Everest Trail Race

Credit : Ian Coreless Phakding. Second consecutive victory for Nepalese runner Suman Kulung who is dangerously close to Luis Alberto Hernando’s leadership. The Burgos rider has 4 minutes and 26 seconds of margin to two days before the end of the competition. Ultimate thrill in the final stretch of the Everest Trail Race by The Elements Pure Coconut Water. The fourth stage, starting from Kharikhola monastery and ending in Phakding after 27.5km, further compressed the men’s overall standings where everything is still open. The day was less physically demanding than the previous ones with almost 2,500m of positive difference in altitude but the passage of the days takes its toll. The most important climb of the day was in Kari-La with 800m of positive gradient. Nepalese runner Suman Kulung (THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER) extended his rivals’ time and got to distance himself up to 5 minutes from leader Luis Alberto Hernando (ADIDAS) in an area of the stage very broken by animal trafficking. The descents were complicated, slippery and muddy terrain due to the last rains in the area and fortunately for the riders did not suffer in their punished body. Second straight win for Suman Kulung at home. Hernando came in second place and finally gave up 3 minutes 29 seconds. Already has only 4 minutes and a half of margin in the general classification to the Spanish runner. Two stages are missing; the morning stage with terrain biting upwards benefits the World and Trail European champions. The last one with steeper descents to the Nepalese, winner of the Everest Marathon and that runs at home. Far from fighting against the two roosters of the race, the Norwegian runner Sondre Amdahl occupies the third position in the general standings and Jordi Gamito (THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER) the fourth more than two hours after Hernando. In the women’s category the Nepalese runner ChheChee Sherpa won the second consecutive victory and remains leader. Second overall in the Portuguese athlete Ester Alves (THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER) to 5 minutes 19 seconds and third Elisabet Barnes to more than an hour. The women’s category is also very exciting two days from the end of the Everest Trail Race where everything is still to be decided. In the team classification, TRAÇA ESQUÍ i ESPORTS DE MUNTANYA continues to lead, second THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER and third ADIDAS. §staticmap(10734,5,800,200)

Credit : Ian Coreless Kharikhola. Third consecutive day as a leader after finishing second stage. Nepali rider Suman Kulung won the race and narrowed the gap in the overall standings. Portuguese runner Ester Alves lost the lead. Some runners describe it as more difficult than the epic stage of the previous day and more complex, mainly due to the increase in mileage, and because the passage of days begins to be noticed in their legs after reaching the equator of the competition. During the night, the thermometer dropped to minus 7 degrees Celsius in the camp and the 37.4 km of the day was not turkey snot. The athletes made a very technical descent of vertigo inside a forest from almost 4,000m altitude to 3,000m to reach the first control point. Suman Kulung (TRAÇA ESQUÍ i ESPORTS DE MUNTANYA) came in first place and Luis Alberto Hernando (ADIDAS) came second in 3 minutes. The Nepalese rider led all the control points to get his first stage victory and Luis Alberto Hernando fought with all his strength to prevent him from distancing too far. Hernando arrive at the finish line 8 minutes 31 seconds after him and is still leading. Kulung is now second overall at 7 minutes 55 seconds and adds one more point of excitement to the second half of the race. The two of them arrived exhausted after putting the body on the edge. Kulung to win the stage and reach the lead; Hernando not to lose it. The athlete Jordi Gamito (THE ELEMENTS) finished third and is fourth overall. The local runners dominated the third stage. In addition to Suman Kulung’s triumph, her compatriot in the women’s category ChheChee Sherpa gave an exhibition. He won the stage and leadership of the Everest Trail by The Elements Pure Coconut Water after recovering more than 36 minutes from Portuguese runner Ester Alves of the leading THE ELEMENTS team two consecutive days. The day had a negative 4,110m drop where the athletes chained several descents where he highlighted the one they did with almost 10km until shortly before the arrival to Kharikhola, where the third camp of the Everest Trail Race has been mounted. §staticmap(10734,5,800,200)

Credit : Ian Coreless Jase Bhajyang (10-11-17). The World and European champions won their second consecutive victory with a record time in the premier stage of the race. The Portuguese rider Ester Alves also won and maintains first place. The 24 km have been wild and very hard. The second stage of the Everest Trail Race by The Elements Pure Coconut Water was the highlight of the day. The athletes surpassed 3,500m of positive altitude difference without practically a flat meter and stepped on the roof of the race, the top of the Pikey Peak at 4,100m altitude. After leaving Jase Bhajyang the participants had to overcome a 600m downhill drop to the valley to reach one of the lowest points of the race at 1,500m altitude. After crossing the river a brutal climb of 16km without respite began with 2.600m+ of the pull to reach the top of the Pikey Peak. Luis Alberto Hernando (ADIDAS) and Ester Alves (THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER) passed through all the control points extending the distance to their main rivals. Hernando has also set a record for the second consecutive day of the stage with a time of 3h and 35 minutes. Almost 10 minutes faster than the 2013 record set by Upendra Sunuwar. After crowning the top of the Pikey Peak with beautiful views of the Himalayan 80’s, a descent not suitable for cardiac patients began. It was very technical and left the runners at 3.500m altitude with a last climb with almost KO forces to reach the camp of the second stage. After Hernando, the Nepali runner Suman Kulung came in second place 15 minutes behind Hernando and the Norwegian athlete Sondre Amdahl came in third. The rider from Burgos wanted to achieve the widest possible gap with the local athlete because the third stage has strong descents with 4,110m of negative difference in altitude. Kulung descends very well and is characterized by being very technical, fast and I could get ahead of myself, "explained Hernando already in the camp after a day with good weather. Very different from the very cold night that is expected in the tents for runners and organisers. The last data coming from the camp is three degrees below zero… and going down. §staticmap(10734,5,800,200)