Lemkovyna Ultra Trail starts today!

On Friday night (21-22 October 2016), the first part of the Lemkovyna Ultra Trail 2016 competition will take place. It is already the third edition of the mountain marathon and, as the previous year, Lemko representation takes part in it.

In this year’s edition, as many as five trails are available at the following lengths: 150km (LUT 150), 80km (LUT 80), 70km (LUT 70), 48km (Lemko Marathon) and 30km (Lemko Trail). The routes lead through beautiful hills and vallleys of Lemkovyna, and the longest of them crosses the whole Lower Beskid – starting in Krynica and ending in Komańcza (Команча, Komancha). The routes are marked by the Main Beskid Trail. They include parts where no contact with civilisation exists. Apart from terrain elevations, unpredictable meteorological conditions may pose a difficulty. The weather has not been favourable for anyone in the last few weeks, thus it is necessary to take into consideration that apart from unique experience, kilogrammes of mud may be gained… The two longest routes (150 and 80km) lead through the Magura National Park, that is why their starting hours are fixed in such a way (midnight and 1AM) that the participants enter the Park area by day. There is a regulation concerning Polish national parks that no one can enter them at night.

Emilia Gardocki, Andrzej Przybyło, Paweł Tutko, Krystian Trochanowski and  Piotr Lewkowicz (all of them are from the Western Poland), as the representatives of the Lemko nation, will compete at various distances: 80km, 48km and 30km. Most of the marathon’s participants are Polish, but there will be also some British, Czechs, French, Dutch and Hungarians. The finish line is in Komańcza (and of one of the trails – LUT 80 – in Chyrowa (Гырова, Hyrova). There, on Saturday evening, a performance of A Gdzie To Dawniej Stroiło ensemble is planned, as well as integration by the bonfire. Closing of the finish line at 150km trail is planned for Sunday, 23 October at 11AM.

Lem.fm radio patronizes the whole event.

Phot. above: P. Dumas, LUT website.