Sherpa Adventure Gear

Sherpa Adventure Gear are also a sponsor of the race. Race participants can get 10 % off Sherpa products at their Pokhara and Kathmandu stores. They make some fabulous clothing products. Check their website for details. The Pokhara store is easy to find on lakeside. The Kathmandu store is close to Durbar Marg and the Royal Palace.

Blue Sky Paragliding

You may have heard of the adventures of Babu and his friend Lakpa earlier this year (vote for them here on Nat Geo.), paragliding from the summit of Everest then kayaking to the Bay of Bengal – Summit to Sea. He also was the first to cross Nepal (not in one go) by paraglider. He works at Blue Sky Paragliding, a Swiss-Nepal venture and we recommend them due to their safety record and attitude to adventure. Nepal Mountain Running Service will be helping Babu learn to run for his future adventures. Blue Sky will offer a ‘good’ discount to Annapurna 100 participants.

Begnas Lake Resort

Another prize sponsor is offering discounts to participants! Take a peek at the website: http://www.begnaslakeresort.com/. They will offer 30% discount on our current internet tariff  for participants (and supporters etc.) of the Annapurna 100. Valid till 31st Jan 2012.

What is special about Begnas Lake Resort:

• Great Location, every room looking out onto the lake with the Annapurna Massif in the back-ground
• Delicious fish that is sourced from local Begnas Lake fishermen every morning
• Ayurveda Massage Spa with a doctor and trained therapists
• Hundreds of running trail options starting from your doorstep without having to deal with roads or traffic

Find Begnas Lake Resort on Facebook.

Moondance Restaurant

Moondance is a well known place not too far from Barahi Hotel. Dorje is offering participants 10% discount. They could be busy so call ahead to book on 9856027828 if you are drifting there in a group of 8 or more.

Caffe Concerto

Pizza, pasta and good coffee. Caffe Concerto will give 10% discount to participants. It’s a little to the south of Barahi Hotel close to the Royal Palace.

• Important: we need your passport number before 25th December.
• Newsletter #1 and newsletter #2 went out for participants. And newsletter #3 is here!
• We added a list of registered foreign runners on the site here. Sorry to the 6 French runners – you’re details are below the rest!
• We updated Obligatory Equipment list.
• We updated the Accommodation list

Sign up for updates

If you have only recently signed up for the race, or are a supporter or walker wishing to know more, sign up below.

Have you ever wondered if running long distances is healthy? Even though the answer to this question might not change our behavior, it’s been a question many of us have pondered for years. Well, we are now in a position to get the answer.

The Ultrarunners Longitudinal TRAcking (ULTRA) Study has just been initiated. This study will follow the activity level and health status of ultramarathon runners over the course of many years. By doing so, we can determine if high levels of exercise alter health risks compared with sedentary or moderately active lifestyles.

It is well recognized that regular moderate exercise reduces the risk for numerous medical conditions. However, we do not know if high levels of exercise convey such benefits. There has even been some concern that such levels of exercise can cause an increased risk for certain diseases. But, there have been no studies examining if this is the case.

We are seeking participation by anyone who has finished at least one ultramarathon (50 K or longer). We need a large study population in order to successfully complete this study, so please consider participating. Enrollment in the study will begin by completion of a secure web-based questionnaire. Each participant will then be asked to periodically update information about their activity level and health status over the course of many years.

The study is under the direction of Dr. Marty Hoffman. You may contact him to discuss the study at (916) 843-9027 or mart...@va.gov. He is associated with the VA Northern California Health Care System. The study includes collaborators from Stanford University.

If you would like to participate in the study, please go to the following link http://bit.ly/ULTRAStudy

Click the button bottom right on the thing to make it big.

Key:

Watch out for the long green line and don’t follow it because you’ll get very lost – that’s the national park boundary!

50km: Green line from Ghandruk to Birethanti
70km: Red line
100km: Pink line branching out from the 70km red line.
NB: a little bit of the beginning of the course is missing from Pokhara.

