I had my first Disqualification (DQ) for a running race in Trail au Clair de Lune (translated as Moonlight Trail). Trail au Clair de Lune was a short trail running race of 11km in Bures-sur-Yvette, a neighbouring commune. It was the first edition. I reckon it’s one of the events organised to promote Ile de France’s first Station de Trail, inaugurated in March 2015. Even the mayor of the commune participated in the race.
Race Day Atmosphere
When it comes to organisation of trail running races, I would never say that the French are shoddy in their organisation of races. Trail au Clair de Lune was only a short race with fewer than 200 participants. However, the organisers spared no expense: they provided snacks (nuts, fruits, sausages etc) and drinks (juices, water, coca cola etc) before and after the race, played rousing music to energise the crowd, and brought in a host to present the race.
The Route
Trail au Clair de Lune started at 9.30pm. It was a simple race involving 3 small hills, with a total elevation gained of 220m/D+. The race started from the entrance of one of the university buildings (campus of Université Paris-Sud). Runners ran through a residential area before reaching Bassin de Gif Bures. Then, we had to complete almost a full loop of the bassin before turning towards the forest. For the most part, the organiser did a pretty good job on the trails. There were clear markings on the trees in various places. They also did a rather cool trick of painting the stones or steps on the trail to highlight the route.
Skipping the Recce
Since it was a short race, Silviu and I did not bother to do a recce (who does a recce for a 10+km race…). Moreover, we had covered most of the sections of the route in our various training runs. In retrospect, I should have recced the race route. However, my experience shows that reconnaissance does not necessarily mean that I would know my way around. Even though there were marshals at various junctions, there were still some junctions where their presence would have saved my race!
The Wrong Turn
In the forest, right after the descent of the first hill, there was a junction where I should have turned left, which would have taken me to the 2nd hill. Instead, I blindly followed the few runners in front of me and took a right turn. The turn resulted in me cutting the first half of the 2nd hill, missing the race by 0.8km/20mD+.
Crossing the Finish Line
So, after almost bursting my lungs in reaching the finishing line, I did not see Silviu. Thinking that he may be recovering our drop bags, I went in search of him. Not finding him, I went back to the finish line thinking that we might have missed each other when I arrived. It was on my return to the finishing line that I saw Silviu. He was shocked to see me arrive at the finishing line earlier than him. I was behind him in the race right from the start, and never had a chance to overtake him. A quick check of the distance I covered on my watch, and a confirmation of the route I took (Strava) confirmed that I missed about 0.8km.
My First Disqualification
I was upset, really upset with myself. It was my first time being DisQualified. Even though I took the short cut unintentionally, I felt guilty as if I had cheated in a test. I would have felt much better if marshals had stopped and disqualified me during the race, rather than my crossing the finishing line and finding myself disqualified. You can read about another one of my trail races in EcoTrail de Paris.
