Big Bear's Ultra 60+ (63km / 3670m+), 23.9.2023, Strečno - Žilina
Minčol for the fourth time (third time this year) and other joys
I remember how I interviewed Braňo Zigo, the fresh finisher of the zero edition of BBU100, after Ultra Fatra last year, wanting to know what it was like. From what he described, it was a hell of a lot of fun. He mentioned something about a cake baked by a cat and a dog, something about the Súľov ridge at night, and that it was harder than the Malofatranská 100. OK, I look up at him admiringly. I probably won't dare to do this.
This year, the event is included in the Sovak Ultra Trail league, and there is supposed to be a children's route - Big Bear's Ultra 60+ (sounds more like pensioner's route 😅) Well, I might dare to do this one. So I'm signing up and booking accommodation in Strečno, where the start will be. By the way - Guest house Alžbetka, I recommend it to everyone. They also make excellent pizza and have excellent beer, so you can kill 3 targets with one shot (Pizza, Beer, Bed).
On Friday afternoon, Majka and I travel to the event check in in Žilina by the crowded and unbreathably stuffy Express 608. In the beautiful premises of the New Synagogue, where we received our start packages, we sit and chat for a while with Lenka and a few other people and have a great lemonade. Lenka, just by the way, will give an incredible performance and will have finished the BBU100 as the third woman 💪👏 Escort to Strečno was provided by Žilina's legend - Jožko himself from Born To Trail and I thank him once again from the depth of my Liptov heart 💗.
At night and in the morning it pours. Forecasters are calling for a completely shitty weekend (unless you're Patrik Hrotek 😆). However, the beautiful late summer weather will return on Monday and last the entire work week. That's totally shitty useless for us right now too... In the morning after 8am, we move to the start in the drizzle and have our compulsory gear checked. Milos speaks kindly into the microphone and tells us that it's going to rain quite a lot. And when it stops raining, it will start pouring. Then we'll ford the river, so wet feet are guaranteed throughout the entire route. At least someone is guaranteeing us something in this time (and country) full of uncertainties 😅 I'm quickly snapping a pre-start selfie and this will probably be the first and last photo of the day. I pack my phone into a plastic bag and into the guts of my running vest.
Meanwhile, we huddle under the shelter in a good mood and await the arrival of the H-hour. It arrives at nine o'clock and a colourful handful of runners head out into the rain and the steep climb to Špicák - the legendary final hill from Strečnianska Mašla, only now we are "running" it in the opposite direction. The climb is steep, but the wet macadam holds well and does not slip. I choose a leisurely pace, after all, it is far to Minčol and even further to the finish. The real nuttiness is said to start after Minčol anyway. All in all, I choose caution today, especially in the descents. I've already fallen badly four times this year and I don't want to finish the season being smashed in these tough conditions, so I'd better go carefully, not sprinting out at all (because otherwise I always sprint hard 💣😂). It stops raining and it's warm. The jacket goes in the bag. I'm going pretty well, and I guess I'm already trained from the Vychodniarska 100, because the Woods gloomy, Gloomy woods aren't throwing me off at all today, and no depression is settling on me. I don't see myself in bed either. Today I am here and now.
The route goes fast and soon we are in Sedlo Javorina on CP1 (5.km). I have the obligatory morning kicker - Coke and some fruit. There is haze and fog around, combined with damp, wet, mud. This is the second time this year I am climbing up Minčol via the red track. I like the trail winding through the knee timber and the blueberries, it's nice here, I feel at home. The grass is already tinged with yellow-brown and the blueberry bushes are taking on a reddish hue. A cold wind is blowing up, mists are rolling in, and my skin hairs are turning white. Just for the record, this is my third time here this year. Behind Minčol, the haze lifts for a while and I can't help myself - I dig my phone out of the plastic and take a few photos.
During the run down from Minčol, a guy in a garish orange jacket lets me go in front of him. I tell him that I don't think I'll go faster than him. He says sorry, only English. So I say I don't think I'll go any faster then you. He says Sure you will 'cause I've got no shoes on. I roll my eyes at him to see if he's joking, look down and see muddy bare feet. OMG... Smiling, he says that apparently his sandals are ripped. Well, to each their own... I have no idea how he ran down that muddy slippery gooey trail full of slimy rocks and roots, and I thought of him before the turn to Čipčie, where there was a stretch full of big sharp boulders with a little stream running over them. If he just can get to the next check point, he's still pretty sicko 💪.
BTW Čipčie, supposedly it's beautiful here, and it sure was, only you couldn't see much of the beauty because there was milk all around and the thickest was at the top. I can hear a sprinkle of rain. I don't know if it's a freshman or a sophomore, maybe a third grader or a twelfth grader... And the cold wind is still blowing. I put on my jacket. Now and then a wet twig whips my face and a trickle of cold rainwater runs down my shirt - I make a barely identifiable sound while shivering.
