Jura Swiss Trail

6 May 2023

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Stayed the night in Yverdon-les-Bains. "Les Bains" means they have hot springs, so naturally I stayed at the hotel that has the hot springs. They're not super hot (34°C) and smell a little sulfurous. Quite different from the hot springs along the rivers in the other parts of Switzerland. I started the day with the train ride to Baulmes. Baulmes is a little town at the foot of the Jura mountains where today's Jura Swiss Trail began and ended. After collecting my dossard I refreshed my water from the town spring. At the starting line they actually checked my bag to see if I had all the things on the list. That's the first time I've had that happen. Often there's a list but they don't usually check it. Fortunately I had everything.

The race starting off immediately uphill. For 1000 meters uphill we continued for an hour. It was mostly single file, which means when I'm not trying to not trip over rocks I'm trying not to get hit by people's sticks.

Going down was as steep as coming up, so there wasn't much opportunity to make up time. Across the valley at the bottom we saw some beautiful white cliffs. I thought "those are pretty" and I took a picture. Soon, however, we were climbing again up to those very cliffs, and then we proceeded to run along the edge of them for a while before coming back down again. Around kilometer 14 we got to our first road since the start in Baulmes. Almost 3 hours in I was able to run for a few kilometers before I joined everyone else walking. Funny they call it a race. Along the roads in the Jura Mountains one passes quite a few defensive works left over from the second world war: pill boxes, anti tank concrete thingies, etc. Having covered only 20 km in 4 hours I accepted that I would not finish in the five hours I planned. Then we were climbing again for a long time to the hilltop second aid station. I realized I had let myself get dehydrated, so I refilled my two liter bag and determined to drink it all before the final aid station top the last hill. It was not a terribly steep downhill this time, and often on ski slopes so I was able to run some of the time. Going up that last hill was a grueling 300 meter climb, but I drank my bag empty so I was feeling better by the top. Then it was a muddy downhill back into town trying to concentrate enough not to fall. A meal after the race was fortunately included and I continued to rehydrate with beer. Then it was a train and walk back to the hotel where I showered and collapsed into bed. There was no energy left to visit the hot springs again.