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HOKA fan Maël thrives in epic jungle adventure

Maël Jouan is somebody who thrives on a challenge. The 24-year-old has tackled more than 70 ultra-trail events around the world and most recently completed the 230k Jungle Marathon in Peru. It isn’t a race for the faint-hearted. Here is his fearless story.

It all started with an early departure for the city of Cuzco in Peru. From my home in Paris to Sao Paulo in Brazil, Santiago in Chile and, finally, the city of Cuzco, where the Jungle Marathon would take place.

I arrived in Cuzco one week before the start of the race. For those who don’t know Cuzco too well, it’s a city located at 3,400m altitude. Great for training, though a little more difficult when you’ve had a couple of beers.

During the first week, I wasn’t able to experience Cuzco to the maximum. I didn’t sleep well, I had equipment missing and I couldn’t really acclimatise to the conditions. It was very hot during the day, but very cold in the evening. I was alone for my training and I just didn’t know what to do.

Change of approach

I decided to stop putting pressure on myself. I had built up this experience and wasn’t able to enjoy it for what it was. I decided to become the perfect tourist for just a few days.

Forty-eight hours before the departure for base camp, I met David. We ended up spending a lot of time together and became great friends as a result of our shared experience in the jungle. The great friends I made and the amazing people I met is one of my biggest takeaways from the whole experience.

By the time I finally left the hotel at 4.30 in the morning on the day of the race, I was like a battery and couldn’t wait to get started. I had a lot of energy for this race – and a lot of doubters to prove wrong. Many people thought I wouldn’t make it to the end. I wanted to show them what I could do.

Trusting instincts

It felt like a relief to finally get going. I had no race plan, no strategy. It was the jungle. I didn’t know the environment. All I knew was that I had 230 kilometres ahead of me and an 11.5kg bag on my back. I preferred to trust my instincts.

I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t worry about being behind the leaders early on, that the race was long. Besides, the terrain and environment was like another world. It was very different from my training routes in the mountains or on the beach.

Sharing the experience

I finished the first day with Hilary. We finished fourth and fifth, which I was delighted with considering the ankle injury I sustained early on. I strapped it up and tried to carry on as normal.

Day two started and very soon I was alone. The leaders were away and I had to start paying greater attention to the markings. All the riders who have shared kilometres with me will tell you that I wasn’t nearly as careful following the markings as I needed to be.

For some, this kind of race is crazy. For others, it’s huge. I knew I needed this kind of challenge, to get out of my comfort zone. I ended up running alongside John, a smiling, dynamic Irishman who became my teammate. We crossed the obstacles together, little by little. We shared our lives, our work, our interests with each other. The mountains are the perfect place for conversation.

I met people from all over the world and had the opportunity, thanks to ultra-trail running, to share experiences I would never have had the chance to otherwise. There was Martin from Denmark, Frode from Norway. Misha, the Hungarian, who must have been a whole head taller than me, always smiling, always ready to help and always there to chat. It was one of my most beautiful encounters in the Jungle Marathon.

Solidarity in ultra running

Despite the rain that poured throughout day three, I stood, sheltered, and appreciated the simple fact that I was there. I allowed my breathing to slow and admired the environment around me. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live the moment twice.

There were complicated passages, mud that looked like quicksand and that went down the shin to the knee. The paste stuck to our legs, so much so it was sometimes difficult to get out of it. Solidarity is a special word in this kind of race.

I never really saw the sky because of the vegetation above. Insects were everywhere. I ended up swallowing one that stung me in the mouth. It was perhaps a spider, maybe a fly. In moment, it didn’t much matter.

I took on spider’s web after spider’s web. I ended up taking a piece of bamboo to probe in front of me because the webs and spiders became unbearable. But on the stick, there were a lot of ants eating my hand. In short, it was a hell, as Christophe le Saux had told me, a ‘green hell’.

Final flourish

I wasn’t ready for my Jungle Marathon experience to end. I had spent four years preparing for the race, for that finish line moment. But by the time I reached the final stages, suddenly, I wasn’t ready for it all to end.

