This is becoming one of my favourites, as much for its idiosyncracies as for its qualities as a race.
The first edition was in February 2008.
The second edition kept us all waiting until December 2009 and the 2010 edition took everybody by surprise reappearing only 4 months later, coinciding with other races in Astorga and Vigo.
Perhaps as a result the field was a rather paltry 56 competitors which was a shame because the course is an attractive one and the weather at this time of year is perfect.
The event has been renamed this year too. Now it is officially the Monte Pajariel Half Marathon despite being publicized on the race website as 17 k (although the GPS boys were murmouring 18.5 at the finish line).
On the same web-site the start time was supposedly at 10:30 but the local rag clearly said 9:50.
On the day the organizers called us to the start at 10 o’clock but the mass protest that followed delayed everything until 10:25.
All very confusing....
It was no coincidence that the race organizer was Pinilla the miner, a man I first met some 15 years ago running around Pajariel with a pile of stones in his rucksack.
In fact I was the only runner who truly set off at the original 10:30 start time.About 2 minutes into the race I suddenly realized I’d left my car keys on a wall while I was pinning on my race number. Ran back to the start, found the keys before someone else did and then headed back to the hills in search of a race.
The Pajariel (not quite) half marathon is a tough one. Although it’s off-road, it is more suited to speedy road athletes than mountain runners. Along the wide forest trails there are plenty of flat, fast sections. In between there are some vicious, lung busting climbs and a rollercoaster of 6 or 7 firebreaks, each one steeper and nastier than the previous. Here, most mortals walk. At the end we descend off the summit of Pajariel back to Ponferrada 1000 feet below. This year the “technical” descent was halved in favour of more forest trail, again favouring the road runners.
After my false start I managed to catch up with the tail end of the race in Toral de Merayo and got around more or less intact although my calf muscles were still howling several days later. Gus the lottery seller of Torre del Bierzo won in 1 hour 11 minutes. My time was 1:51.
Next race;
Tebaida Berciana: April 25th.
