Tuesday, February 7

Honored to Support La Ultra-The High


No, the event is not soon, it will be this coming August 2, 2012 yet at Leh, Ladakh, India. And no I won't be running the ultra race, I will be part of the support crew but I am allowed to run a shorter distance 6 days prior to the ultra race, I decided to join the full marathon (42K).

La Ultra - The High is a gathering of extra ordinary people who have extra ordinary achievements not just in their work life but also in sports. I call it 'the gathering of the greatest of the great.'

The list of participants for La Ultra - The High has been released by the organizer Rajat Chauchan today. And as I go along the list I look first the name of my friend whom I will be supporting, Seow Kong Ng. The list includes not just the names but their achievement as ultrarunners as well. Seeing Seow's achievement really makes me so proud of being part of his crew team. All the more I am motivated to practice and prepare for the event.

But as I go along the list of each individual coming from different parts of  world, all the more I got so excited and thankful and grateful for being part of this event. Having to be with the best and extra ordinary athletes in the world  who achieve so much in ultra running  makes me so excited , one of them is a 7 summit finisher from Greece. And one thing more, Sudip will be around. This is going to be fun....yahoo.... I can say I am so blessed. Thank you Seow Kong and thank God.

Below is the list as copied from the site of La Ultra - The High. 

Participants for 2012 edition of La Utra - The High

To be considered for this event, the first  thing we are looking for is not to get participants killed. We look for people who respect for nature, these monstrous but beautiful mountains and people around them, not simply studs. And of course, have the potential to finish this run. Yes, that's the last criteria, not the first.
To us, every participant who makes it to the start is a WINNER. As Border Road Organization, the guys who maintain these high roads say, 'Failing is not a crime; lack of effort is.'

We planned to give away trophies, not medals or belt buckles, to all the participants at the start line. But non-finishers of the first edition, Bill Andrew and Molly Sheridan, wanted to 'earn' the beautiful trophy. Molly earned her trophy during the 2nd edition. Bill is coming again for his.

Good luck to all you common normal beings (most would not disagree with this), who are putting in the effort to do achieve an extra ordinary feat.

