CLIFTON RECAPS HER CAPPADOCIA ULTRA TRAIL WIN

Contributed by Lou Clifton, 1st Female finisher at Cappadocia Ultra Trail 2019 and AURA member
Cappadocia Ultra Trail, 19-20 October 2019, Turkey

A year ago I was in Turkey preparing for Cappadocia Ultra Trail, one of the last few races of the year on the Ultra Trail World Tour calendar. It would turn out to be one the best experiences of my life, and sadly one of the last trips I would have for a while.

The race starts and finishes in Urgup, one of Cappadocia’s popular tourist centres, and covers 119km with 3730m elevation, traversing the stunning UNESCO World Heritage listed scenery of Cappadocia’s semi-arid Anatolian plains. Race director Koray describes the course as a ‘rollercoaster’, explaining the constant hilly terrain takes a toll on runners’ legs before they face three climbs back to back between 80-100km. Almost all the sections between the 10 checkpoints have 300-500m of climbing. For the first 63km the long course (119km) runners are with the medium course (63km) runners, running through the most popular trails of Cappadocia. Then the long course splits off into more remote trails. More on this later!

Cappadocia (Kapadokya) is not a single place but the name for a historic region that dates back to 500BC. The main villages of Cappadocia are Ürgüp, Göreme, Ihlara Valley, Selime, Guzelyurt, Uçhisar, Avanos and Zelve and the race goes through many of these, tracing the popular tourist hikes through the most spectacular ancient ruins and geological phenomena.

I had visited once before, a long time ago, when I travelled from Nepal back to the UK when I was 19. Then in 2015 my husband Steve and I had an incredible month of rock climbing in Antalya (just before my first ever ultra, the North Face 50) so this was my third trip to Turkey and it really feels like my spiritual home. I just love it. The people are welcoming, generous and kind, the food is superb and the scenery magnificent. The ancient culture just gets into your blood. It is such a special place.

Visitors come to Cappadocia to experience the totally unique, beautiful and fascinating natural rock formations, especially the ‘fairy chimneys’, where the eroded rock forms columns with harder caps left on top, resembling towering mushrooms like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Then there are the human made underground cities carved into the rock that housed thousands of people, and ancient churches and frescoes brilliantly preserved from the 9-11thcenturies. Plus the hot air balloons that fly early each morning. Cappadocia is often described as something out of a fairy tale and my experience definitely lived up to that.

Steve and I arrived quite early, we had a few days in Istanbul before we flew to Kayseri and then had a minibus pick up to one of the famous ‘cave hotels’ in Urgup. Wow wow wow! This was the most stunning place we had ever stayed in! Beautiful rooms carved into the rock, peaceful and private. Breakfast each morning was on a verandah overlooking the town and the mountains beyond that I would be heading back down at the end of the race. The beautiful manager was kind, fun and friendly and we connected with her immediately. She helped me organise taxis for my recces and gave us great tips.

I wanted to try to see what I could of the course and have enough time to recover so had taken quite a bit of leave from work. I had been worried that this might be a bit boring for Steve but it was actually brilliant because the first half of the course goes through key tourist areas that most people walk. So we planned several days of hiking through sections together so Steve got to see the course and the scenery, plus some days for me of running the more remote sections in the second half of the course.

In retrospect I must have had a perfect lead up to the race! Even though I spent a lot of time on my feet checking out the course either running or hiking I also rested really well and I slept a lot, catching up on the sleep deprivation of my usual life. I also, for once, had time to meditate and visualise and I spent a lot of time doing this before the race. I was, of course, nervous at the start line – the start just goes straight up a very steep cobbled hill out of Urgup and it was a bit concerning to not to get smashed in the first 1km! In the end it was fine, the race started and we all shuffled up the hill and onto a rough dirt track out of Urgup with the famous hot air balloons already flying above us and the many local stray dogs (kindly treated by locals) bouncing along to keep us company.

I had worked out rough timings, which were also a bit ambitious, but I thought do-able. I got into the first checkpoint at Ibrahimpasa (11km) on time, I was leading and Steve asked if I was going too fast. But I felt I was pacing OK and had planned to run all of this section, even though steep, and headed off on the long climb out of the village. Before long we were descending the other side and headed into some narrow rocky trails towards Uchisar, where an old church is carved into a large monolith visible for miles, and then through the canyon to Goreme – the very famous centre of Cappadocia where the underground villages and ancient buildings and churches are located, surrounded by hundreds of rock towers resembling mushrooms. You really don’t need sleep deprivation to feel like you are hallucinating in this race! After Goreme there were some sections I had not run, including quite a steep rough climb where I met a local runner and we chatted as we hiked up together.

