Where is the TENERIFE BLUETRAIL 68k decided?
On the climb out of Base del Asomadero towards Tigaiga, late in the race, with three quarters of the effort done.
Kilometre for kilometre, the leg from Base del Asomadero to Tigaiga is the hardest of the course, about a third harder than the average. It starts straight up. Right after the aid station the trail rises 480 m at 32 % on average: very steep, and the steepest of the big climbs. At the time-limit pace you start it at eight on Friday evening.
Right before it comes the longest way down. From Picachos to Base del Asomadero the course drops 1,376 m and climbs almost nothing. The biggest descent of the race opens that leg, steep from the moment you leave Picachos. So the steepest climb begins at the foot of the longest descent. Half the effort is done on the leg before Picachos, the one with the biggest climb of the race, the long, steep one after La Caldera. At the time-limit pace you reach Picachos at ten to six in the evening.
Between the top of the climb and Tigaiga come two descents. The first is very steep, 454 m at −20 % on average; the second, down to Tigaiga, is steep. From Tigaiga the course keeps losing height to Marítim. The last leg, from Marítim to the finish in Puerto de la Cruz, is 3.5 km and almost flat: kilometre for kilometre, the easiest of the race. At the time-limit pace you finish at midnight.
The start weighs too. The first leg, La Esperanza to El Gaitero, is the longest: 13.7 km with just over 1,000 m of climbing, more than a fifth of the whole effort. Its cut-off is the tightest of the race. At an even pace only a finish under 13:50 makes it, so the time-limit pace reaches El Gaitero too late. Six more aid stations follow, and the next longest stretch between two of them is the leg from La Caldera to Picachos. At an even effort the whole course takes as long as 90 km on the flat.
Organiser's distances and heights; Pendio's shares and clock.