3 Peaks of Pirin

Every adventure starts with some kind of random search on the internet, maybe thats just me. This particular tale started in the autumn of 2023. I wanted to run a shorter mountain ultra in September the following year. When I say shorter, ideally the distance would be 50km. It also needed to have some big mountains, stunning views and be a bit of and adventure. The reason for shorter is I wouldn’t have time for a big block of training for a 100km+ race after the TMB and a summer of slightly disjointed training. Plus it makes a trip a bit easier to manage time wise, when you are not running through the night.

This search began and ended on the ITRA website, which I am still a member of. I narrowed the search down to two races, one in the French Alps and another in Bulgaria. The French one was 50km, the Bulgarian one 66km and it was call the Pirin Ultra. The website was quite basic and it looked like they had 160km and 38km extreme Skyrace options. My decision was soon made up based on the fact I would have been to France twice already that summer (TMB and the Olympics), plus there was another Bulgarian race I didn’t get to go to in 2020 because, covid. Another factor was price, race entry was around £50, hotels and car hire were also dirt cheap in comparison to France. I dropped the idea into a group chat and soon several friends were up for it. We all signed up, I booked a hotel with 4 rooms. I even booked my flight early, which actually turned out to be an error as the race day changed from a Saturday to a Sunday, which was my fault for not double checking but let’s just gloss over that error and me having two flights to the same race, sigh.

Anyway not much thought was put into the race for many months as everyone had other things going on. Nearer the time we all talked about the trip and decided to have a night in Sofia before driving in two hire cars out to the town of Bansko (in the Pirin mountains), where the race started. We didn’t do much research and maybe should have.

We arrived on the Friday at lunchtime ish. None of us even realised Bulgaria was 2 hours ahead and that kind of threw us too. We ate quite a bit of food on Friday, stayed in a dodgy hotel that had really grumpy people working there, a room that smelt of sewers in the morning. We had a run tour led by Ale, where we realised there really wasn’t much to see, had an average breakfast, an ok lunch in the “Happy” restaurant before driving the 2hrs15mins to Bansko. We all regretted staying in Sofia. Bansko seemed like a lovely alpine town, touristy, yes but with charm.

Without much time on the Saturday, bags were dropped in hotel rooms and mandatory kit gathered, we all rushed off to kit check and bib collection. They actually checked quite a bit of kit as well. We were also told to have extra leg and warm top layers as it would be cold in the mountains. I was pleased they were taking this part of our safety seriously. One annoying thing though is they gave out really nicely designed cotton tees (men’s and women’s) but hadn’t asked for sizes, so had runout of medium. Luckily for me I fitted a small somehow. A simple thing to do though to avoid waste and people having the wrong size. We then stopped at a couple trade stands and went for food but it took a while to find somewhere that suited us all and by the time we had eaten, paid (it takes a while to do this for some reason) and walked back to our rooms it was gone 9pm and with a 4am wake up planned, less than ideal. Kit was packed and clothes laid out and in bed by 10 to have some broken sleep as always.

The walk down to the start at 5.15 was dark and fresh, we were excited to get out on the adventure but first we had to collect trackers and then just chill for 20mins until the start. 

Before we get into the adventure, let’s talk about the race profile a little. You start at 1000m and have 3 climbs, taking you over 2,500 each time and 3 descents. It’s a race, or tale of 3 mountains.

Climb 1 is 1500, climb 2 1300 and climb 3 around 1000. The total elevation is 4200 with the same amount of descending. The total time for the race is 20 hours, the average finishing time is 15hrs ish. These stats should have warned me about what it would be like but I didn’t really think about that. I watched some YT videos but they also didn’t really prepare me for what was to come.

Mountain 1

We started at 6am in the dark, running up through the gentle elevation of the town, around 230 runners starting the journey. Out of town we hit the trails a little bit, then some road, then some more woodland. The poles stayed away, I ran on my own as was the plan really. I moved well, I have been doing a fair bit of uphill running, and it wasn’t that steep to start, as we traversed through the woods before hitting a steeper ski run. Hiking ensued as the sun was starting to rise behind us. Then into some more woodland, the head torch came off just before we hit the first CP around 10km in. I filled up my bottles, moved some more nutrition to the front pocket and had a banana. I made an error though, I didn’t fill up my 3rd bottle as I had planned to. It was 19km and a fair bit of climbing/descending to the next aid. I am not really sure why I didn’t but I’ll come to the consequences later.

