Acantilados del Norte or “Cliffs of the North” is one of a hell of a race. It is the first one of the Skyrunning World Series competition for the year 2024, starting at 8am on 2nd of March, at the very start of the trail running season. Most of the runners were still experiencing snowy and cold weather, so they need to acclimatize fast for tropical conditions.

The race has 28K with 2300 meters of cumulative elevation and it is held in the north part of La Palma island, one of the Canary Islands, in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. Pretty cool place with variant plants and trees and terrains, especially for the Balkan people, as we cannot see something similar in our part of the world.

If you want to come to La Palma island from the Balkans, you will probably travel the whole day. How I travelled:

one flight from Belgrade to Rome and (lasting less than 2 hours)
then another one from Rome to Tenerife South (lasting almost 5 hours)
overnight in the small town called San Isidro
catch very short flight to La Palma Island (lasting 40 minutes)

It was a bit exhausting but worth for the experience that is waiting for me.

My friend and myself came to La Palma 3 days before the race, and even if weather was not so great - cloudy and rainy with some sunny intervals, we had a great time. We stayed in one apartment near the city centre, booked via AirBnB, just above great supermarket called HiperDino, which was a wonderful news for us as we love to cook. :)

On Firday, one day before the race start, we had a race briefing and presentation of elite athletes, amongst 350 participants from all over the world. Male favourite, Manuel Merillas (Spanish athlete) said that he plans to brake the course record and run below 2 hours 30 minutes, which is crazy fast. His competitors, Roberto Delorenzi (comming from Switzerland), Frederic Tranchand (French runner) and others also had a high expectations and thrived for the throne. Female favourite was Bailey Kowalczyk (comming from USA), but also a couple of Spanish athletes, like Oihana Kortazar. Let’s see what will happened tomorrow.

Saturday, race day. Finally sunny day, but very windy at the higher mountain peaks and start line, which was in the city called Santo Domingo de Garafía. At 8am sharp stampede of trail runners rushed to Barolovento (finish of the race).

First 8K were very fast, there was no a minute where you could take a deep breath and stop. If you want to catch up, you need to run, run and only run. The first stop came and they only had water to offer. For me, it was a bit disappoint as I expected at least to have cola there, as I really needed something fuzzy, as it was warm and humid, especially at the lowest points of the race. First uphill and downhill were runnable and you need to push hard there, if you don’t want to fell behind.

Second 8-10K was memorable. :D As I was thriving for something fuzzy, I was imagining second control point and how I drink cola there. Then downhill started, almost 4K of downhill running with rocky zig-zags which required all of your focus, so you don’t twist your wrist of fell down. It was exhausting, I have to admit. And after this downhill, a very steep uphill section, my legs were tired a lot, especially as 2 weeks before the race I fall and injured my tailbone, so uphill was a bit painful experience. This is where other runners started to overtake me. Second checkpoint came and I took cola, finally, haha, some nuts, dried grapes and moved on. Another steep and technical downhill section, then another steep uphill section, where my strength was on low level, but I managed to walk slowly and move to third control point at around 23K.

Section after third control point

After that one, we had some asphalt and faster running sections and then you could see the finish line - but what was in between was not so pretty for my eyes at that moment - very steep but short downhill and uphill - like a small abyss. The hardest 500 meters for me, but I needed to finish them and after 4 hours and 30 minutes I crossed the finish line, thrilled that the race was done, as 6 days ago I thought that I maybe won’t be able to do it, due to my tailbone injury, but at medical examination on Monday, the same week, my doctor told me that I can run. I finished as 29th woman, which is let’s say ok, but it could be better. :) Hopefully at the next race.

This race was very special for me as it was held on my mom’s birthday, 02nd of March, and as she passed away 8 years ago I wanted to celebrate her day in a way that is special for both of us - in a way where I can climb up to the sky and be closer to her. So, thank you Acantilados del Norte for this amazing experience and a wonderful and spectacular race.

Race results as follows:

Woman: