Hercules Mountain Marathon 2014, Oeti 20140921

Hercules Mountain Marathon in Oete mountains, starting and finishing in village Ipati at 400m altitude. Route passes through most of Oete mountain range, climbing 3 highest peaks: Pyrgos, Alykaina and Greveno.
It was my first full mountain marathon. My official time: 6:40:02 (rank 27th) - not bad for a debut, could be better though...

0,0k at 390m - Start line in Ipati. From main square first with asphalt to leave the village and very soon on the trail to village Kapnochori. A bit of mixed ascent / downhill at first to cross the river (dry at that time). Later climb to Kapnochori

3,1k at 590m - 1st station in Kapnochori. Still early into the race, I just refilled my bottle with water. Most of next section is on dirt road with avarage climb - still possible to keep running cadance.

6,8k at 1015m - 2nd station in Kastania. This time I ate some fruits and my own power bar, drunk isotonic and of course refilled my bottle. Very soon after the village a nice trail through forest begins all the way to the next station.

10,5k at 1440m - 3rd station at Pathena. Quite remote station on the crossing with local road. Same as previously: some fruits, gel and coke. Next a bigger climb to Tourla peak - no shadow, much more climbing, first really demanding part in the race.

13,1k at 1770m - Tourla peak. Very last climb was difficult but I still had plenty of energy. Descent not so fast, through semi vissible path.

14,5k at 1640m - Ag Apostolis church. Not an organized station, but very nice spring with super cold water - very welcome as I was almost dry... Rest of descent done in some shadow next to mountain water canal.

17,1k at 1350m - 4th station in Neochori. Still quite fast on the stations: quick fruits, my own power bar, lots of isotonic and bottle refill. Still plenty of energy (I was keeping my effort much below full speed, as I knew crisis will come anyway :-P). Next section with mostly climbs but with plenty of shadow until 21st km. Later through open grass lands to Drakopidimata.

22,0k at 1730m - 5th station in Drakopidomata. Again very welcome to refill my bottle. I grabbed only some banana as I felt very good on energy side. Another 2 kilometers through grass lands to reach more demanding climb to Pyrgos peak - first crisis! Lots of pain in the legs, much slower tempo, some gels and power bar on the way.

25,1k at 2150m - Pyrgos peak (the highest point). Super views! I decided to give myslef a 1-2min break to regain some strengh in my legs. Descent was pretty steep at begining but later much more pleasant. I was dry on my water since the climb and trying to get to the station with minimum effort.

27,0k at 1950m - 6th station at Diaselo. First longer stop on the station. I drunk 2-3 cups of Coke, another 2-3 of water, ate full banana and some raisins. Really took my time there before continueing with smaller climb to Alykaina peak. Climb went quite well...

27,8k at 2040m - Alykaina peak. Descent to Livadies went also very well. I actually regain some time on this section (lost on Pyrgos climb) and got my powers back in the legs.

30,1k at 1810m - 7th station at Livadies. Again I took my time as I knew what was waiting for me: the last climb of the race to Greveno peak. The last and the worst by far: the most steep and with all the fatigue so far! It did NOT go well for me! Not well at all! Really missed sticks here! I had to take a 5min break during the last section, ate my last power bar and just relaxed for a moment. Then I was ready to finish the climb.

31,6k at 2120m - Greveno peak (managed to make a nice smile for the photo :-P). Again took some 2-3min on top to began my descent. First very slowly to start to feel my legs again, then a bit faster as I felt better and better every minute... definately the worst section that costed me more than 10min and probably another 10min later on the descent as my legs were not even 50% working :-/ This was a remainder that I am running 40k for the first time and my body is just learning how to deal with it!

33,2k at 1810m - 8th station at Livadies (same as previous). I just had to eat some "normal" food and drink lots of water. I really took my time. No rush anymore, just thinking how to finish the race. After 4-5min of eating and drinking I was ready to start my final 8k descent. First part of it, on the dirt road and pretty flat, went quite well considering how hot it was (1:30 PM, 30C, no shadow, no wind)!

35,8k at 1615m - 9th station at Perdikovrysi. I was really looking forward to this station. Drunk lots of all kinds of fluids, ate some apple and banana, refilled my bottle and after 3min I was ready to continue. Luckily route entered forest and offered lots of shadow - still hot though, just no burning sun.

39,2k at 985m - 10th station at Rodokalo. Last station, last descent. Did pretty much same routine as for last 3-4 stations: lots of fluids, a lot of time. Keeping fair running cadence I reached the village. Last stretch is really steep and on asphalt - killer for my already dead knees :-P

41,9k at 390m - Finish at Ipati. Super happy! Super dead, hehe. Overall time 6h 40min 02sec, 27th possition (15th in my age group). Not bad, but doing it 15-20min faster (which I knew I could) would be nice :-P

I mark it very difficult! It is 40k and almost 3000m elevation gain in full sun and heat. I learned my lesson of mountain marathon. Compared to this, road ones are piece of cake :-P
Probably could perform better with sticks! but it's another lesson learned. Next week Aristarchos skyrace in Chelmos - I will take sticks there for sure!