I headed out and up, the poles came out soon after as it was now getting steeper. To be honest the rest of this climb is a little hazy in my memory. I know I felt good, there we’re some beautiful parts with little pools of water, a river, passing some hikers heading out early from a refuge giving us all thumbs up and saying “Respeck”. Then at some point the rocks and boulders started, there were no switchbacks, the climbing was direct and steep. It was hard, hands were needed. I just focussed on one step at a time, climb strong and with purpose. Then I popped up at the top and of course there was a photographer there, in fact it was the only one I saw all day. 

I stopped to take off my wind proof jacket as was getting a bit warm now although the ground was frosty, the arm warmers would be enough. It was nice to be running now on rolling terrain across the top, then just a little climb before it was time to go down. I met a man who was about 90km into the 160km race, he was chilling for some food just before going down, he looked tired, I was glad I wasn’t doing that race!

The start of the descent was pretty much direct down, it was slippy with some rocks and mud and scree bits. I let people pass me, I took it easy. This was the plan I had talked to Howard (coach) about. Use the first two descents to practice, then deliver on the final one. Soon we were back in the bushes and tree line on technical rooty woodland that was pretty steep as well. It was during the 2nd half of this part that I fully realised my error on the water. I decided to start rationing my liquid, it wasn’t hot but I was drinking more than I had. There was still part of a climb to go before I could get to CP2, once at the bottom, there was a fast moving stream, so I risked taking half a bottle of water to tide me over. This proved very wise.

Mountain 2

1400m over 8km with an average gradient of 17%, this was a real shit show at times. The first part to the aid station was, again straight up in between some trees following a power line. It was very similar to a certain pipeline climb in Madeira but without the steps. It was energy sapping and a little boring to be honest. I was so relieved when the CP popped up. I had run out of liquid on the climb so I took a few mins to get a little extra water in and fill up 3 bottles for the next section as even though it was shorter, I just didn’t want to be caught short again. 

At this point it’s worth mentioning that the aid stations are pretty basic on this race.

Water, coke and some other drink

Banana, lemon

Bread with tomato or chocolate spread

Salami, cheese

Some weird cake thing

That was it, although they did seem to all have toilets as were at mountain huts, which was a bonus. When I came out said here toilet I saw Carl (one of our group) come in. He was looking super fresh. I said I would see him soon as he was looking better than me at this point. I left the aid station and started the next section of the climb. We came out of the trees into the high bushes, which seem to be the fauna of Bulgaria, these bushes are about head height on me so it still feels enclosed but just different. The climb was, you guessed it, pretty much straight up again. It was hard work and I wasn’t that happy at this point as there were no views and of course Carl over took me. I wished him well and just continued moving, always move.

When we got out of the thick bushes though onto another plateau it was lovely. Kind of felt like a scrub land but over 2500m up, there were sparse bushes and soft ground and I could run a bit. I had noticed though that the flag marking for the course was getting a little off. You could be on a path next to a flag, then suddenly the next flag would be appear to be on another path over to the left, then the right, then the left or something. It was confusing but you could always see where you were heading. 

Another bonus climb appeared. I could see Carls bright tee shirt up the climb. We seemed to heading off to a ridge line or something. That short but steep and direct climb was tackled with gusto though as I could see where I was heading. Once up, maybe I didn’t want to know. Yes we were heading off to a rocky technical ridge line, that was winding round and of course up. I knew this was coming and was kind of mentally prepared but it took all my focus. No photos were taken by me, the ones below were taken by Dai (thank you). When I say ridge, I’ll say one side was vertical drop and the other more of an angle, so not super scary but still. It took all my focus and I was just hoping for a nice descent, lols

The boulder-field and scree to get off there was so slow going it was painful but I just kept in my head. Use every step and a learn. Make no mistakes here, use this. Once down to the Col, I was relieved that were we were not going up the other side as that looked even worse. What happened next was actually kind of fun. The rest of this descent wasn’t too steep and was quite runnable on the alpine scrubland, weaving in and out bushes, trying to follow the stupid flag marking, then giving up. There was some walking but quite a bit of easy running. I was glad of the 3rd bottle too, getting myself slowly rehydrated. It was on the down hill chasing flags all over the place that I remembered these old  fantasy “choose your own adventure” books, the ones with green spines, came into my head. You would read a bit then get a choice of what to do next and head off to another part of the book but really you kind of were being lead in the same direction just by a different choice of route. The marking was this, it was all I could think about. Just choose your own, regulated adventure Jon.

