Trail Carpathia 2016

   Here went my second official mountain run... After participating in the Chornohora Sky Marathon for the first time a year ago, I wanted to try myself in Trail Karpatia 2016. My main supporter and helper at the competition was my girlfriend Diana, who also took photos along the route from Volovets to Izki and back... Thanks to her, we can once again enjoy the beauty that surrounded us during the "trail"...

Interactive map of the route, with the completed and recorded GPS track...

  

  The official result posted on the Karpatia website showed a time of 13:00:47. This allowed me to take first place in the TDB (Two Day Big) distance. Here, actually, are the results...

  Registration and start of the route were located at the stadium in Volovets. After going through all the necessary registration procedures, I received my bib number and handed in my backpack for transportation to the intermediate point, which was in the village of Izki. Also, at the stadium, there were representatives from Travel Extreme, from whom I bought a running backpack that greatly helped me on the distance...  

 Starting somewhere in the middle of the group, I gradually moved forward, and after climbing Temnatik, I was in sixth place. Diana went up to the ridge a little earlier, starting from Volovets around 9:30, and managed to photograph the leaders climbing the mountain Velykyi Verkh...

  And here I am...

    The main discovery for me this time was nutrition... On the first day, I had a couple of small bars (Snickers, Twix) and two bananas with me. An hour before the start, I ate a bit to be moderately full, and after Temnatik, I decided to chew on a Snickers... I chewed it almost until Velykyi Verkh... :). After that, I didn't use the bars along the distance... I ate bananas, mine and those at the aid stations, and also took energy packets (liquid coffee, chocolate, honey) that were also available at the stations. Deciding that I needed to constantly fuel up, I ate little by little throughout the way. For example, one banana in three takes over half an hour, an energy packet an hour later...

  As for water. On the first running day, I drank about 4.5 liters, and on the second about 5 liters of water. It was very convenient to take out a 750 ml bottle from the new running backpack, which lay perfectly in the pocket and was always at hand, thanks to which I drank little by little and quite often, which helped me recover better... 

   The weather was very good, and the ridge delighted with its views...

   While I was running up Velykyi Verkh and descending to the checkpoint (control point), Diana bypassed the mountain by a traverse and saw me again... A miracle and not a photographer...

  Further along Diana's path were participants in the TDL (Two Day Lite) distance...

  Selfie of the photographer...

   The route marking was very good...

   The village of Izki from the descent of the mountain Mahura-Zhyde...

 Finish of the first day and checking the mandatory equipment...

   On the first day, I came in third, 5 minutes behind the first place. But after checking the mandatory equipment, the first two places were penalized 40 minutes, which were to be added when calculating the final results for the two days...

  Start of the second day...

 On this day, Diana and I met when she was heading to Velykyi Verkh, and I was running towards Hymba...

    and at the finish...

  On the second day, I came first, and thus won the TDB distance at Trail Karpatia 2016...

  The atmosphere at the competition was simply fantastic. Participants supported each other, shared impressions, experiences... Getting to know pleasant people, communication, colossal energy - this is the main win for me... 

 And victory is always a relative concept... And although the outer world dominates our consciousness, victory over oneself, victory within one's inner world is much more valuable... A person who for the first time covered a previously unattainable distance, for the first time feeling the possibilities and limits of their body, perhaps received much more than the winner of any stage who has overcome similar challenges more than once...