New Record in the Non-Stop modality!

Last wednesday 3rd of April, the Non-Stop modality record from Desafío Patanegra was broken. It all started in 2017, when a man by the name of Nando Soriano called me and said he wanted to establish a strong record, as he liked this initiative taking place in Huelva, in his beloved Sierra (mountain range) So he came and succeeded, brought an excellent logistics companion, Silvia, and two friends who took turns at joining him every 25km. And he made it, taking the time down to 15 hours and 22 minutes.

Two years and two months went by without anyone getting even close, except for two other contestants of the Desafio Patanegra, coinciding at Huelva’s Ultratrail Club relay modality: Rafa Aguilera and Francisco Fernández. They finished in 17 hours and 49 minutes.

Last wednesday 3rd of April, the Non-Stop modality record from Desafío Patanegra was broken. It all started in 2017, when a man by the name of Nando Soriano called me and said he wanted to establish a strong record, as he liked this initiative taking place in Huelva, in his beloved Sierra (mountain range) So he came and succeeded, brought an excellent logistics companion, Silvia, and two friends who took turns at joining him every 25km. And he made it, taking the time down to 15 hours and 22 minutes. Two years and two months went by without anyone getting even close, except for two other contestants of the Desafio Patanegra, coinciding at Huelva’s Ultratrail Club relay modality: Rafa Aguilera and Francisco Fernández. They finished in 17 hours and 49 minutes. Then, one day, I got a call from the Andalusian trail legend Alejandro Ysasi, native of Huelva but living in Puerto Santa María, and asks me about the record and the conditions in which he could attempt the trail. In the end, he decides to try the classic way, since he’s tired of the traditional races. He told me that he’ll come with a friend, leave the backpack in a bar and just start the trail without any logistic support, as he just comes to enjoy his time. The attempt was postponed a few times because life is full of life, and the Ultratrail season is long and events tend to overlap. We started talking the 26th of December of 2017 and they completed the inscription forms to start the race almost a year later, on the 29th of September of 2018. Because as we all know, when something gets into a Ultratrail racer’s mind, there is no way out of it. So his day came, and Alejandro Ysasi and his partner Andrés García (another magnificent runner) quietly showed up, slept at Casa Correcaminos and started the trail at 6 a.m with good will, having come to enjoy their time . They pushed themselves, stopped to have lunch at Galaroza and continued working hard. So when nightfall was catching up, they pushed even harder, and in the way they accomplished to drop the record time to 14 hours, 59 minutes and 22 seconds. That same day I found out there were people already planning their revenge, but no one shared any details with me. Last week, Fernando Soriano, an amazing Ultratrail racer from Animalako Training Projet calls me and asks “how busy are you on tuesday?”. I tell him I have a clear schedule, so he answers “let's break that record”. To be fair, Nando “el animalako” to his friends, knows the Desafío Patanegra and the fields where it takes places very well, but he doesn’t train in the mountain as he switched to flatland training a few years ago. That being said, he broke his personal record this year and was 7th in Spain according to the Athletics Federation, achieving 222 kilometers in 24 hours. That’s what happens with talented people, they don’t need what the rest of us merely dream of. By himself; in strict self-sufficiency, with no support vehicle or eating pauses and doing most of the track at night (because he decided to start at 21:09) he did the Desafío Patanegra breaking the record. He finished the first 22 kilometers (from Alajar to Cortelazor) in 2 hours and 17 minutes, arriving at 03:15 a.m. Towards 08:15 he was going up the Cortegana Castle at the 83rd kilometer mark. There were sections where he just literally flew, such as the descent from the San Cristóbal peak to Santa Ana, which only took him 45 minutes. So this way, he established a new record: 13:46:17. A mad/crazy accomplishment of his own.

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