Despite the swollen feet, the sprained ankle, the spiders, the insect stings, the hunger, tiredness, tears and anguish, I wasn’t ready for the moment to be over. I was joined by kids on the final run in, some of them on bikes, some of them with football jerseys. I reached the bridge and all but two of the kids continue with me to the end.

My final thought as I entered the finish, passing the flags, the party, the announcer, the brass band, was that this moment was for my grandfather. Without him, I would never have accomplished what I did. I thought of my parents and my big sisters, who worried constantly during this race. The doubters no longer mattered. I did it. The jungle was over.

Photo credit: Mikkel Beisner

HOKA fans Mark and Hayley conquer the world’s toughest ultra

The 6633 Arctic Ultra isn’t a race for the faint-hearted. The 380-mile race crosses the line of the Arctic Circle. It is regarded by many as the toughest, coldest, windiest ultra distance footrace on the planet. Three-quarters of people who start the race don’t finish. Mark Whittle and Hayley White are two people that did. The pair from the UK left their bodies and souls out on the course. But it was worth it. Exhausted, they finished joint-fifth on their first and probably only attempt at the race. Find out how Mark and Hayley prepared for the challenge, what went through their minds during the race and the emotion as they crossed the finish line after nine days of running.

What made you want to take on the 6633 Arctic Ultra?

Mark (M): Honestly, I’m not 100% sure why I chose the 6633 Arctic Ultra, but I do know that after many years in the triathlon world I needed a different challenge. I considered doing a double or triple IRONMAN, but even that wasn’t enough. I needed something that really scares me and takes me out of comfort zone, and the 6633 really scared the crap out of me!

Hayley (H): I heard about the 6633 through Jonny, a medic and race organiser of TrailMed. I had barely finished Deadwater and he turned to me and said, ‘I know of a race you would love.’ Barely three weeks after Deadwater, I Googled the 6633 and registered that day.

What is your background in the sport?

(M): I played football and rugby as a child and on joining the Royal Air Force I played every sport imaginable. In 1999, I did my first triathlon and I was hooked on triathlon and IRONMAN from that point onwards. I’ve completed several IRONMAN triathlons and represented GB at age-group level multiple times.

(H): As a chronic asthmatic from three-years-old, I took part in little to no exercise. I always fancied taking part but it always ended in me keeling over with an attack. It wasn’t until I was 17 yrs old that I joined a gym and took part in my first step class. After six months, I attempted a jog. In 1996, I completed my first marathon in London and I haven’t looked back. I have done multiple marathons, Ultras and an IRONMAN.

What were the most extreme conditions you faced during the race?

(M): The temperatures dropped to a reported temperature of -32’c about halfway through the race. That was pretty chilly! We got blasted one day with very strong winds, I don’t know the speed, but that day was a head down, grinding kind of day.

(H): The temperatures for sure. It was how quickly you became cold and almost unfunctional with your hands. Once you lose the function of your hands, you’re in dangerous territory. You have to respect the environment.

How did you prepare for the race?

(M): Preparing for a race that has such extremes of temperature is quite difficult in the UK. I didn’t have access to an industrial freezer, so the majority of my training time was fitness and mental training, and practising my systems (sleep, clothing and equipment). I spent a lot of time training. With such a high ‘DNF’ (Did Not Finish) rate for this race, I knew I didn’t want to do something silly and put my race in danger in the early stages of the race.

(H): I’m being totally honest; once I knew I was in, I had a new focus on my training and preparation. I love all the preparation of kit, training programme design, etc. I foolishly thought I would just keep upping my game. Looking into the DNF rate and doing some thorough research after the training weekend in November 2018, it was then that I realised I needed to have way more respect for the extreme conditions. I changed my prep and knew that, while I was confident in my physical fitness and mental strength, nothing was guaranteed.

What kit and equipment did you have and how did you choose it?

(M): With such extremes of temperature, your choice of clothing and equipment is vital. We were lucky that the race director owns an excellent local outdoor shop called Likeys, so we received excellent advice and guidance on the choices available and the pros and cons of all the options. I used the HOKA ONE ONE Speedgoat MID, tested it thoroughly in the UK and it worked really, really well in the Yukon.

