Blue Race

Race strategy

Short race: go all out.

• Hold your race pace up to Mali Povlen, but stay in control.
• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and start the final descent from 10.6km under control, then go all out near the bottom.
• Start · 0.0km–2.5km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Work · 2.5km–10.6km · Climb of 376m, high point 1334m. This is where the race is built: steady, solid effort. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace. Running pays off here: run wherever you can.
• Home · 10.6km–16.1km · Descent of 417m averaging 8%. Kick for the line: give it everything you've got. Very long descent: first half under control, then even, let go only near the end.

Course

By gradient, 35% of the distance is uphill, 43% downhill and 23% flat. The longest climb runs 5.3km at an average 7.1% grade (376m of vertical). The longest descent runs 5.4km at an average 7.7% grade (417m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 23.1% over 0.4km. The steepest descent drops at 26.4% over 0.3km. Surface: 73% smooth, 19% trail, and 8% road. Flat-equivalent effort: 14.6 FlatKM.

Summits

The highest summit on the course is Mali Povlen (1346m), 10.6km from the start.

Poles

The course is runnable enough that trekking poles are not needed.

Quad damage

Quad damage risk is low (index 8 of 100): a few descents worth noting, none of them decisive.

• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and start the final descent from 10.6km under control, then go all out near the bottom.
• 10.6–16.1 km · 417 m D−, -7.7% · 0.0 km ahead → even, first half under control, let go at the end

Results

156 finishers completed the 2024 edition. Men's winner: Aleksa Banković (Serbia) in 59:59. Women's winner: Nataša Mićić (Serbia) in 1:20:48.