Day #1- Travel Day and Getting SettledThe Mountains are calling..University of Richmond standout distance runner, Chris York (Clarke County HS, VA) arrived in Kamnik, Slovenia on September 2 for the 2010 IAAF World Mountain Running Championships. He will be one of 4 junior (under the age of 20 years) men representing the USA on Sunday morning in the 26th annual event. The following blog post outlines the first 2 days of his trip...
Chris York having some water before dinner...FROM CHRIS: "Got a chance to see a bit of the town today during my run. Afterwards the juniors who arrived went up to see 'Mira Grad' a castle and a really neat chapel tucked into the side of a cliff. Run actually felt good -- kept it under control. No problems on the flight, although one of the seniors had his luggage lost. Alright, off to bed. I will check in again tomorrow after the course preview."
A small castle in Kamnik, Slovenia...
Downtown Kamnik, Slovenia...
The athletes village in Kamnik, Slovenia...
A church on the mountain...
Inside the church...
...more from the church.
Downtown Kamnik from another angle...
DAY #2 ---Course Preview Day
FROM CHRIS: "The course starts on a downhill. It is going to be insane because it funnels off into a bottleneck within 30 meters. However, the first two kilometers of the course are fairly wide so the start isn't as critical as we thought it might be. From 2k to 4k it gets STEEP. But, to everyones surprise, right before the junior women enter the race course (about 4.5k left) we have a pretty significant downhill which lasts maybe 300 meters. After that it gets steep again until we hit the meadow with about 2k to go and from then on it is pretty fast."
View from Kamnik and the athletes village...
Teams begin to gather for the course preview...
Chris (in red USA jacket 3rd from left) ready to preview the course with his USA teammates.
Chris and one of his teammates...
Unloading the bus...
House on the course...
The start of the senior men's race...
The team starts the course preview...
A Chapel on the mountain...
The course starts to climb...
A house right on the course... The worlds best mountain runners will be in their yard!! 
This is the race course...
Chris York and a teammate running the course...
Chris a little closer...
The race course is steep and rough in places...
The race course goes on...
Sign announcing the World Championship Race...
Higher...and higher it climbs...
The downhill Chris mentioned...300M downhill with 4.5K to go in the race.
The cows do not like to move...
Getting above the timber line...
The open meadows above the timber line...
Chris running the race course...
Chris on another part of the race course...
Chris running on the race course around 2K from the finish...At least there is room to pass.
A USA teammate on the course...
The course gets rough in places...
The steepest part of the race course is behind the runners at this point.
Chris and a teammate continue climbing the race course...
Chris...
One of the flatter sections of the race course...
The top is in sight...
Chris and his teammates avoid a few more cows...
All roads lead to Kamnik...
Nearing the finish... just a bit more climbing.
Fairly flat from here...Chris is in the center...
Looking back down the race course from the top...
More USA teammembers climb the race course (see right side of photo)...
Kamnik is at the bottom of the mountian...That's where the race starts.
Over the top...
Part of the ski lodge...
The finish...
A few of the USA team...from R-L: ???, Kristin Price, Chase Caulkins, Cody Wells, Chris York and Junior USA Team Leader Paul Kirsch.
Chris York with USA Junior Team Members...Chase Caulkins, 18, Ketchum, ID and Cody Wells, 18, Snowflake, AZ...4th team member Paul Petersen, 18, Broomfield, CO is taking the photo.
No comments:
Post a Comment