KM Vertical

[DrPatrickBarry]

This IMRA Carrauntoohil race

Climb (m):1137
Distance (km):12.50
It is an out and back so 1136 mtrs in 6.25Km. It would be easy to get a 1000m in 5Km out of that.
In fact I reckon there would be a number of routes around the 1038 metre summit.

But thinking about it there is a slight drop after the summit of An Cahar, before the final climb to Carrauntoohil. Does it have to be in one continuous climb?

https://www.imra.ie/events/maps/id/1456/

[anthonykay]

This IMRA Carrauntoohil race

Climb (m):1137
Distance (km):12.50
It is an out and back so 1136 mtrs in 6.25Km. It would be easy to get a 1000m in 5Km out of that.
In fact I reckon there would be a number of routes around the 1038 metre summit.

But thinking about it there is a slight drop after the summit of An Cahar, before the final climb to Carrauntoohil. Does it have to be in one continuous climb?

https://www.imra.ie/events/maps/id/1456/

The main requirement for a vertical km is that the top should be at least 1000m higher than the start. Looking at the map on the IMRA website, the start appears to be at about 150m altitude, so this race doesn't qualify, even though the descent and re-ascent between An Cahar and Carrauntoohill (both ways) take the total of climbing over 1000m.

I haven't got a map of the area, but from the IMRA map it appears that the valley bottom is at about 80m, in which case a vertical km in Ireland is probably not possible.

[anthonykay]

Vertical Kilometre news.
In the Vertical Kilometre race at Fully, Switzerland (generally considered the fastest VK course in the world) last Saturday, the women's race was won as usual by Christel Dewalle; and as usual, she set a new women's world record for the VK. She lowered her last year's world record of 34m12s by nearly half a minute, to 33m43s, and was more than 5 minutes clear of the second-placed woman. The men's race was won by Henri Aymonod in 29m56s; although the men's world record is 28m53s, sub-30m times are still very rare.
The previous Saturday, the women's race at the Chiavenna-Lagunc VK was won by a certain Scout Adkin.
And two weeks before that, another fast women's time of 34m30s was set by Axelle Mollaret at the Grand Serre VK (the steepest in the world: only 1.81km horizontal distance).

[anthonykay]

Correction to the above: I have just realised that Dewalle's 34m12s from last year was not the world record, although it was the previous record at Fully. The previous world record was actually 34m01s, set by Axelle Mollaret at Le Grand Serre in 2019.