The Skyrunning Worlds Went to a Volcano
La Gomera, laurel forest and black basalt, hosted the world championships and stole the show.
Italy's Luca Del Pero won the 29K SKY race on La Gomera and took the combined title with it, coming from sixth to do it, two days after taking bronze in the vertical. Poland's Patrycja Stanek won by 36 seconds in her first senior world championship.
Both are good stories. Neither is the reason to book the flight. La Gomera is a small round volcanic island in the Canaries whose interior is a prehistoric laurel forest, permanently fed by cloud that pours over the ridgelines and hangs in the moss. You run out of black basalt and into green fog and back out again.
A world championship course is just a very good route that somebody else already scouted for you. This one is a ferry ride from Tenerife.