(H): The training weekend last November at Brecon Beacons was the perfect opportunity to question and research kit. However, certain brands of kit I always have because I trust and love them. I have worn different models and specifications of HOKA. I have worn them throughout training over the last four years and more specifically for the Sahara (Marathon de Sables). I chose HOKA Speedgoat for the Arctic.

How did you stay focused during the race?

(M): The mental game was key during the race. With fatigue and lack of sleep, and knowing you had hundreds of miles left to cover, you had to stay focused and just concentrate on the immediate task at hand. Thinking too far ahead was foolish, so breaking it down into smaller chunks was the key.

(H): The mental strength needed for this race is beyond explanation. I have had to dig deep in many ultras but this was one huge emotional rollercoaster. Preparation is key. Knowing your systems and kit and having good solid physical fitness is a given. You then need to want to cross that finish line come what may.

How did you factor in eating and sleeping?

(M): We decided we would have a break every two hours and stop for 15 minutes to either have some food, a snack or some hot drinks. This worked really well as we could break up the race into smaller chunks and keep focused. For sleep, we just stopped when we needed it, but it was mainly just a quick hour sleep on the ice, then get going again. There were quite tight cut-offs during the race, so we didn’t have the luxury of sleeping lots. In fact, I had 19 hours sleep in 9 days of racing.

(H): During my training I had practised a few different systems of eat and sleep (rest) as I wasn’t confident one system would work. I didn’t want to go with just one either. Mark and I had both done the two hours on, 15 minutes rest approach. It worked a treat. In hindsight, I would tell anyone training for this to do that too.

What was the biggest challenge you overcame to complete the race?

(M): For me, it wasn’t the tiredness, the hallucinations or the aching muscles. I had stomach issues halfway through the race which really drained me. At that point I thought my whole race might be over.

(H): The extreme cold makes everything so much harder and slower. I couldn’t help thinking how much quicker completing say 20 miles would be if we could run. But you can’t. So I found it incredibly frustrating the time it took to complete the distances.

Did you run the race together and intend to finish together?

(M): Yes and no. We did do the whole race together but it wasn’t pre-planned. Maybe after a day together, we agreed it would be more beneficial if we stayed together – and we were proved correct.

(H): It certainly wasn’t planned that way. But in fact, it worked a treat. We both had issues that arose during the race and, being together, it was definitely a case of two heads better thinking it through than one!

How important was it to have somebody close by during the race?

(M): Very important! When one of us was struggling, the other one would pull them through. There were so many times when teamwork was the only way we got past a certain obstacle. I have no doubt it would have been a totally different race if we hadn’t been side by side.

(H): Teamwork definitely made the Whittle and White dream work. I don’t want to think about what might have happened had we not been there for each other.

How did you feel crossing the finish line?

(M): I was very, very pleased, but totally drained. I was expecting it to be quite emotional on crossing the finish line, maybe even a few tears, but it wasn’t like that at all. Perhaps the emotional rollercoaster that we’d been on over the previous nine days had taken all the emotion out of it and we were just getting the job done. Or maybe I was just too damn tired. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing. There just wasn’t any emotion left to come out.

(H): I had spent so much time mentally visualising crossing that finish line both before the race and during. In fact, doing so during the race pulled me through some very tough times. I had anticipated a huge emotional finish. However, I think the relief and sheer exhaustion meant I had no emotion left. I had crossed that finish line. Job done.

Do you plan to do it again?

(M): In one word…NO!

(H): No.

Would you recommend the race?

(M): I would, but the bottom line with the 6633 Arctic Ultra is that it gobbles you up and spits you out. The commitment required is massive, you have to go deep, deeper than you thought possible, and if you’re prepared to leave part of your soul out on the ice, then you just might succeed.

(H): I would, but boy do you need to do your homework. You need to be fit and exceptionally mentally strong. You have to prepare in every way with your kit. Know everything inside out and more. Things will go wrong and you need to be able to adapt and quickly.

Where do you go from here having completed the world’s toughest race?

(M): A lot of people are asking, ‘what’s next?’ I guess that’s a normal question when you’ve done something big. My usual response to that is: a rest, spend time with the family and pay off my credit card bills. A few people have suggested some races and crazy adventures, but for right now, I’m happy spending a bit more time at home and letting my body and mind recover a bit.

