. Do you remember Grzegorz Gucwa? He is the first person from Norway and one of the few Poles to qualify for Badwater - the hardest ultramarathon in the world. In an interview for Radio Wataha on June 29, he admitted that his goal is not only to survive, but also to complete the race (read the interview >>> HERE <<). He completed this task in 100%. Today we ask him about his impressions of this challenge.
Michał Nielub: During our last conversation, you assured me that you intend not only to survive the run in Badwater, but also to complete it. As you can see - it worked. It was hard?
Grzegorz Gucwa: Yes, it was hard, sometimes very hard.
As I mentioned before the race, my chances were only slightly better than zero. I have never been an athlete myself, and my running since 2009 was primarily a hobby and a positive way of spending free time. In Death Valley I was one of 99 people invited from all over the world to take part in the Badwater run, many of them being the world's top ultra runners. My chances were better than zero, so I decided to give it a try. I finished the toughest ultramarathon in the world. I am very happy. For the kolena time, I managed to push the limits of my possibilities.
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. Was the weather as brutal as predicted?
Exactly. Or maybe even more murderous than usual. The 2018 Badwater Run was the hottest year in the history of this event. Every day before and during the run, warnings of extremely high temperatures were given and advised to stay in air-conditioned rooms or vehicles. The temperature reached 53 degrees Celsius during the day and did not drop below 42 degrees at night.
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Was there a moment of doubt that you would finish this run?
There were many such moments, especially during the first day, when the sun came up after a night run, during which I managed to cover about 80 km. I have never experienced such heat pouring from the sky. In combination with the 25 km ascent from Stovepipe Wells to 1600 m to the Town Pass it was really difficult. Fortunately, the accompanying support team managed to bring me back to "working condition" over and over again.
They all reached the finish line?
Extremely high temperatures eliminated many excellent runners from the run, incl. Peta Kostelnicka, last year's winner and record holder, or Marschal Ulrich, who completed this race 20 times (!). 69 out of 99 competitors reached the finish line.
What was the hardest moment?
I think the hardest thing was to descend Town Pass and climb the valley leading up to the next ascent from Panamint Springs to Fader Crowley. It was like an oven, plus someone had placed a few hair dryers on maximum power in front of their face. This is the closest comparison I can think of. In this section of approximately 20 kilometers, my team had to stop every 1-1,5 km to prevent the runner from overheating. It would be tantamount to ending the race.
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What was more in the way of running - the heat or the psyche?
The heat was a great challenge, and although we knew it "always", it was hard to imagine what we found in the Valley of Death before our arrival. Long, several dozen kilometers long straight sections were also quite a challenge, because it was possible to run for several hours and visually not approach the end of the straight line a bit.
. Where did Mr. Badwater finish?
I finished the race in 61st place.
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Have you made some interesting acquaintances?
Lots of! The "co-runners" from the Valley of Death are amazing people. Everyone keeps their fingers crossed for others, teams primarily help their own, but also other players. The biggest fight is against the heat pouring out of the place, and I think that each of us was our own greatest opponent. Many people have once again pushed the limits of their capabilities beyond what they previously thought possible.
Congratulations with all my heart. The very fact that we qualified for Badwater impressed us. Child only to finish such a run!
Dziekuje.
