Laugavegur Trail Ultra Report
Report from 13th July 2019 by Dave Allen
After a lovely few days travelling around Iceland I put myself to bed at 10pm the night before the race, with the alarm set for 3am to make it to the local sports hall to catch the bus at 4am! My plan for a good night’s sleep went out the window when it became evident that one of my hostel dorm neighbours snored like a rhino with a heavy cold… I think I managed 90 minutes shut eye all in all!
The Laugavegur trail starts at Landmannalaugar, which is a four hour bus ride from Reykjavik. The bus ride was great – with much of it on unmade roads over alien terrain heading farther and farther into the middle of nowhere. After a midway breakfast stop we eventually arrived at the huts at Landmannalaugar and the thriving activity of 500 runners preparing themselves for the day ahead. Funnily enough, I wasn’t one of the participants who felt the need for a warm up run!
The race start was staggered across four groups – in order: yellow, red, green, blue. I was in the blue group so last to set off. You are requested to confirm your estimated finish time in advance (race cut-off is 9 hrs 15 mins). I played it cautious and declared 8 hrs straight. I’d not really done anywhere near enough preparation for this so would have been grateful just to get through it.
Before I knew it, we were off! A very significant chunk of the 5,000 feet of ascent is in the first 10k so it was very slow going to start with. Any struggle was offset by the stunning views though, and before I could help myself – the camera was out and I was snapping scenery shots (no selfies though!). After not too long we were crossing snowfields, though I’m told these had thawed far more than in previous years.
The worst of it for me, being allergic to eggs, is the sulphurous smell of the geothermal activity! I found myself gagging fairly regularly!
First checkpoint was Hrafntinnusker 10k into the run – grabbed a banana and a Powerade top-up and “blasted” straight through. A nice bit of downhill brought the first real opportunity to open up and actually run for a few minutes! More snow and sandy terrain and it wasn’t long until I reached the first cut-off at Alftavatn. The cut-off time here was four hours and I was passing through at just under three so was happy enough with that. I didn’t dawdle and cracked straight through again after a potty stop and a bottle refill (not related).
The next section was awesome, with a few river crossings thrown in for good measure. With most of the elevation behind me I was able to get some decent running in, but there were still many little pockets of ascent along the way, just enough to stop you building any head of steam! The wider and deeper river crossing at Blafjallakvisl was great – with guide ropes and “water marshals” to keep us safe. Wading through waist high icy water doesn’t sound like too much fun but it certainly got me moving again! Immediately after Blafjallakvisl was the halfway drop-bag rendezvous, but I hadn’t bothered with such luxuries!
After this river crossing there was a really long stretch of runnable trail (though strewn with large rocks – I saw a few others eat dirt along the way!) – the views here were unbelievable as we were in the middle of a huge valley – with mountainous terrain all around us – beautiful! I arrived in the second cut-off checkpoint at Emstrur ninety minutes head of the 6 hrs 30 mins cut-off so took a few minutes to eat and sort myself out.
The final section to Husadalur in Thorsmork was fairly tough to be fair. Very undulating terrain with some really steep climbs and drops. There wasn’t a great deal of “running” happening now, but I kept moving and the shuffle was in full effect! In the last five miles or so I got chatting to an English lad who was struggling to keep anything down (he was this way when I met him – it wasn’t because of me!). At the highest point the Thorsmork valley opened up ahead and I could see the end in sight. One last river crossing, a quick Parkrun through a slightly more wooded area and then a blast into Thorsmork, and I actually ended on a sprint. The approach to the finish was excellent, with loads of folks along the sidelines cheering us all on! Given overally lack of training and preparedness I was very happy to finish the 35 miles in 7 hours 18 minutes.
Not the most challenging of Ultras for some of our more hardened crew – but for scenery and overall experience I’d recommend this event to everyone!