(H): I don’t know to be honest. I am just enjoying being back with my family and back to running again. My body and mind needs a rest.

Photo credit: Weronika Murray

Running away from the rat race and ending up in a photo-finish

Amandine Ferrato gave up competitive running to travel the world. She found a new outlook that led to a national team spot — and thrilling results. Her journey is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

Trail running is nothing like the 100m sprint. There is no swagger at the start, no golden spikes, and no agonising wait while the judges deliberate over the outcome of a super-tight photo finish. Razor-thin wins are not the norm at all. In fact, it wouldn’t be unusual for several minutes to pass between the runner who finished first, arms aloft, and the guy, or girl, who came in second.

Except one sunny day in June this year, the opposite of that became true. And the crowds lining the route into the tiny village of Badia Prataglia in Italy were treated to a finish so dramatic, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in a packed Olympic stadium. The race, which also happened to be the World Trail Running Championships, saw Amandine Ferrato of France finish just three seconds behind her compatriot Adeline Roche.

Changing mindset

A crazy-small margin given they’d been racing for five hours, over 50 kilometres, through the brutally steep forest mountain trails that characterise this northern Tuscan backwater. But what was even more surprising than the theatrical finish was the fact Amandine hadn’t actually wanted to win.

To understand why, we need to zoom out from the race and rewind back to the beginning. Amandine wasn’t a particularly sporty kid. She liked phys-ed at school but did nothing beyond that. Hot-housed by competitive, athletics-loving parents she was not. “Kids today do everything,” she says. “They do all kinds of sport when they’re young, but it wasn’t like that then in my village. It just wasn’t something people did.”

Still at 20, when she finished her studies and had more time, she decided to give running a go and found she liked it — a lot. She even joined up with a club and coach and entered road races and 10km events. But she soon grew tired of it all. Amandine got sick of the relentless pacing and focus on times. She did some mountain biking, but then decided to go travelling, embarking on a 10-month trip through Central America, Asia and Australia that would radically change her mindset and shape her worldview.

“It definitely changed my state of mind; my way of viewing the world,” she says. “I was living like a local, consuming less, being in touch with nature. When I came back to France, I felt stifled by consumerism. I wanted to live more simply.”

Finding calm and simplicity

She stayed with a friend who lived near a hill, which loomed large in her imagination, so she started running up it. “I got a lot of pleasure doing that,” she says, “I liked the contact with nature; the calmness and simplicity of it. It helped me find myself and wake up to what I wanted to do next.”

Some friends entered her in a trail running event, and even though she had no kit and her “trainers were terrible,” she surprised herself by winning. She got a cash prize, which enabled her to buy some decent trail running shoes. “I kept them very preciously,” she says, “like a collector.”

“I got a lot of pleasure running up the hill. I liked the contact with nature; the calmness and simplicity of it. It helped me find myself and wake up to what I wanted to do next.” Amandine Ferrato

After that “the current kind of took me along.” She did some more races and this year, she found herself in the French team ahead of the World Championships. Amandine became good friends with her teammates, and was especially close to Adeline Roche, the runner who would finish just ahead of her in Badia Prataglia.

During the race, Adeline lead from the start with a small group of other runners, while Amandine was comfortably placed in the group behind them. Yet by the halfway-point Amandine had moved up to second position behind Adeline, who by now was two minutes ahead. Then the leader had some stomach problems so Amandine caught up, and the two of them ran the end of the race together, neck and neck.

Friendship comes first

Amandine appeared to have a chance to go ahead and win the race but she didn’t take it, then Adeline sprinted for the line and won by three seconds. “It’s very rare to have as close a finish as that,” says Amandine. “We were together the two of us. We hadn’t prepared for it to be like that. I had a conflict in my head: I couldn’t pass her, out of respect for our friendship and the race. I thought we’d cross the line hand in hand.”

“To share the podium with Adeline was special. I might not do it again in the future, but at that moment I was very much in the moment, and reacting with my heart.” Amandine Ferrato

But Amandine has no regrets about the way things turned out. In fact, in the video of the finish she looks even more elated with her second position than Adeline was coming first. “I am very much an emotional person,” she says. “I feel it in my heart, where as she is much more rational and down to earth.”