Soon I was at the bottom and running into CP4. Another mountain hut, this time everything was set up inside. I took a few minutes to reorganise my bag, fill up 3 bottles again, eat a bit of banana and leave. I did notice some locals sitting at a table drinking beers, which was odd but I guess was late afternoon now. After finishing, Dai told me that one of those locals was smoking inside, which is pretty rank and I am glad I didn’t have that experience.

Mountain 3

As I set off, I was in a happy mood, smiling even. This final clime was to be very different again, 900m ish over 8km but there was 28kmn total to go, which was also odd. I felt like, we had done two 3rds of the race so it 100% was going to be over 66km. Anyway, this climb was on a slow douche grade to start and it was in cow fields that were quite boggy in parts as we followed a river up the valley. The cows were pretty chilled and the guard dogs asleep in the afternoon sun. I started trudging and noticed my mood changing, I was getting tired and a bit grumpy. I was annoyed with the mud, I was annoyed with the lack of savoury food I had brought and that nothing in the aid stations excited me.

I kept moving though, I know you always get low points in longer races. About 20mins later I snapped out of it by making a plan. I had one packet of Skratch sweets left, I would use these as a treat, having a couple every 20mins or so and a gel every 30. I would use this to get my up the last climb. It was hard work, the hills had more short steep sections. I remember stopping on a rock to have a gel and talking with two guys from Belgrade, they looked knackered. They said they wanted to DNF at the last aid station but were told that there was no way to get them out of there. I thought that was pretty harsh as it had a cut off, which was ages away but still, it seemed weird (more on that later). I got up and started moving and found a new gear, not a fast one but the moving with purpose was back.

We started winding up and along and up, getting deeper into the end of the valley. Passing a lovely pool to the left I was trying to work out where we would be going. The terrain was back to rocks as we kept pushing up and around. Then it was there, the last section of the climb, a direct route up a boulder field. I let out a big sigh, looked at another runner in bemusement, had a gel and said to myself I was going to make it before sunset. Finding the paths up was tricky, first I went into the boulders but then found a route on the right, then it was across and up the left, then across a again. A mixture of poles and hands, heart rate was high, don’t look down just keep going.

Reaching the top of that was such a big relief. Not just for the climb but it was the last of the big ones. The sun was just starting to set too, if I kept moving well I should be able to get down a bit of the big descent before head torch time. First I soaked in the views and high fived some other runners before sliding down some scree and heading off across the flat moor like pasture. The light was incredible, we passed a remote mountain shelter where some hikers were staying. It started other cold and I put my wind proof back on, figuring I would be moving fast enough now not to need another layer. There was one last little sting in the tale though, another steep but short climb to the final Col. I was ok with that though, I had been eating my gels and chews, energy levels were good, actually they were great! Just the small matter of a 1500m ish descent to go…

The final down

In three big races in the last couple of years I have had an issue with my left leg on the descents near the end, which has essentially ruined the race experience as each time it wasn’t fatigue but this weird muscle thing that stopped me running. At this point, in THIS race I had none of these feelings. What I did have is a small sense of disappointment in my arbitrary time goal. When planning this race I felt 15 hours was a good time but I didn’t know how technical it would be but at this point my watch was telling me it would be over 17 hours and that lit a little fire in my belly. Could I make up some time could I get in with 16 something on the clock? Sometimes it’s time to bet on yourself in a race. What could harm could it do now?

The first part off the Col was, well you guessed it, pretty straight down on scree and rocks, it was slippery, I wasn’t exactly running but I was moving so much better than the first descent. The muscle memory started to kick in, I even over took someone, which is a novelty for me. Then as the down became a bit more rolling I was able to open up a bit whenever I could. When I say open up, this section was basically a mixture of boulders, rocky paths, boggy bits with bridges, more rocks etc but I kept moving. I stopped to put my head torch on very last minute, I looked behind me and could see some other lights and I made it a mission to try and not let them catch me. I stopped taking photos, running was the goal, foot placement and fast feet over the rocks. Then I overtook another person and another. This was really blowing my mind. I was still eating well but came up with a plan for the final aid station. One bottle of flat coke, one of water and neck a caffeine gel, then high tail it to the finish as fast as possible.

