By Elsa Trujillo
The sixth edition of the Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls, held over the weekend on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Menorca, saw 1200 ultra runners set out from the start line at Ciutadella on the western coast.
The main race event runs along the island’s perimeter on the GR-223 coastal trail route.
The weekend-long event includes the following ultra running distances: 185km (the entire island), 100km, 85km and 56km. There is an additional 39km distance.
The 193 runners of the longest distance set out in two different groups at different times with different cut-off times, 40h and 34h.
Two of the favourites dropped out before the end of the day, Christophe Le Seaux and Laia Díez, both recently returned from the 2017 MDS, which left the field wide open.
The winner was Frenchman Antoine Guillon, last year’s winner, who crossed the line in just over 19 hours at 19:29:07. The fastest female was Gemma Avellí at 24:46:45, two hours ahead of the second female runner.
“My goal was to beat the 19 hours, but with the heat and fatigue it has not been possible. I also had to make an effort to increase the distance from my pursuers, that was the priority; and then, I realised there was not enough time to beat the record. To me, that was very difficult,” said Antoine Guillon after the race.
