On a recent Friday in January, thirty-seven ultrarunners showed up in Ras al Khaimah to run 45km at Urban Ultra’s Big Stinker, with another 110 runners participating in the 15km and 30km events.


Urban Ultra describes the Big Stinker route as “a beautiful mountain ascent and descent” and suggests that you “camp with us on Thursday night on top of the mountain … for a great family and friends weekend away!” Beautiful? As an ultrarunner, I would say that the Big Stinker is an aptly named Stinker and a great challenge to measure fitness at the start of the upcoming ultra season, because it pushes the runners beyond their comfort zone with a high degree of difficulty.


The Course
Ultrarunners are eccentric by nature and have even developed their own vocabulary: the Big Stinker is a 45km three loop lollipop route along singletrack and doubletrack up and down a mountain trail with a seven-hour cutoff. It sounds simple, until you realize that you need to run up and over a steep mountain, turn around to run down the mountain – and then repeat this loop two more times. The first loop is physically demanding, and you see from afar how steep the mountain is. The second loop is mentally demanding, because you have completed one loop of the course and you know what lies ahead and how difficult it is. The third loop is all about guts – you are physically and mentally drained and must trust your fitness.


False Summits
The Start takes place in the town of Hatta, with the route leading through the village and a couple farms, before hitting the hills. After 4km, things get tough with the Climb – you go up 500 meters over 1.5km. The Climb is disheartening because as you approach the top of the hill, you become aware that you’ve only reached a crest and the mountain continues up to a second false summit, before finally hitting the top of the mountain.

147 Trail Runners
With 71 runners doing the 15km and 39 runners doing the 30km, there are 147 runners scattered along the route on the first loop. Because of the limited field of 45km ultrarunners, we pretty much know each other and spend the time chatting about upcoming running places as a way to distract ourselves from the suffering that we are enduring. There is a dynamic camaraderie among trail runners that is both motivational and inspirational, despite the physical demands of running on the trails for hours.


New Trail Runners
It is encouraging seeing some runners trying their first trail run, despite the difficulties they encounter. As we are finishing the first loop around two hours after starting, the runners are beginning to feel the pain. We start the second loop, things get serious – we focus on nutrition and hydration. As ultrarunners, we carry packs with nutrition and ‘camelbaks’, which we fill up at the checkpoints.


Mathematics for Ultrarunners
The Big Stinker is tough with three monster 500 meter climbs, but the seven-hour cutoff means no faffing about at the checkpoints. At the last checkpoint, there are 7.5km to the finish and every runner begins doing the math. For example, if I run a humbling 8:00/km pace, then I should finish in an hour. I’ve got 57 minutes remaining before the cutoff, and I know there are hills that are not efficient for running and some sections are too steep to run down. My quick math calculation shows that I need to work hard and focus. I can see my buddy Alex only 300 meters ahead of me, so I chase him. Alex finishes that same 300 meters ahead of me, and we are both comfortably under the cutoff, with Alex finishing in 6:54 and I finish in 6:57. Out of the 37 runners who started the 45km, only 25 runners finish with 12 runners dropping out or not making the cutoff. The Big Stinker is an ultra challenge not to be taken lightly.


Urban Ultra Volunteers
Urban Ultra’s Pascale and Louise put together the best group of volunteers, who keep track of the 147 runners. It’s tough task to ensure everybody is accounted for over the seven hours, but the volunteers take care of us with a sense of humor. Who else could tell me that after running up and down the mountains for six hours that I am “looking good”? The volunteers on the top of the mountain spend the day hanging out in the wind and cold, while encouraging the runners that they “look good” and are almost done, while making sure everybody is safe.


Why?
Running the mountains on trails is a great adventure. We have the opportunity to see landscape and backcountry in a part of UAE way off the beaten path. Our ultra trail running habit isn’t easy, so why do we do this? There are many glib responses: we run because we can, because we don’t want “easy”, but really this is our idea of fun! ■


Words + Photos by: David O’Hara