The final climb to the signpost and viewing bench reminds me of the climb up Folkmarská skala. But here I am in no crisis and no heaviness is driving me to the ground. Up I am before I know it (views zero), but down I'm dragging like a slug - the slimy mud runs under my feet and the descent seems as long as xxx. Arriving at the tarmac is redemption. At CP2 Turie (km 22) I pass the compulsory gear check, have a cup of tea, eat something and top up my water. Next comes the cherry on top - about 2 km of tarmac gently sloping downwards (where some drivers think they are on the race circuit) and then a ford over the Rajčianka River. That's in case anyone feels their feet are too dry 😅 Surprisingly the water is quite pleasant, not cold at all and it's only knee deep. At least I'll have nice clean washed shoes for a while 😁
The blue mark leads us through a beautiful section over Hrebeň Skaliek. It is still raining. In the rustle of rain and leaves, you can hear deer bugling here and there (perhaps it was also a chainsaw or a dirt bike 🙆). Here somewhere, some runners were misled, they ran down to Rajecké Teplice and had to crawl back to the ridge. They have my admiration, because I would probably have given up if that happened to me. Luckily, by some miracle, it didn't, so I slid nicely down the correct mud toboggan to CP3 - Dielnice (32.km), where the cheerful staff poured me coffee and a good mood. Well, thank you!
Now the real nutty part of the route is about to begin - the climb to Žibrid and the legendary Súľovský hrebeň. I'm still full of energy and am looking forward to the fact that today it will only be 62 kilometers and I won't be completely wasted. At the mythical Budzogán, I pull out my phone again and take pictures. Behind Žibrid in Sedlo Patúch, I gratefully take advantage of the offer of illegal Cola and climb to the jagged Súľovské skaly. I vaguely remember the ridge from five years ago, when I ran the Súľovské skaly run. It's always up down up down and so on about 25 times. A beautiful never-ending story. I watch the green sign and check the route in my watch as well. Every now and then I peek into mapy.cz to see when this endless story will end. Slowly but surely I am getting closer to the end. The trail leads between rock formations, here and there around a nice lookout (I'm pulling out my phone), a few times you have to climb an awkward section over roots and rocks. I think about those who run the 100km route. They'll do it in the dark of the night and they'll already have 90km in their legs... Fortunately, the terrain here is mostly dry. Behind Roháčske sedlo, a few more bumps, that's if we didn't have enough of it, and then a traverse under Hričovský hrad, where there is CP4 - Hričovský hrad (47.km) with miso soup. I'm eating it for the first time in my life and I hope I won't regret it. I didn't regret it. I liked it's peculiar taste and it did me good.
Through Hričovské podhradie and Hričovsky single trail, in the rosy twilight (I'm pulling out my mobile phone), I approach Ovčiarsko (where there is CP5 Ovčiarsko - 52.km). In the meantime, it got completely dark, everything became silent and only some deer could be heard. At the same time, it has warmed up again, so the jacket flies back into the bag. It's not even raining anymore and it's pleasantly pleasant. In the dark, I clatter over the last hill on the trail, trying to assess the distance between me and a fairly close rutting deer and its direction relative to my route. I hope we won't collide. The descent to Strážov won the award "The Best Mud Slide on Today's Course", the highlight of the evening, top of the list. But I'm holding on and I'm not falling here either 😁
Approaching the asphalt is a double relief. As I'm jogging, the heavy mud is scuffing off my shoes. I run alongside the busy E50, trying not to get lost. The last 6 km through dark Žilina await me. I keep track of the route on my watch and in my mobile phone with online maps, so I can nicely make it through the junctions and roundabouts. I run through the streets and alleys, past the Synagogue where we had the check in last Friday, through the busy square. The outdoor terraces are full of people enjoying themselves and having fun. I take pictures of the illuminated buildings of the square and the church, with a kilo of mud on my feet and 60 kilo-meters in my feet.. I'm sure I smell lovely too 😇
On the Parish steps, Tinka and her daughter jump into my path, because otherwise I wouldn't have noticed them at all 😁 We greet each other and I continue running along Národná Street, under the railway, past Lidl, over Váh, past Bytčianská and FINALLY I turn to Budatín. A few more streets and I enter the courtyard of the Budatín Castle, where the finish flags are flying. I receive a modest ovation from the modest crew of the finish area plus Majka and Mišo from Ralpu Official (they sell Coros), whom we have manipulated into driving us home. With this, I want to thank him from the bottom of my Liptov heart for waiting for us, especially me, at the finish line and getting us home safely.
My ultra-galactic time of 12h 10min was enough for 9th female overall and 2nd place in the category of "teenagers" (behind Majka, who finished in an amazing 10h 27min). I am satisfied, because I have achieved my goal - to reach the finish in good health, not to break into a mush and to check out this part of the route. Spend a day in nature, practice my out of comfort zone (weather and conditions that I really hate - but then again - it could have snowed 😅) and for a while connect my trajectory again with similarly crazy people 💗 I bow deeply to the winners and to everyone, who completed the long route (118km, 6800m+). You have my admiration.
Thank you to the Big Bear's Ultra team for organizing such a challenging event, and to all the volunteers at the aid stations for their willingness, high spirit and tireless care.
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