(23-11-2009, 12:41 PM)El Gordo Wrote: Hard to know how to dress for that event.
What's the red stuff in the tureen? Sangria? Or some sort of hearty soup?
Does the fabled butcher appear in the film? Or remind me -- has he gone to that great abattoir in the sky?
Piping hot stew it was... I think. Had to spit mine out as it was setting my tonsils on fire.
Miguel, the ultra running butcher is the bearded man in black who starts the race and then runs in it as well.
He once ran the London to Brighton ultra. One of his amusing stories from the event was that he finished (in second place!) went to receive a much earned massage ... and they charged him 2 quid for it!
err, my culinary sources now inform me that one pot contained "Consummé" (that which burnt my mouth) and the other one was indeed a hearty soup.. well spotted there Andy!
'veteran' is abit of a misnomer as I'm sure you're aware. The V40 category is arguably the most competitive in alot of races as hordes of folk get back into their running or have more time for one reason or another.
The Dragoman cometh. He awaits in Dragonte but you can already feel the heat on his breath from Ponferrada.
At the last count there were 350 runners and 130 walkers destined to meet the dragon one more time.
Scanning the list of knights and maidens I see that the old warrior of Ferrol will be in town again. Go to the video and at 1:05 he appears, number 273, a sprightly old chap bouncing along at a fairly decent pace, especially when you consider that he was 90 at the time. And he’s not only a 90+ veteran runner. He’s a Spanish civil war veteran too!
Villafranca lies at the eastern extreme of El Bierzo wedged in between hills, vineyards and the new N6 motorway on its smooth, viaduct-enhanced journey from Madrid to Galicia. For the pages of my virtual running diary Villafranca’s most important son is Basurko, the ultra-running butcher, but there’s another even more illustrious resident in town. I’ve probably never mentioned him because he doesn’t run, but he will have an important and surprising role in the success of tomorrow’s Dragoman race.
If you were to take a stroll through the noble streets of this little corner of El Bierzo on a quiet Sunday morning, with a bit of luck you may hear beautiful piano music. The formative melodies of a musical maestro in creative mode may come cascading down from the heights of Villafranca’s modest 15th century castle. The castle is the private residence of classical composer Cristóbal Halffter who amongst other things is responsible for “Don Quijote…The Opera.” I’ve never actually met anybody who has been inside the castle. I think we must move in different circles.
The mighty Basurko is at least familiar with the exterior walls of Halffter’s castle. Before trying his luck with ultra distance running Basurko used to climb and the castle provided a conveniently located rocodrome for the teenage scally. One day, whilst scaling one of the towers our grumpy 20th century classical music legend leant out a window and told the future ultra-running butcher to bugger off home and climb his own walls. As Basurko lived in a bungalow this would have been a lot less fun.
20 years on and the musical maestro has mellowed. Tomorrow Cristóbal will open the castle gates for the ultra running butcher and 600 mates, having generously permitted the race to start from the castle courtyard.
So, we already have a castle, a dragon and 600 “valientes.” The damsel in distress is yet to be appointed… as far as I know.
What wonderful fun BB - it sounds like you live in a parallel dimension, which I suppose on reflection you do. Now, please excuse me; I'm having a few problems with my own mythical beast: the Motorheadbangerhangover. And this one's a doozy.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(29-11-2009, 09:23 AM)Sweder Wrote: I'm having a few problems with my own mythical beast: the Motorheadbangerhangover. And this one's a doozy.
Right. Bet it won't stop you going for a run with the hounds though, eh Sweder?
BB, that sounds like a doozy indeed. There are no 15th century castles in Australia, so make the most of it! Now that you're a veteran, I suppose the castle motif is appropriate...
Dragoman 2009: tales from the fifth dimension.
We all gathered in the chill of the castle courtyard. I could only think what a cold, unwelcoming place a medieval castle must be to live in. It may well be an inspirational place for composing piano concertos though.
The curtains on the occupied side of the castle were all drawn and Mr and Mrs Halftter maintained a stately silence. I didn’t see them in the post-race paella either.
Next, we all ran up the steep, steep hill to Dragonte and then jogged back down again with fire in our calves and smart new Dragoman t-shirts on our backs.
Basurko ran dressed as superman.
Early rumours of snow in the village proved unfounded. There were a few brief flurries but nothing stuck.
The 91-year old boy wonder made it to the top again chaperoned by Baltazar from the cement factory.
There were so many people that both the consummé and the garlic soup were consumed in record time despite being housed in immense pots. The t-shirts ran out as well and poor Baltazar was left cursing his choice of running partner.
I wore my dad’s Air Pegasus last used on that fateful morning in August. The river keeps a-flowin’ and the big wheel keeps a-turnin’.
(29-11-2009, 10:01 PM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: Next, we all ran up the steep, steep hill to Dragonte and then jogged back down again with fire in our calves and smart new Dragoman t-shirts on our backs.
Surely the most succinct race report this forum has ever seen. (And the actual race is covered in just the first half of the sentence.) But I understand the reasons for your brevity. Hope the calves are recovering.
I've seen in the local rag this morning that the Halffters were there at the start and they actually led the runners out of their castle. I hadn't noticed them because I was near the back and there were 400 of us.
The winner's prize was the largest cheese I've ever seen and he seemed pretty happy with it too. The photo comes courtesy of a bloke with a blog.
![[Image: villafrancabierzocastillo03.jpg]](http://www.jdiezarnal.com/villafrancabierzocastillo03.jpg)
![[Image: Dragonman09---33.jpg]](http://www.tribeerzo.com/wp-content/gallery/dragonman09/Dragonman09---33.jpg)