I caught up with another two runners at the CP, I was in and out in a few minutes. It was 12km to the finish, I figured I could put my head torch on full beam as well because maybe I would be done just over an hour. This section was seriously the best ever from a running feeling. I had tunes (virtually) in my head, I was running and running. It was a mixture of fire road, rough road, rooty and rocky paths. Everything was just clicking, legs were turning over, I was smiling and I was passing more people and they were cheering me on. A total reverse of what it’s usually like. In my mind, I was almost wishing I was back at the end of Lavaredo, if I had been able to do this then, boy it would have been an epic finish. I decided this was payback for that, for MIUT, for the Goat. For all those times where I was hobbling and run walking to a finish.

The only downside was when I got distracted by another runner who said I was going the wrong way, I listened and wasn’t, so lost a few minutes trying to re locate the markers. Then I was back on it with a mixture of mountain road and woods until back on the same suburban road that took us up from the start, except this time I was cruising down, passing a couple more people and before I knew it, crossing the finishing line. Tired from the running but happy, so very happy.

16hrs 15mins, 70km, 4200m up and down. Job, well and truly done.

Before I go into some reflections I just want to touch on the others races. Ale and Giffy were at the finish bless them. They had to DNF at the 2nd aid station and got really lucky with a lift back from another runners partner. Seems the organisers hadn’t thought about transport for runners.

Carl had a smashing race, finishing in 14hrs 30mins, he rocked up to the finish line not long after I got in all clean and cosy. Dai came in about 30-40mins after me. I thought he might catch me as I was so slow on the technical rocks really, but guessed my speedy finish curtailed that. We found out that Vanna had timed out at CP3, the one the other guys had been told they couldn’t stop at. He was sorting out some kind of escape involving a man with a 4×4 and some taxis, basically nothing was organised by the RD again for this. We were tracking Reka eventually as her tracking was a bit off due to a confusion in the system. We joked about who would make it back first as we could see Vanna’s tracker in the taxi. Then he got intercepted by the RD and some colleagues who put everyone in there vehicles and sent the taxis away. We heard that one poor runner had to stay in the mountain hut, not sure if he got rescued or not. Anyway Vanna made it back about 15mins before Reka. Everyone was home safe, which is the most important thing.

Race thoughts

The route is stunning but tough, that’s ok though. The marking can easily be so much better and it wouldn’t be hard to fix, just a little training and care. The aid stations need sorting out really, having some hot drink options and some different food. Doesn’t need a lot as we all know how hard it is to get food up to these places but some simple fixes here. They should also put some hot food at the finish, the food there was the same as the aid stations, which is nice to have but really you just want some soup or something to warm up with.

There were no Marshall’s/mountain rescue on the course at all, I would expect a couple maybe at the more sketchy points, I know they have them on the extreme race at certain points. Maybe that’s overkill? They 100% need a plan for bringing runners from the aid stations and communicate that. You can’t have cut offs then no option to help those who have been cut off.

And finally, they missed a trick for photos on our race. I think the photographers were covering the 25km (Friday) and 38km extreme. It’s such a good way to promote your race, with stunning scenery and some great access points too.

I am going to send a constructive email to the RD with these points as I think feedback is important and it seems the race has been taken over by a larger company for next year as it appears to have grown a fair bit in popularity.

Back to me…

Wow, what a race to finish the year on ultra wise.  It’s not the longest in distance but by far the most technical I have completed. I treat this as real confidence booster for the future. Especially as I made the choice not to give up family time for long and technical hill training. My quads were a bit broken post race but it was worth it. To be honest, I could have carried on if I had to, maybe I wouldn’t have gone quite so fast in the last few KMs but still. I am also reminded of the errors and that it still can happen. Take some savoury food and remember the hydration plan for aid stations. Two very simple things.

For a £50 race with some amazing friends it was a great experience and I can’t wait for another.