Killians Classik

I had an absolute ball last week in Font Romeu at Kilian's Classik. Salomon International invited a few of the athletes from this year's Salomon Running Academy and a few from last year. It was a great opportunity to meet runners from around the world and share our passion of the trails together!

We had a two hour drive to Font Romeu after arriving in Barcelona on Tuesday at about midday. Our home for the week was a beautiful log cabin that overlooked the mountains opposite. Of course when you put a whole group of runners together who have spent most of the day traveling the first thing they want to do is go for a run! It was just a short six kilometer run but beautiful nonetheless and a good way to really get to know each other and explore the area. Over the next few days we went on several amazing runs that involved running over a frozen lake (which was by far my highlight of the week), sliding down snow high up in the mountains, navigating our way through herds of wild ponies and waking up at 4am to chase the sunrise with Kilian himself.

But we didn't spend all our time running - many an afternoon was spent playing endless amounts of card games with the other Salomon Academy athletes and occasionally the international athletes Jono Wyatt and Emelie Forsberg. A game of spoons* can get quite intense when you are playing with a bunch on competitive runners!

Saturday - race day. Most of us did the 25 kilometers (which actually ended up being 28 kilometers). The aim was to just go out and enjoy it, which is exactly what we did. It was a beautiful course with great atmosphere. The 10km route and it felt really good to help cheer on other runners along the way. Next up was the kids race, which was loads of fun chasing after the speedy youngsters and giving a helping push up the hill when needed. We then did a dash up and down a ski slope before heading back to get our bags and head out. Needless to say I think we all left the week with tired legs but completely buzzing with all the new experiences that we had gained and in awe of the mountains we had seen. It was definitely a week to remember and I am so grateful to the Salomon family for everything they do! Cant wait to get back on the trails(after my legs recover!)

*A card game that involves collecting 4 of the same card and grabbing one of the spoons on the table before they run out.