This year we’ve decided to change the Annapurna 100′s 100km course to finish in the same location as the 70km and 50km courses, in the small village of Birentanti. There are several reasons for this, including more trail and less road, but the greatest benefit is camaraderie. By finishing in the same spot, it means that all runners can have the same welcome as the 50 and 70km runners in the mini village square. It’s good for the villagers too: they (and the other villagers) put a lot of effort into making the race a success and they can get a little reward by ‘fooding’ us and lodging us.

But this change means we had to remake the course and search for an extra 10km. Unfortunately a permit mix-up meant we could not enter the Annapurna Conservation Area for more than a day, so we’ll have to return to fully check the proposed trails, which take the race deeper into the hills, to the beautiful village of Chomrong.

Still, we had a good run up to Ghandruk and enjoyed the lushness of the monsoon vegetation which is quite different to how it looks in January. The Birentanti – Ghandruk route will form the last 20kms of the 100km run which for most 100k’ers will be in the dark!

A few pictures below from the trails, including a fabulous sunburnt circumambulation of the Fewa lake in Pokhara.

Thanks to Peter Gijsels for the action photography.

New Annapurna 100 race flyer!

You can download it here for emailing:

http://annapurna100.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Annapurna-100-ultra-trail-race-january-1st-2012.jpg

Lizzy Hawker at awards ceremony

How was the race for you? Your preparation was a bit tough (no sleep, long bus journey, chilly hotel etc) – did it affect your run? Were you pleased with your performance?

The Annapurna 100 was a wonderful race to experience.  I love making a journey in the mountains, and this was exactly that – a journey of 100 km starting out from Pokhara and returning (under my own power) back to Pokhara…. on the way making a great circuit on mountain trails from village to village.

Personally I don’t feel I was ‘racing’ my best.  As you say preparation perhaps wasn’t ideal (no sleep, long bus journey, no hot water, late breakfast before racing etc. etc.) so to a certain extent this would have affected my run.  However, I guess that these things also become ‘part’ of the challenge of the race – when you travel for races, particularly in a country like Nepal (where things don’t always go to plan!!) then while there are things you can control (at the top level we usually like to keep as much as possible to our ‘pre-race routine’ – partly as preparation, partly as ‘getting in the mood’, partly to keep pre-race nerves under control), there are also things you know you won’t be able to control – and you have to be willing to ‘go with the flow’ to a certain extent.

One thing I would change – I left Europe already tired from work commitments and bad timing of the flight meant that the travel took more out of me than I’d realised.  So had it been possible it would have been a better idea to have more ‘recovery’ time to get the jet lag and journey out of me before racing.

In some respects yes I am happy – I felt lucky to be part of a wonderful race and enjoyed sharing the experiences with both the other Nepali and foreigner runners.  In one respect I achieved ‘my goal’ – to finish the 100km as the 1^st woman.  However, you always ‘question’ and ‘think over’ a race.  Deep down I know I could have achieved so much more, and I don’t feel I necessarily ran my ‘best’. Every race is a learning experience – in this one I probably didn’t eat and drink enough, so I was running on empty for quite a while.  Ideally I would have also started more ‘rested’ too ….  It might sound silly, but I also felt ‘rude’ trying to continue quickly onwards in the villages when they offered a kata or tikka and wished us Happy New Year!  In the later stages of the race I was running alone until the end of the road section where I found three Nepalese at the checkpoint and I got tempted by the possibility of some toast to stop longer than I was planning.  From there with renewed energy I could have pushed more on more strongly, but didn’t like to leave the Nepali I was running with (and wasn’t entirely convinced of finding the way along that track). I think in the end parts I wasn’t running any longer with my ‘race head’ on!

You’ve apparently done one or two 100 km races before, how did this one compare with other races?

Each and every race is so different, each has its own unique beauty and challenges.  Perhaps that is part of the fascination of ultra running. Within a race you can experience a great diversity of terrain and landscape, and you can experience a huge range of emotions within yourself.  It is knowing that you can get yourself through times which feel hard and the times that feel easy… and in the words of Rudyard Kipling ‘treat those two imposters just the same’.

