TGS, Trail Grigne Sud, is part of the Italian FISky national race series and is a UTMB event.
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It is run annually from the shores of Lake Como, north of Milan.
Official video:
Somehow me, Mark, Neil, and William signed up for the 22km event, complete with a serious 1800m of vert. Eek!
This was a follow on from our excellent RunTheWild running trip around the Dolomites. So we 4 stayed a night in Bolzano and then trained over to Milan on Friday. Unfortunately Neil had to DNS due to work and travel commitments, but at least Mark decided to man-up and compete, in spite of his gammy knee👍!
I was feeling great, after having a head cold earlier in the week. Refreshed and super excited to be racing!
The forecast was not great (25mm of rain!), so shoe and clothing decisions were a bit tricky. I might have slightly bought a new running pack in Bolzano, hey, hey! (Saloman adv skin 12, plus quiver)
(There's nothing as smart as using a new piece of kit for the first time during a longish race in the rain)(but actually it was great, super comfy, and the quiver was a big help)
So me, Mark and Willy were up early (4.45am) and caught a taxi and then the 6.20am train up to Lake Como, which is very pretty!
After registration formalities (including the non-production of my completely forged doctor's certificate of health, lol!), we were at the start line.
I opted to use my GoPro throughout, since it looked too wet and rainy to be getting my phone out during the event. But it stopped working half way through...
Race Start
We were super keen to get going, and at 9.00am 300 of us set off!
William shot off ahead, and Mark and I ran together for about the first half of the race.
It was wet! Raining fairly hard for most of the middle 2/3rds part of the race, and the trails were a shambles! The rock was ok when wet - not too slippery. But the (pummeled) dirt turned immediately to squishy slippery mud. Not so bad going up the many hills, especially when using poles. But terrifying when crashing downhill at extremely unwise speeds! 😬😬
I had brought my mud-excelling Saloman speedcross shoes with me, but stupidly opted for my very comfy and fast hoka tecton Xs. BAD DECISION. Nonetheless, I was light and fast on my feet and amazingly never actually fell over.
The fact that there were several sections of normally non-technical downhill trail which had temporary hand chains installed gives you an idea how dodgy some sections were. Good times!
I wore just a t-shirt initially, accepting the rain since it was cool but wasn't really cold, and very little wind. Eventually I did put my thermal hat on though.
After the first big summit (1000m vert), we raced downhill, and I was feeling great. As we started the next climb I moved ahead of Mark and kept on strongly overtaking people.
A few lovely 'views' and river crossings occurred. Honest!
There was lots of support out on the course... Good aid stations which I ignored... Even two groups with fires burning in the rain to let people warm up, I guess..?
On the last long downhill I got into a group that was running quickly, and I kept with them through to the end. The last few kilometres through town were getting tiring, but the finish came eventually.
Wrap
What a great event! We missed out on views, but they would be spectacular on a nice day.
My legs and cardio were fine, and I never felt any nausea or cramp, although my back predictably is rather wrecked!
I had some beetroot juice prerace and a nodoze and AI before starting. I ate a couple of gels and two snack bars. I had 2 basic cups of water at aid stations (thanks for the cup, Neil), but mostly just drank my 1 liter that I carried.
The pre-race toilets were about as lacking in functionality and prevalance as it was possible to be, while still being able to say that holes were available for defecating in.😱🤬. But I guess they did their job!
The post-run shower however was great!
Results
William crushed it in 3.15 for 2nd 50+ ! Wahoo!, while I did 3.43 and Mark just sneaked in under 4 hours.
Mark (whose knee held up well) is already trying to talk William into doing it next year, lol.
Photos
The race finally released photos of the event :)
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