Subido al Picu Incos:
Monday 1st September 2014
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Another foreign adventure: we planned a walking holiday in the mountains of northern Spain, the Picos de Europa, but as usual, I scanned the internet for any local running events during our trip. The only possibility was a 5K at the tiny mountain village of Incos, (which wasn’t even on our map). From the title, I guessed it would be very hilly: ‘subido’ means climb, ‘picu’ means peak. |
 Incos village, with blue gentians. |
It was fortunate we did a recce the day before to find the village - after going up a very narrow mountain road, we had to stop and ask at a bar in another village (where they didn't speak any English) - luckily it was only another 5mins up the road. There we found a huge marquee, ready for their Saints-day festival, which included the run, as well as ‘Glastonbury-style’ music and dancing all night. All for free, sponsored by a village benefactor who had made a fortune in South America. There were loads of wild flowers on the way up, but no time on the run to appreciate these, or the view from the trig-point at the top. |
 View from the top. |
 We ran to the top..... |
It was pretty hot in northern Spain - over 30ºC in the day.
The run was a bit cooler in the evening, but was even shorter than I thought;
the men's race was 5k, but the ladies only did about 4k, and the juniors even less. It usually takes me that long just to get going!
First we watched the youngsters scampering up and down, making it look easy, then it was the ladies turn. It was as hilly as I expected - a 'warm-up' lap around the village (I struggled at the back up the first steep hill), then out on to the 'Picu' behind the village, up to the trig-point at the top (mostly walking for me and quite a few others), then a lovely downhill run on the other side. By then I had overtaken quite a few people, and just had to hang on for the last climb back to the village. There were some seriously fast guys at the front of the mens race, but the also-rans were cheered just as loudly. I was pleased to finish in 23 minutes. |
 ....then enjoyed the long run downhill |
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At the presentations, I heard my name announced, but couldn't understand what for, as they speak a local dialect of Spanish in the villages. I collected the trophy anyway - then a friendly ex-pat lady translated for me - I was oldest lady runner. We were about to head back to the campsite when she said 'wait', and there was my name again - this time for 4th v40 - and another trophy! A shame we couldn't stay on for their Saints-day festivities, but we were late enough already, driving back through the mountains in the dark. |
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