Transgrancanaria is another famous staple on the trail running calendar drawing in the fastest trail runners in the world for some sunny winter miles. The race has a variety of distances ranging from a vertical kilometre up to the classic race which is 126 kilometres. The classic is an incredibly tough race which packs an amazing 6300 meters of elevation and covers the back bone of the island! It starts at midnight and runners don’t hit the highest point in the route (1800m) until nearly 90km in.

This year two brits took up two of the podium places in the classic with Jonathon Albon and Josh Wade who both run for the North Face finishing second and third. The winner, Caleb Alson who runs for Nike, came in a time of 12:17:25. With Jonathon running 12:25 and Josh 12:40! Incredible racing. You might know Jonathan and Josh from their exploits in sky-running and the Spine races.

Some other fellow brits making up the top 20 were Andy Fior Berry from Lochaber AC finished in 9th position and Mark Darbyshire from Centurion in 13th.

It seems some of the big names from the female race did not start including Claire Bannwarth you may know from running the Spine race in 2023 and 2024 and Fiona Pascall who is an exceptional British trail runner. That didn’t matter as the race still packed a punch for the girls Henrietta Albon who runs for,ISF Jordon, won in a fantastic time of 15:02:50. In over an hour behind was second place in 16:09:20 Claudia Tremps runnig for team ON. In third in what must’ve been a very close race was Martina Klancnick POtrc from Slovenia in 16:11:07. Some fellow brits taking up the top 20 included in 16th position Myvanwy Hanna in 19:35 and Charlotte Fischer in 20:16.

I ran with Charlotte back in 2024 when we both managed to complete the brutal UTS By UTMB in Wales. She has an inspirational story of leaving her toxic relationship with alcohol behind for a new found passion in trail and ultra running. It’s worth checking her out on socials for training tips, inspiration and some dam good fashion too!

Looking to train for a winter race and didn’t get into the Spine - maybe switch the hats and gloves for shorts and t shirts and give this race a go 🔥