LUIS ALBERTO HERNANDO’S VICTORY REINFORCES HIS LEADERSHIP IN THE EVEREST TRAIL RACE
Jase Bhajyang (10-11-17). The World and European champions won their second consecutive victory with a record time in the premier stage of the race. The Portuguese rider Ester Alves also won and maintains first place.
The 24 km have been wild and very hard. The second stage of the Everest Trail Race by The Elements Pure Coconut Water was the highlight of the day. The athletes surpassed 3,500m of positive altitude difference without practically a flat meter and stepped on the roof of the race, the top of the Pikey Peak at 4,100m altitude.
After leaving Jase Bhajyang the participants had to overcome a 600m downhill drop to the valley to reach one of the lowest points of the race at 1,500m altitude. After crossing the river a brutal climb of 16km without respite began with 2.600m+ of the pull to reach the top of the Pikey Peak. Luis Alberto Hernando (ADIDAS) and Ester Alves (THE ELEMENTS PURE COCONUT WATER) passed through all the control points extending the distance to their main rivals. Hernando has also set a record for the second consecutive day of the stage with a time of 3h and 35 minutes. Almost 10 minutes faster than the 2013 record set by Upendra Sunuwar. After crowning the top of the Pikey Peak with beautiful views of the Himalayan 80's, a descent not suitable for cardiac patients began. It was very technical and left the runners at 3.500m altitude with a last climb with almost KO forces to reach the camp of the second stage. After Hernando, the Nepali runner Suman Kulung came in second place 15 minutes behind Hernando and the Norwegian athlete Sondre Amdahl came in third. The rider from Burgos wanted to achieve the widest possible gap with the local athlete because the third stage has strong descents with 4,110m of negative difference in altitude. Kulung descends very well and is characterized by being very technical, fast and I could get ahead of myself, "explained Hernando already in the camp after a day with good weather. Very different from the very cold night that is expected in the tents for runners and organisers. The last data coming from the camp is three degrees below zero... and going down.