What was the highlight of the race for you?

- Dawn light over Annapurna, feeling humbled by running at the foot of an 8000 m mountain.

- Running alone for so many kilometers, knowing I had it in me to make the distance if I could keep strong mentally and physically.

- Running in company with some of the Nepali, feeling that spirit of comaradary.

- Running out of Pokhara in the dark of the pre-dawn with the anticipation of 100 km in front of me,  feeling excited, scared, apprehensive, hopeful all at the same time.

- Running back into Pokhara to the finish line in the dark of the evening thankful to have made the distance, looking forward to cleaning up with hot water (?!), a bit of food, a cup of tea drank sitting down instead of a snatched sip on the run, seeing friendly faces and a bit of sleep – but perhaps a little disappointed to be so far behind the leaders …

What was your impression of the winning time, and Nepali runners in general?

The winning time was made in a fantastic performance by Sudip.  The Nepalese have great potential as trail and mountain runners – and an incredible country to explore!  And I was really happy that so many Nepali women were encouraged to enter in the first ultra.  I really hope it will be the opening of a window [of opportunity] for them

Would you recommend this race to others?

Absolutely!

What advice do you have for the organisers!?

Perhaps a few (small) things as I mentioned on the race feedback form

- tea, crackers or cookies at checkpoints would be gratefully appreciated for those of us who don’t ‘go’ on veg noodle soup!!

- clearer directions just at a couple of points – eg. coming out of Birethanti, on the track after the road section

- more of a welcome at the finish of the 100 km

- recommend your international entrants to give themselves enough ‘recovery’ time?!

- different hotel in Pokhara or allow each to arrange something and have a common meeting place

- what WAS really nice was that many of us foreigners were with Rodger at the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu and could meet and enjoy a meal together the night before the bus to Pokhara, and share the journey together.

7. When will you next be back in Nepal?

SOON I hope!  I hope to return again to Nepal in the autumn of this year (2011) to attempt running the length of Nepal along the newly created ‘Great Himalaya Trail‘.  My dream is to take a high level route between Kachenjunga Base Camp and Mount Kailash – depending on permits, permissions, weather etc. etc.  I will hope to make a personal exploration of my physical, mental and emotional limits – while raising awareness of the cultures and traditions I meet along the way, and raising awareness of climate change.

On our registration form, we ask people for a short bio so we know who we’re expecting. We’ve picked out a couple of really inspiring comments here:

I started run about 4 years ago when I was 40 years old. Then I stop to smoke, stop to eat meat, cut drink. Lost about 15kg weight and 20% of fat. I love running and mountains! I would like to meet you in annapurna!!

- Hiroshi from Japan

This is my first Ultra goal. A very close friend of mine gave me some money at Christmas 2010. I decided to use it to change my life. I’m upping the training and the trailing and I’ll be fit and ready for Jan 2012. I’d like to say ‘can’t wait’ but I definitely can! There’s lots of work to be done.

- Nina from UK

I started running marathons in 2007 and quickly became addicted. Looking to literally go the extra mile I ran my first ultra in July of 2010 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was hot, sticky, painful and fantastic!

Now, on my fortieth birthday, which will be on 1/1/2012, something really special beckons – the Annapurna 100!

- Paul from US

We’re really looking forward to meeting you guys at the race!

You've got points!

The Annapurna 100 race is now a qualifying race for the Ultra-trail de Mont Blanc (UTMB) – yet one more reason to add the 2012 race to your running plans for the coming year. Points awarded are as follows (though correction to be made to the 75 km appellation):

• ANNAPURNA 100 (100Km) Trail Nepal 2011 100km 4670m+ 3
• ANNAPURNA 100 (50Km) Trail Nepal 2011 50km 2400m+ 1
• ANNAPURNA 100 (75Km) Trail Nepal 2011 75km 3920m+ 2

There is a list of other UTMB qualifying races and you can see how many points you need to qualify on this page.