Salomon Running Academy
- Apr 30, 2015
- 3 min read
In 2016 Salomon launched the first Salomon running academy with the aim being to get young runners from all over the world to share their passion and love for the mountains and mentor them in the sport. I was fortunate enough to be one of 16 athletes chosen.
After weeks of exciting build up, bag packing, two long plane trips, navigating massive airports and minimal sleep we finally arrived in Milan, Italy.
Then we were off to Limone, well...sort of. After taking a tour of the highways and toll gates surrounding Milan we admitted defeat and asked for directions at a local petrol station. Once heading in the right direction it took us no time to get there. It was an beautiful drive through mountain tunnels, and tiny little towns we passed along the way. There were a few hair raising moments involving narrow roads, sharp corners and speeding Italian drivers but other than that it was a pretty uneventful drive.
Arriving in the little town of Limone we immediately got our rooms, unpacked and as you would expect from a group of athletes who had spent hours sitting in a plane, exhausted from traveling, we went for a run. As everyone hadn't arrived yet it was just a short jog around the town, really just an excuse to go exploring.
Limone is a gorgeous town with old cobbled roads, narrow paths and lemon trees on every corner. From our hotel on the lower side of the mountain we had a wonderful view over the massive lake to the snow capped mountains opposite. Below us the town’s houses all fitted together like a puzzle molding into the side of the mountain.
After a delicious buffet dinner at the hotel restaurant we made our way down to the town hall for the opening of the first inaugural Salomon Running Academy.
Day one began with a delicious breakfast; followed by a question and answering session with elite athletes Max King, Jono Wyatt and Anna Frost. For each day this session had a different theme: first was Injuries and recovery, then preparation and warm up before a race, downhill techniques, nutrition and then general questions we wanted to ask. It was interesting getting advice from them as they all had so much experience but also came from different running backgrounds and were knowledgeable in many running fields.
Running came next. The first day we did a beautiful 13km run up through some of the surrounding mountains along a winding single track that contoured the mountain side, ending at a little shop in the middle of a valley. In the afternoon we also did a city trail loop, exploring all the narrow roads that maze their way around the house. Day 2 was VK day ( vertical kilometer day). This is basically when you do 1000m of vertical gain in the shortest possible distance. Being very naive having only experienced the mountains in Cape Town I completely underestimated what we had to do. Thankfully about halfway up we stopped to do some uphill workshops before continuing up again. Day 3 was downhill day! But of course you first have to run up to get to the down. This was similar to the day before with workshops on different downhill techniques. The main advice we got from Greg Vollet was "accept the downhill" , which is a lot easier said than done. On the 4th day we did a 15km run featuring the beginning of the Skyrace, so, as you can imagine, there was a lot of up. This was probably my favourite run of them all. All of the runs were exceptionally beautiful but this one especially so. Our last run was 16km up to a bell on the top and back again.
We spent the afternoons sharing our thoughts and ideas about the Salomon products with the people in charge of shoes and apparel. Salomon put a huge emphasis on family and I really saw this throughout the week. Salomon get everyone involved and really value your opinion and thoughts about their products. They are genuinely interested in you and your goals and dreams. The big thing we learnt this week was to play and enjoy running in the mountains, enjoy exploring, enjoy sharing the trails with others and enjoy challenging yourself to things you didn’t think were possible.
It was really special to be part of something like this; to meet so many people from all corners of the world with the same passion and love for the mountains.
For a brief summary of our incredible week check out the video below:
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