able to tuck behind one of the fast Turkish athletes and another guy from Great Britain and we got past this tight turn with no body going down. I was shocked. The next section was also quite rocky and I knew there would be some injuries at days end from either this section or the next "problem" area. As we near the halfway point of the descent the athletes must make a complete "U" turn on a steep rocky trail. At this point my teammate Max was leading the race with me just breaking into the top 10. Seeing my teammate running so well brightened my thoughts of a team Gold medal and spurred me on to surge and pass a few athletes just before the ascent. I found myself just behind the pack of Ugandans and an Eritrean. The energy of the crowd near the peak of the first lap really pumped me up and I made a big move.

I came here to win or do something great so it was time to press the pace. I felt that there were some athletes who did well but never attempted to do anything special in the race. Almost as if they said, "hey the Africans are going to beat me so I will settle for the pack behind them". I couldn't allow thoughts like this to influence my tactics. I put myself in a position to medal and I can sleep knowing I tried to do that. I don't think I would be able to sleep comfortably at night if I knew I ran for 5th place or 10th. I knew the Eritrean was a strong finisher along with the Ugandan team so I tried to push the pace. I also knew I could handle the technical terrain better than a few of the Ugandans. The move was a good/bad idea. I was in 1st place at the World Championship at the first peak! The moment was a bit surreal. After the technical section I had even increased the gap. I was starting to think I had a real shot at winning. My teammate Max K. was not in sight so I started to get a little worried. After we neared the bottom of the descent the Ugandans closed the gap and I fell back to 5th once again. They worked as a team and moved effortlessly across the lower flat section of the course before we ascended. I tried to move with them and pass once again just before the ascent, but was forced to go around on a rocky section to pass. During this move I stepped right on a sharp rock and pain shot straight up my back. My foot was instantly sore so I knew it would be an issue as we still had half the race left. During that ascent my fascia band which had just suffered a rock bruise was now being tortured with a steep ascent stretching the band and inflaming it. I had no time to cry about it as the Ugandans were really starting to press on. I had to fight to hold on to my position.

I couldn't help but worry about how rough the last lap would be. I was able to hold on to my position to the bottom of the last lap but lost two spots at the bottom. I ended up placing 7th place which is the second highest finish for an American since Mountain Running has become a World Championship. I lead Team USA to a 4th place team finish. Yet another bitter sweet moment as the team had a few mishaps. Overall, I was happy with the experience and my race. Its been a great summer of racing, traveling, training and exploring. I was able to add two new countries to my International travel list and a plethora of new foods I had never tasted. I couldn't do anything without the love and support of my friends, family, and supporters. I also wouldn't be able to do what I do without the help and support of my Sponsors. Thank you to all. Moments like these are more beautiful due to the fact that you can share it with others. Otherwise it wouldn't be as joyful.

One press release on the Championships here: http://www.coloradorunnermag.com/2013/09/09/ortiz-wins-gold-world-mountain-running-championships/#



Here is a video created by a local Television company from Poland. If you want to go direct to the Men's event click here: http://youtu.be/wycp0jcB434?t=9m32s