SWISS ALPS 100: FIVE YEARS SINCE THE LAST ONE

Portal® athlete Nick Cusseneers wins the Swiss Alps 100 and sets a new course record.

It had been 5 years, 100 miles or 160km and 10,000m of vertical gain. I would’ve done the 100km, but when a friend said, “Ahhh, I thought we’d do the 100 mile,” I thought, why not try that rollercoaster once more?

Months of preparation, hundreds of kilometres, hours upon hours.

For the first time I was able to stay in an overall positive mindset, with ups and downs of course, but I didn’t need any convincing of why we were here.

Words — @nickcusseneers
Photography — @frederickpaxton
First Assistant — @marce.sosnowska

Nick wears: Planar Lightweight Cap, Range Light Tank, Ambit Ultra Shorts, Passage Cargo Vest and Pattern Active Socks.

Hearing for the first time about a sub-24-hour 100-miler and the silver belt buckle you’d get, I knew I wanted to get one one day.

Style-wise, it was: “There are no emotions, just a race plan. Don’t get carried away, thinking you feel good. Just follow your plan.”

At midday I saw the crew for the first time. The crew was a big part of this effort and they were running like clockwork.

I knew I was moving well, but I also knew this was going to change at some point. But we all play by the same rules, so when it gets hard for me, it will likely also get hard for the person behind me.

I left the station. The next bit was quite long without any water, and the path was also quite technical, involving scrambling.

So, with 59km to go, Matt joined and we had a brief fuelling chat. I remember him saying, “Moving pretty well.” The kilometres were ticking away, but by 70km my stomach stopped being happy with all the gels I had been putting in there.

Finishing in a course record time under 23 hours made me feel really proud of myself and the people around me.

It had been a long day, a long block, and it finished better than I could’ve hoped.

Thanks crew, thanks parents, let’s see what else we can do.