Daniel Lacoste (Canada) 
  • Canadian Death Race 2003, 2004 & 2005. 125km mountain run, twice solo and once as a team - Best finish 15th place. Alberta, Canada
  • Jay Challenge 50 km, Vermont
  • Multiple Adventure races with distance ranging from 150 km to 350km (48 hour - 60 hour races) Raid the North, Adventure racing Series, WAR and others in Canada 
  • 24 hour mountain bike races 
Jarad Kohlar (Australia) 
  • 5th World Adventure Racing Championships (TAS) - 2011
  • 1st Australian Multisports Championships (TAS) -2007/2009/2010/2011
  • 1st Baise outdoor Quest (China) - 2009
  • 14th Grand Traverse Crested Butte to Aspen (USA) - 2009
  • 1st Team Desert Island Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (UAE) - 2008
  • 1st Bright Alpine 4 Peaks Mountain Run (VIC) - 2006
  • 1st Australian Adventure Racing Champion Anaconda Lorne (VIC) - 2006
  • First commercial crossing of Bass Strait and first crossing  of Bass Strait by ocean racing skis Peak Adventure
  • 2nd Southern Traverse (NZ) - 2003
  • 1st Solo Kayaker Murray Marathon (VIC) - 2004/05
Jiro Ishizuka (Japan) 
  • UTMB 2011
John T Sharp (US) 
  • has DNFed in 5 100 mile runs 
  • Completed Hardrock 100 in  2010. It has 33, 000 feet elevation gain
Justyn Marc Brown (New Zealand) 
  • 50 km per day for 67 days in a row, had 7 days off in that time, ran 2, 930 kms all together (2011) 
  • Tensing Hillary Everest Marathon 2011
  • 100 kms on a treadmill in 12 hrs. 12 mins. (2011) 
  • 100 km on road in 12 hrs20mins. 
Kim Rasmussen (Denmark)
  • Spartathlon finish 4 times best time 30 hours 
  • Badwater 2008 38 hours 
  • Western States 28 hours 2005
  • 24 hours best 207 km
  • 6 day race Mexico 665 km together with Arun from India also 
  • 200 km desert race in Algeria
Luis Alfonso Guerrero (Mexico)
  • 17 100 miles races (16 under 24 hours) 
  • First international at the Sakura Michi Natural Run in Japan  (2011) 250 km
  • 3 attempts to Spartathlon, 1 finish 
  • 5 Marathon de Sables 
  • 1 attempt to Badwater
  • 1 Desert Cup
  • Second place at the Himalayan 100 mile race 
  • many adventure races and mountain bike races 
Lynne Elizabeth Hewett (Australia) 
  • Didn't finish Brazil  135 due to a knee ligament tear 
  • 7 x 100 miles Ultra's
  • 10 Ironmans (many triathlons)
  • 40 plus marathons 
Mark Hines (UK)
  • Marathon de Sables (2007)
  • Jungle Marathon 2008
  • YAU 2009 & 2011 (450 miles) 
  • Trans Alps 2009
  • Wainwright's coast-to-coast 2010
  • Rab Mountain Marathon 2010
  • Plenty of non-race events 
  • Ran 270-mile Pennine Way over Christmas, 2011
Mark Steven Woolley (UK/Spain) 
  • 101 kms Ronda: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 9:50hrs. 12th Overall (2011) 
  • Ultra trail Tour du Mont Blanc: 158 kms 9000M D+: 2005, 2006, 2007 (PR:39 hrs), 17 hours Courmayer-Chamonix after restart due t bad weather (2010), 44 hrs (2011)
  • 115 kms 4000 M D+. Trans Gran Canary. 25 hrs:2007
  • Spartathlon. DNF - 115 kms (2007), DNF Hypothermia - 170 km (2008), 246 kms. 34:30 hours. 77th overall, 1st Brit. (2009), 246 kms. 33:48 hours. 57th overall (2011)
  • 24hrs Barcelona TV3 173 kms official: 7th overall (2007), 5th overall (2008)
  • 100 kms Madrid. Spanish Championship. 9:02 hours. 13th Overall (2008), 8:46 hours. 10th Overakk, 2nd over 45 vet. (2009), 8:33, 8th Overall, 2nd Over 45 (2010), 8:27, 9th Overall, 2nd Over 45 (2011) 
  • Malaga Almeria Carretera de la Muerte 210 kms 35 hours 40 mins. (2009), 35 hours (2010), 32 hours 15 mins. (2011) 
  • Alandalus ultra trail 250 kms, 5 stages desert conditions. 22:53 hours total, 2nd overall (2009) 
  • Puerto de Motril at 0 M - Summit of Mulchacen at 3482 M. 75 kms. 11:47 hours. Fastest ascent of Mulchacen (highest mainland mountain in Spain) from the sea to date - Hodl the actual record jointly with Francsico Contreras (2009) 
  • Badwater Ultramarathon Death Valley, USA 42:36 49th Overall (2010)
  • Madrid Segovia 100 kms 2000M D+ 10:06 3rd Overall and 1st team (2010) 
