Blue trail

Race strategy

Run the climb at race pace, build your speed on the downhill, and go all out at the finish.

• Start easy and control your HR up to 6.0km.
• Hold your race pace up to 7.9km, but stay in control.
• Final 324m descent. Save your legs to go all out on it.
• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and go all out on the final descent from 7.9km.
• Start · 0.0km–1.3km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Settle in · 1.3km–6.0km · Ease in: hold back more than feels necessary. The race is still ahead. Running pays off here: run wherever you can.
• Work · 6.0km–7.9km · Climb of 249m, high point 245m. This is where the race is built: steady, solid effort. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace.
• Home · 7.9km–12.8km · Descent of 324m averaging 7%. Build to the finish: leave whatever you have left out on the course.

Course

The course climbs 527m+. With 41m/km of climbing, this is a rolling, mostly runnable course. By gradient, 21% of the distance is uphill, 38% downhill and 41% flat. The longest climb runs 1.9km at an average 13.0% grade (249m of vertical). The longest descent runs 4.9km at an average 6.6% grade (324m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 19.2% over 0.9km. The steepest descent drops at 23.3% over 0.3km. Surface: 47% trail, 31% road, and 19% technical.

Summits

The course also passes close to Debela glavica (123m).

Poles

Poles bring little benefit here: only about 0.9km of pole-friendly terrain.

Quad damage

There is too little runnable descent to damage the quads: plan the race around climbing and fuelling.

• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and go all out on the final descent from 7.9km.
• 7.9–12.8 km · 324 m D−, -6.6% · 0.0 km ahead → free