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4th August 2018, once more, Vertical kilometer Malvasía and this is the 5th edition.
Not too hot, but hot enough.
The run started at 19:00 hours from Punta Larga Beach, and went up to Los Canarios. We ran up the hill t through Los Quemados, very close to Villa La Malvasía, where the famous wine is grown. It makes a track of almost 4 kilometers and 749 m climbing.
The first step is La Palmera de Ambrosio: the path starts in the beach, and after 400 meters it suddenly starts going up, then at the top of the hill you can see it, A palm tree, called “La Pamera de Ambrosio” by local people. It seems that you will never arrive to that tree, so you could think that this is the worst part of the race. You are not exactly right…
Once you get to the palm tree, the paths gives you a breath, 3 meters, you cross the road, then, up again. This part of the track is not so steep, you can see the vineyards which surround Villa La Malvasía (Country House listed in this site, nice place for holidays). Then you get to Los Quemados, this is very hard for runners. You have to run up Los Quemados streets, usually also very hot.
Once you go out of Los Quemados, you still have one of the worst parts of the race: La Ladera Lugo, this is a very steep path on the volcano land, walking or running here is difficult because of the unstable floor. The best thing of this part is the landscape: As you go up, you can see Los Quemados, the Malvasía vineyards, the Roque Teneguía, Villa La Malvasía, San Antonio Volcano, and, of course, the sea. Even if you dont like running, you should not miss this view if you come to La Palma.
After 1 more kilometer, you arrive to Los Canarios, it is done. Less than 900 meters to finish line and it is almost flat. The race finishes in Plaza Minerva, next to the Fuencaliente tourist information office.
My watch says 3km and 900m with 735 meters up.
More than 80 runners this year, they started really too fast. I didn’t do it really as I had expected two month ago, but the last few weeks I couldn’t run as I wanted, so… maybe my result was not so bad. I finished in 39’19”, in the 14th position. I will try to do it better next year.
Next mountain trail running events in La Palma:
Lo natural Extremo (Garafía): 12 August 2018
Tamanca Trail (Los Llanos de Aridane) : 16th september, I will be there!
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