Coach Zdeněk Štěpánek says runners first need to understand what they want from the mountains before they start chasing 100-kilometre goals.
One is almost 50, has a demanding managerial job, a family and was in the process of moving house. The other is over 60, does physically demanding work and had been struggling with knee pain for a long time before the race. Yet both stood at the starting lines of major international mountain races at around the same time. Aleš was about to begin the legendary Western States Endurance Run in California; Peter was at the Lavaredo Ultra Trail in the Italian Dolomites.
Both finished. Aleš covered 161 kilometres (100 miles) in 23 hours and 16 minutes and earned a coveted silver buckle for finishing under 24 hours. Peter completed 80 kilometres (50 miles) in the Alps with a generous margin before the cut-off. For Zdeněk Štěpánek, 41, an ultrarunner and coach to both, these are two fresh stories about what lies behind the word “ultra”.
“For me, the greatest value is not whether it is a famous race or a big name,” Štěpánek says. “What makes me happiest is when someone fulfils their own goal and sees that they have moved forward.”
In recent weeks you have had two strong reasons to be happy. Two of your runners completed major races abroad.
