the character
It is a goal that never arrives, “you just don’t even have to think it exists”, that of the Milan-Sanremo Ultramarathon, the longest race in Europe: 285 kilometers. The very classic of cycling transformed into a challenge for the most extreme runners. Departure along the Naviglio Pavese, in Conca Fallata, arrival at the beach, in the city of flowers, touching the sea. Last Sunday, 12 September, Riccardo Coras, 46 years old from Montebelluna, crossed that goal on the sand and finished fifth.
An exceptional result, punctuated by the background of the song chosen for the occasion “Song 2” by Blur, pure adrenaline, after running for 47 hours and 11 minutes. «When I arrived I had a lot of energy» says Coras «I took off my shoes and dived into the fresh sea of Liguria. The water awakened all my senses, it was like a baptism ». It is not the first time that the ultra-marathon runner from Treviso completes the “very classic” (he succeeded in 2016, finishing 17th) but last week’s result exceeds even the most optimistic expectations: “It’s a fifth place (out of 60 participants at the start, ed) really unexpected that repays the training, my absences from home and above all also the great work of my companion Matteo Bandiera (who just today is fighting an ironman in Austria): he followed me and supported me from start to finish ».
In these two scarce days of competition (the start was Friday 10, at 10), always on the street, always in a hurry, everything happened: “When I was in total crisis, in Savona, lying on the bench of a public park, around at six on Saturday afternoon, Matteo »says Coras« bought me an ice cream, two balls of chocolate. It was like being a child again and I left ». Do you ever sleep? «I took a break at kilometer 120, in the Apennines, I slept for 50 minutes in a sleeping bag in the trunk of the car. It was late at night, then I resumed racing with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give It Away” on the car radio ». And the food? «In these competitions we constantly hydrate, I always keep a bottle of water with me and every hour, or even less, we eat something, eggs, jams, everything».
The race for the athlete from Montebelluna, who grew up in the Marche region, seems to be written in destiny, the word itself is an anagram of his surname. But one question is a must: who makes him do it? «I also asked myself» he comments «I think Giacomo Leopardi has already answered for me: only when man is completely exhausted does he need nothing and finds well-being. I don’t do it to try to overcome the limit, when you run you are alone with yourself, you proceed and you don’t know why ».
To tackle a two-day run, almost seven marathons in a row, you need a lot of training, support, but also a profound psychological work, which reshapes the relationship with time: “It no longer exists” explains Coras “the only way to reaching the finish line is feeling free in the element of air, road and heartbeat. Time, despite paradoxically being the real opponent, in these races is a factor that must be canceled, when you consider it you end up under stress and pressure ». This year between Milan and Sanremo, due to a landslide on the Turchino pass, the route of the ultra has undergone a change, making everything more difficult and bringing the positive altitude difference, from the “normal” 1778 meters, to 3822, more than double. But the climbs for Coras, which he has prepared in recent months with swimming and cycling, have not been a problem.
He inaugurated his “new life” as an ultrarunner in 2009, at the age of 34, competing in the 100 kilometers of the Passatore, from Florence to Faenza. And then the Eroica in 2013, the Rimini Extreme, the Asolo 100 on the Grappa, “home mountain”, held for five consecutive editions from 2012 to 2016, and the Nove Colli, 202 kilometers with 3220 meters of elevation gain. Classics of cycling that become challenges to the limit.
What is the value of these rides? «I started with the one hundred kilometers of the Passatore because my grandfather had made it in 1978» he says «there is a plaque in his house that celebrates that feat, defining it as“ with the chosen athletic and moral skills ”. Before I was sedentary, I thought that if my athletic skills were unattainable I could at least aim for the moral ones ». –