Last updated: 19-Jul-18
The 2018 Compressport Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls (TMCdC) a 185 km race around the island has ended in victory for Antoine Guillon of France and local boy Pere Lluis Garau for the men and Tina Ameller, also from Menorca, for the women.
Then men finished in a time of 19:21:21 with a hard-fought overnight section seeing the lead changing on a number of occasions. It began with Antoine Guillon and Gerard Morales sharing the lead, with Pere Lluís Garau just a minute behind them. These positions were held over many kilometres, but after the Binibèquer feed station (115 km), Gerard Morales dropped and Garau was overtaken.
But when Morales and Garau arrived at Cala en Porter (129.6 km), they learnt that Guillon had not yet passed. He’d got lost and was 35 minutes down. Down but not out! Guillon took this as a positive, “I was forced to push myself hard and thanks to that I realised that I could push myself even more if necessary,” he explained.
He caught Morales and Garau just after the CP at 144.4 km and kicked past so that only Garau was able to keep up with him. During the last few kilometres, the two leaders both maintained their speed which ended up with them sharing the win and coming in just 3 minutes behind the race record, which Antoine Guillon had set in 2016 (19 hours 18 minutes).
At the end, Antoine Guillon had this to say:
“It’s been a special race for me, because when I was on my own I got lost. I then had to push myself a lot. Pere Lluís is very strong and I’m happy to have reached the finish line alongside him. I’ll return to Menorca next year to try to get under 19 hours, as I have realised that it’s possible for me to do that“.
And Pere Lluis Garau responded:
“The simple fact of being with runners like Antoine Guillon and Gerard Morales is something incredible. I never imagined I’d be able to win the race. I was dying for the last 20 km. Gerard and I thought we had left Antoine behind but suddenly we turned round and saw him there.”
Women’s Race
Tina Ameller did not go into the race as the favourite, but she took just under 27 hours to complete the 185 km around the island. She only moved into the lead at 165km with just 20km to go after maintaining the stronger pace overall.
The race began with Gemma Avellí as the clear favourite but she was forced to abandon having run a little over 30 km. The Italian Alice Modignani-Fasoli then took the lead, which she maintained throughout the day and almost all of the night. To begin with, it was Sasha Roig in second. However, the Menorcans Eva Orives and Tina Ameller maintained a faster pace and slowly gained. As dawn broke, Eva Orives took the lead, with a 15-minute advantage over Tina Ameller.
Ameller didn’t despair and finally broke Orives in the last few kilometres of the south coast section. By the time she reached Artutx (173.3 km) she was in the lead and decisively took the path towards Ciutadella. She crossed the finish line in first place to add this to her victories at the Trail dels Fars (also held in Menorca) and the Formentera All Round Trail earlier this year. She came in to a heroine’s welcome with a double first for the local races in both men’s and women’s categories.
After the races she said:
“I didn’t expect it as last year I had to retire. The only thing I wanted to do was to finish it one way or another. I corrected my mistakes. I ran very slowly for the first 100 km, but in the end it’s about your level of endurance. At Cala en Bosc I took the lead, but I had to run. During the last kilometres people were really encouraging me. I’m absolutely elated and now I’m going to enjoy it.”
MEN
Pere Lluís Garau (Altura-Sports Lloseta): 19:21:21
Antoine Guillon (Team Globetrailers): 19:21:21
Gerard Morales (Buff): 19:32:01
WOMEN
- Tina Ameller (Menorca Trail): 26:56:53
- Eva Orives: 27:31:09