“She is from a road running culture, with times in her head, and I’m more from a culture of trail running and nature. I have no regrets about not winning. To share (the podium) with her was one of the special things about that day. I might not do it again in the future, but at that moment I was very much in the moment, and reacting with my heart.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Check out the FAST, TOUGH TRAIL RUNNING SPEEDGOAT SHOES Amandine wears.

Keeping on running — even when all hope seems lost

You might not have heard of Ludo Pommeret, but he is the Usain Bolt, the Lionel Messi, the Lebron James, of Ultra-Trail running. His story of a seemingly impossible comeback is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

Imagine entering a race that will require you to run an entire earth day and night — if you’re exceptional that is. It will take far longer than a day if you’re not. Imagine running in a race over a distance greater than four marathons, across the Alps, Europe’s highest and most punishing mountain range.

Now picture puking your guts out by the side of a trail less than a third of the way into the race, and looking so pale and broken, that, as they pass you, all your friends and fellow competitors will suppose you’re about to drop out and seek urgent medical attention. But you don’t. Somehow you don’t.

The next time they notice you, you’re standing at the very top of the podium.

Scaling new heights

Growing up in the French Alps, Ludo Pommeret was unsurprisingly drawn to winter sports. He loved skiing and snowboarding. And windsurfing in the summer. He loved sports with stoke and adrenaline; running seemed achingly dull in comparison. “When I was younger, I thought it was not very interesting to run,” he says. “I thought runners were boring.”

Ludo was really good at snowboarding, especially big mountain freeriding and soon found he was picking up sponsors and doing shoots for brands. But as the stakes got higher, his interest in the inherent dangers of riding in the backcountry began to wane. “When you reach a certain level, the descents start to be quite dangerous,” he says. “And you are jumping more and more, from higher and higher points… When I got older I started to think more about the danger. It became different.”

He was hungry for a new challenge. A less risky way to feel the same buzz he’d got from charging down mountains. He certainly didn’t expect it to come from running, but when his brother-in-law suggested he enter a small race close to his village, he decided to give it a go.

“It was good. My brother-in-law and a few friends entered. They all did athletics and cross-country regularly, but I finished in front of them, so they were surprised,” he laughs. “I was too.”

Laying the foundations

At the beginning he didn’t think running was something he could be good at. “I entered another race. This one started in my village so I thought, ‘Why not?’ It was a very long race — 106 km in total, with lots of elevation — though you could do it as a walker. But it was too difficult, the doctors stopped me after 60 km, as my blood pressure was too low.”

Did he not want to steer clear of long races after that? “No, I thought maybe I just have to prepare for such a race. But the next year, I couldn’t finish either.” Then in 2003, that race stopped and the Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc, or UTMB, began. It’s since become a world-famous event, often cited as the “Tour de France” of trail running. Ludo entered in 2004 but dropped out again, this time scuppered by tendonitis.

“Then I stopped long races. I decided to start doing smaller ones, to build up slowly.” It worked. Ludo was no longer getting injured and he started winning races. “That was the beginning of my running,” he says.

To his surprise, he started to experience that same passion and thrill that he used to get from snowsports once more but this time he was getting it from bombing down a mountain in his running shoes without a board or set of skis in sight. He loved the gradual anticipation of the climbs and running as fast as he could down the rugged and technical rocky terrain on the other side.

He now wins the races he once couldn’t finish, including last year’s UTMB, where he staged a never-seen-before, epic comeback, going from 50th to finishing 1st. It was this race, which had left him vomiting by the side of the trail seemingly stripped of hope. Yet with seemingly indefatigable spirit, he kept running, through intense summer heat, violent thunderstorms and disorientating darkness, to the most unlikely of victories.

How did Ludo keep going and maintain any semblance of morale when his chances of winning seemed so remote? “These races are so long and so much can happen. You just need to be there at the end and see.”

“Trail running is like life. You know you’ll have a bad moment in the race. Almost all races have a moment that’s difficult and hard to manage. In life, it’s the same, we have good and bad moments. Almost every time you have a bad moment, you’ll have a better moment to come.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Learn more about the supportive and technical trail running Mafate Speed shoes Ludo wears.