  • Ultrabalaton 212 kms 26 hours 
  • Ehunmilak 170 kms. 11,000 M D+
  • Malaga Granada 163 kms. 3,500 M D+ 27 hours 
Michele Ufer (Germany)
  • 250k Atacama Crossing - 7th overall position
  • 2 weeks later - Everest Marathon 
Nikolaos Mangitsis (Greece) 
  • Toubkal trail 2009 125km/ +9000 48 hrs
  • VFT Greece 2009 105 kms/ +3500 21 hrs
  • Everest Summit 2004
  • Seven Summits finished 2008
Raymond Sanchez (US) 
  • Came in 2nd during 2011 edition of La Ultra - The High in 39 hours and 3 mins. thenext day finished marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes and 20 sec. 
  • Over 130 races in 5 years and all 135 races (Badwater, Brazil, Arrowhead, Europe) in one single calendar year twice 
Rodrigo Cerqueira (Brazil) 
  • 2005 - first ultra, 24th track race in Curitiba, PR, Brazil, finishing 2nd in his category with 130.4 km
  • in 2006, Badwater, as a pacer of a Brazilian athlete (manoel Mendes) and when he quit, helped the team of other Brazilian athlete 9Mario Lacerda) to finish the race
  • Started the Brazil 135, the most difficult ultra-race in South America in 2007
  • Arrowhead Ultra, MN, USA in February, 2007
  • 12h in Sao Caetano/SP/Brazil in 2007 and again helped a Brazilian athlete in Badwater (Valmir Nunes) which broke the race record 
  • 160km in 24 hrs, 2009
  • Sahara Race, Egypt, October 2007, 2009
  • Brazil 135, 2008
  • Arrowhead Iltra, 2009
Seow Kong Ng (Malaysia) - I will be part of the crew team of this great athlete
  • Coast to Kosciusko (240K single stage) 
  • Magredi Mountain Trail 100 Mile 
  • 100kms: HK 100k, Great North Walk 100k, TNF Beijing 100k, 100k del Sahara
  • Marathon del Sables (250km) 
  • Amazon Jungle Marathon (220km) 
  • Comrades Marathons (Twice - Up and Down) 
  • Has summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro, highest mountain in Africa 
  • Adventure Marathons: Great Wall Marathon, Everest Marathon, North Pole Marathon, Antarctica Marathon
Sudip Rai (Nepal) 
  • 24th Mt. Kinabalu International Climbathon - 2nd place 2 hr 46 min 14 sec, 4th (2011) 
  • Annapurna 100 - 1st in 100 km class 12 hr 05 min (2011), 2nd (2012) 
  • Everest Ultra 2010 - 1st place 5 hr 14 min 30 sec
  • Davos mountain marathon - 5th (2011)
  • Everest Marathon 2009 - 1st place 3hr 45min 49 sec
  • Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon 2012 - 2nd place 4hr 02min 35sec
Tim Garrett (Australia) 
  • Northface 100km Blue mountains Australia 2010
  • Kallahari Augrabies extreme marathon (240km) 2012
  • Grand Canyon Marathon USA 2010
  • Arctic ultra marathon (122 miles) Yukon Canada 2011
  • Northface 100km Blue mountains Australia 2011
  • Leadville 100 miles Colorado USA 2011
Upendra Sunwar (Nepal) 
  • 2nd in Annapurna 100 - 2nd (2011), 5th (2012)
  • Kinabalu Climbathon - 9th (2011)
  • Annapurna 70 km - 6th (2010)
Dr William (Bill) Andrews (US) 
Dr William Andrews interview before the 2010 edition of la Ultra - The High
  • Ultra marathon runner since 1996. Has completed more than 100 ultra- marathons 
  • One of the three participants who came for the first edition of La Ultra - The High. He's coming for his trophy. 
  • In 1998, completed the Grand Slam of Ultra-running, the Last great Race, the Western Slam, and completed more 100 miles that year than anyone else in the world
  • Nevada State Champion in the Marathon for his age group (50-59) in 2006
  • Badwater Ultra-marathon, twice
  • Competed in twenty 50 mile races in 1997
  • First 100 mile race in 1998 (Rocky Racoon) 
Rock n Roll

2 comments:

  1. grabe! i'm really overwhelmed by the kind of athletes that join la ultra! sobrang hard core! i'm nervous and excited to see/meet them! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. jules...rewriting the achievements of the 20 ultra runners makes me really feel I am so lucky to be part of this event....it's a gathering of the best athletes, tama ka sobrang harcode...makes me so excited to meet them.

    ReplyDelete