I had been warned the next section back to Urgup was gruelling in a ‘it just keeps on going’ kind of way. It was past midday and very hot, there were a few casualties by the side of the trail being tended to. The trails meandered through vineyards and then the intersection where the runners split, and finally the 63km check point 6 where I would pick up my food and drink from Steve for the next 35km. The next check point (7) had no support crew and I had told Steve to skip checkpoint 8 and meet me at 9. When I got to the major Urgup check point 6 he was not there! There was a lot of bread and cheese, no sports drinks but coke. I didn’t want coke but I knew I would need the calories so I got my flask filled and grabbed some fruit chews and got out as fast as possible. (I later saw that Teresa Nimes, an elite Spanish runner, was only a few minutes behind me at that point). The race map marked 2 ‘checkpoints’ at Urgup but one was actually the finish for the 63km and Steve had gone there. I knew he would be really upset he had missed me.

I headed back out of Urgup trying not to stress and descended a sharp rocky dip as fast as possible, losing control and crashing at the bottom. Luckily OK, I carried on running knowing I could have easily broken something. The coke was fizzy so by the time it settled I had less than half a flask and 500ml of water, which was not enough. There was a stream along this section but I knew I might not finish if I drunk it. I was so hot and thirsty at the next aid station I was pouring water over my head. There were minimal supplies there, cheese and bread, but my mouth was so dry I couldn’t eat it. I had some fruit, drank as much water as I could and filled my flasks and headed off to tackle the first of the three big climbs. I had recced the first and third climb and knew this one had very deep sand on the descent. For this reason I had worn gaitors (which I had not in the recce and my shoes were completely filled with sand). Amazingly the gaitors did keep most of the sand out and when I got to the next village, Taskinpasa (CP8 87.8km), Steve had got there! This really was a turning point for me because without my food the rest of the race would have been a struggle. Just seeing him there unexpectedly and getting my supplies gave me a massive mental boost and shot of energy. He told me Teresa was close so I got a move on.

I hadn’t seen the next climb but it was not too bad but across the plateau at the top seemed endless! At this point I passed Helio Fumo, a striking professional runner from Portugal who was staying in the same hotel. It was his longest ever race and he had hit a wall. We shared a few words of encouragement and I pushed on. I cannot remember that descent only that I was glad to see it and then into Karlik and then the final big climb out. I had run the last 20km from here to the finish and it was nice to see familiar terrain and know what lay ahead. The descent of the final climb was technical but was marked for the race and I put my headtorch on so could clearly see the reflective markers. It actually felt a lot easier than when I had done it in the day on my own, picking my way down watching my GPS. A firetrail to the final aid station (no support) and then the last hill before the descent into Urgup. At the top the twilight sky looked incredible with the lights of Urgup in the distance. It was so beautiful!

As I descended the last hill, also a little technical, I could see lots of headtorches behind me and started to worry I was being chased. Would I be passed in the final 9km after leading the whole way? I focused on getting off without another stack and then was running through the streets, past a barking dog which gave me a fright in the dark. The last little section heads up a goat track between some dwellings and then out onto the dirt trail we started on and a downhill section of cobblestones to the finish. Wow what an incredible feeling! I had been so focused I had not looked at my watch and did not realise I was on track for the course record – this was so special to me because I felt I had really given it my all and made it worthwhile to all the people who had supported me and been so generous to Steve and I. I also finished 5th overall and 43 mins ahead of Teresa, which was pretty cool. Once through the finish a massive nausea swept over me and I struggled to the medical area. Helio soon arrived for some mutual post race sickness! When I felt better Steve and I got a taxi back up the steep hill to our hotel, there was no way I could walk up. The presentation the next day was wild – my first UTWT win and with a decent time. People were stopping me in the street to get a photo! It was surreal and incredibly special.

I feel truly thankful that I was able to have this incredible experience and to go home to the UK for a few days to see my family. No one would ever have imagined what the next 12 months would hold for us all. I feel very sad for my friends in Turkey and at UTWT who have had to cancel events and cope with the devastation of travel restrictions on the tourism industry. When we can travel again I cannot recommend this race, and Turkey, highly enough.

Thank you so much to Ultra Trail World Tour and Ultra Trail Cappadocia for supporting my race in Turkey and giving me this opportunity.