From Matthew Kennedy…

With 23,200 ft of climbing over 71 miles – frontloaded so that more than 21,000 ft comes in the first 50 – the Madeira Island Ultra Trail (MIUT) has earned a reputation for being a steep but very scenic long-distance trail race.

Starting at midnight at Porto Moniz on the northwest coast, I had already climbed 12,000 ft and covered 30 miles by sunrise (7:30am), mostly on long, forested switchbacks, connected by occasional flat sections along Madeira’s famous network of levadas (small drainage / irrigation channels, which now double as hiking paths).

The cool nighttime conditions had made for pleasant running, but life became more difficult from mid-morning, as the sun came out in force for the final long climb of 4,800 ft, from the halfway drop bag at Curral das Freiras to the island’s high point of Pico Ruivo.

After a tricky but spectacular traverse along a jagged ridge to the 50-mile mark at Pico do Areeiro, I found myself overheating, but fortunately the 5,900 ft descent to sea level dropped back into some clouds on the island’s northeastern flank, so I was able to cool down, regroup and then jeff the final 9 miles around an undulating cliff path and some more levadas to the finish line in the southeastern town of Machico.

Thanks to the mostly cooperative weather, my time of 18h48 was better than expected and saw me finish 54th= and 3rd MV50. Although this was only about 35 mins behind the MV50 winner, it was a whopping 3h40 behind evergreen 1st MV55 Patrick Bohard, who not only came in a very impressive 8th=, but also finished 40 mins ahead of his daughter Manon, the women’s winner.

Results

(1 Lambert Santelli 14h01)

54= Matthew Kennedy 18h48, 3rd MV50

890 runners, 652 finishers