Cortina d'Ampezzo

The small town of Cortina lies in the heart of the Dolomites, or southern Alps, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. The Boite River flows through the alpine valley and the surrounding mountains have made Cortina a top destination for winter holidays. We went there in summer to enjoy the spectacular mountain scenery and for Daniel to do a race.

Cortina, nestled in its Dolomitic valley

A quaint mountain town

Daniel participated in the Lavaredo Ultra Trail, a 119km race with 5,850m of climbing in the mountains. It was Daniel's first mountain ultra marathon in Italy and he did an amazing job to complete it! The race started at 23:00 with the first 50km in the dark...

Just before sunrise at Rif. Auronzo. The course goes along the contour path.

Coming into the checkpoint at Cimabanche

Beautiful rolling hills at Malga Ra Stua

The landscape was similar to the Jura!

Passo Giau: last stop before the finish

While Daniel was out running, I was crewing for him. My job was to get up the windy mountain passes and meet Daniel at the various checkpoints along the way to help him restock his backpack. It was a lot of pressure, but I got to see some beautiful places and it was fantastic to see Daniel during the race instead of just at the start and finish line!

A scenic mountain pass

The aid station all set up for Daniel

Running down the finishing straight in the rain!