TGV CHRONICLES
Overland's community sharing thier CMG Festival impressons
We are still hangover (our legs, too) of the CMG Festival held some days ago in our home town. As we expected, the emotions were hard, the day was amazing and, after all, it was a nice day of running and mountain intensely shared with our community! For this reason, we let you some of our mate’s impressions about the race.
“Balancing expectations with reality and being open to any outcome is where I am at the moment.” That’s what I told you before the race, and I feel that it definitely helped me to get to the start in a more relaxed way, ready to take on whatever was going to happen. After 2 years it finally happened. I had a day where everything clicked, running with a lot of friends and sharing even bits of this course with them. Running in the front part of the race was a great feeling and it made me run at a pace I wasn’t sure I was able to keep, but I guess that’s racing. I’ll keep this memory very close to the heart." - Nick Cusseneers, TGV 2024 winner and new record holder
"Whilst most of the crew were lacing up their shoes for the 50k, I had some unfinished business in the Express version of CMG, having finished 4th last year. I had my sights set on the podium but knew it would be tough given the names on the start list.
This year Klassmark modified the Express course slightly and it couldn't have been any better. The race started at a ferocious pace in the front group as we clocked 3:07 and 3:17 gap splits in the first 2km. I felt strongest of the group on the flat given my experience racing on the road so I pushed on and took the lead just after Cul de Mon in Sant Daniel. I managed to maintain a gap on the extremely steep climb at km4 (Pujada Onofre) and crossed the halfway checkpoint 13 seconds ahead of second place. My pace was not slowing on the flowy single track trails but at km7 the eventual winner Bernat Falomi caught me. I knew there was a technical descent coming up soon and that Bernat was very good at descending so I put in a couple of surges to try drop him again.
We clocked 3:16 and 3:22 splits for km8 and km9 which seemed reckless but with him still on my heels I knew he had the edge, particularly as my legs were feeling heavy after quite a lot of racing in the last couple of months. Bernat passed me on the downhill coming into Torre Gironella and I knew the fight for the victory was settled. I figured I had quite a big gap to third place so it was an amazing feeling to run the final few kms just enjoying the sensations, the sunshine, the beautiful trails, and knowing that I was going to achieve the podium finish.
Thank you to all the Overland crew for the shared training miles, for pushing and supporting each other, and to everyone who supported and cheered us on that day." - Brian Cronin, Express 2nd man
“I didn’t really know what to expect because I kind of threw myself into this race (my first trail race!) after hearing people at overland talk about it through summer, I was very curious and wanted to find out what all the hype was about !. I knew that there was a good crew going and I was excited to give it a try. I had done the final 20k recon the week before the race but the first 30k was unknown to me. The race definitely lived up to the hype: fast, varied terrain , river crossings, good people, great atmosphere and sunshine all day!
My main aim was to not cook myself in the first 20k, because that’s the distance I’m used to racing. I stuck to this well and eased myself into the race, after about 15k I felt pretty comfortable and took the lead on an uphill section. From this point I knew I just had to keep fuelling well, drinking water and trying my best not to get lost.. This was all made easier by friends cheering and giving me fuel along the way. Time passed by quickly and I felt stronger than expected, my lead was growing so I knew I just needed to cling on, stay strong and enjoy the final miles.
Winning was just the cherry on top of doing what I love with good people. Such an incredible day out with all of the overland and I only hope this encourages more women to get out there and do the 50k next year!” - Rachel Brown, TGV 2024 women’s winner
“On the first climb out of Palamós, Nick attacked. A half sprint up the dirt road and Brendan was on his heels. I could hear the rasp of Aleix’s breath over my shoulder, and then he was past me, running towards them into the early-morning sun, a stride ahead, then two, then three. ‘Keep up with the fast guys.’ That had been my training plan ever since I’d arrived in Girona, as unfit as ever, after busting my leg over the winter and spending the spring in cars and race hotels for work.
I may have made it two kilometres down the ‘via verde’ my first Tuesday with Overland, before I came to a standstill, humbled and drenched in sweat, as my heart hammered out of my chest and the others galloped ahead. I remember trying to follow Nick up Sant Miquel one of those early Thursdays, grinding through the lactic acid as he danced from step to step to step. At the castle, he gave me a fist bump and said he was impressed. That just pissed me off. I was slow and that was a fact.
It became a ritual. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – I’d wake up to my alarm, have two coffees and some chocolate and stumble over to Overland. The first time I tried to do the Els - Sant Miquel loop on a Saturday, I got heat stroke trying to follow Cade and Anna, two UTMB marathon winners. When we got back to Overland, I chugged two and a half litres of Aquarius. It took me 45 minutes to walk home. No coach would have prescribed such a dumb run. No coach would have prescribed four hours in the Pyrenees with Nick and Aleix just before Chamonix either. By the end, I could barely walk. But pushing over the last high ridge, I got a glimpse of what it would take to keep up with the fast guys. I started to imagine that I could keep up with the fast guys, not yet, but soon.
As the Transgavarres got closer, our training runs got faster. Guys started doing intervals. Saturday long runs stretched from 15 to 20 to 30 to 35 kilometres. Aleix and I did a few big ones at race pace, up to Els and then fast all the way home. By the last hour, we would hardly say a word. Two weeks out, I did a recon with Nick and Brendan. They were jamming, like two terriers, bursting out of every corner. I could just barely keep up. I kept up.
“Fuck it”, I thought. I followed Aleix. You don’t want to read my post mortem. ‘Keep up with the fast guys’ is a bad racing plan, unless you’re a racer, and I’m not a 50-kilometre racer yet. But for one long moment, I did feel what it’s like to be there at the front, running the climbs fast and bombing rocky singletrack with the contenders.
And on Tuesday, I’m going to try to keep up with the fast guys again. And, I’ll try again on Thursday and on Saturday and the next Tuesday again. I’ll try to keep up next year at the Transgavarres. ‘Keep up with the fast guys’ is a pretty bad training plan, but it sure is fun to run stupid fast through the bush with friends.” - Keir Plaice, 23th in TGV in 4h 23m.
