When you spent your last years running on the continents of the world, you gather experiences and memories together with people passionate for these kind of races.
Although not many people understand what it means to run 7 days out of 7, every day a marathon or an ultramarathon, Andrei Gligor fed his curiosity and learned that nothing is more beautiful than to reach the finish line with all the friends which, inevitably, you gain during the race.
This is how the “Ultra Race Romania – Where Legends Meet” idea came up – a survival race, where the athletes run 250 km, in 6 stages, with a backpack in which they carry all the necessary thing to survive the week.
The race will take place next year in Buzău area, on the week of August 10-16th, and the competitors will find out the route only one day before the start, on August 9, 2020.
So far, few details are known about the route of the competition, but the event’s organizers, Andrei Gligor and Dan Nica, have already announced a few key points of the route.
The registrations started from 2019 October 1st. Find out more here.
Andrei, do you miss a stage race?
I know it might seem weird because I just finished a project that involved running seven multi stage races, but I really miss such an experience.
In recent years I have gathered, from around the world, a lot of beautiful stories and met people who would have liked to visit Romania, because they had heard many good things about our country.
This is how the idea of organizing a multi-stage self-sufficiency race came about, the first of its kind in Romania: to promote, outside the country, the absolutely fabulous places we have and to give these people an extra reason to visit us.
What does Ultra Race Romania mean?
Ultra Race Romania is, first and foremost, a competition dedicated to those runners who want to push their limits over everything they have tested so far, regardless of the country of origin.
After I finished the project Calivita 7 Deserts I felt it was about time to create a new legend here, at home. This is how Ultra Race Romania appeared, along with Daniel Nica, with whom I ran side by side at Marathon des Sables, Gobi March and Atacama Crossing.
On the path of URR, perseverance will blend with moments of despair, human vulnerability in front of the nature and local history. On the URR route there will be written new chapters of legend in the life of each runner who will align at the start line. Mile after mile, each of the competitors will meet all of their weaknesses and strengths. And all this in areas of wild beauty, woven by the mystical legends of Buzau.
More than that, we decided to support, through this event, the cause of the children of Autism Voice, who themselves lead a race with many obstacles on their way to a normal life.
Why is that Where Legends Meet? Is there a list of special guests?
The whole concept was built around the idea that every person who runs and finishes such a race writes his own legend.
Over the course of a week, he struggles with his own demons, with the lack of comfort at home, the weight of the backpack and all of this against the backdrop of a growing fatigue from stage to stage.
On the other hand, we wanted to present to the foreigners who will come to this race an area of Romania full of myths and legends. Each stage is designed so that the athletes pass through areas that tell stories: The Lake of The Eagles, The Country of Luana, The Mud Volcanoes, The Living Stones.
Therefore, Ultra Race Romania aims to be the race in which the athletes meet the legends of the place and, more than that, they have the opportunity to become a legend at the end of the competition.
Of course, we will also have special guests. We would like to bring to Romania athletes who have won such races and have a solid background experience.
On the other hand, we would like to offer some wildcards to Romanian athletes who, in recent years, have represented Romania in extreme competitions (even if not in the URR format).
What is the profile of the runner you expect at the start line?
I’m so glad you asked me this question.
In the past years, I have run 9 such races and I met a lot of runners, from all over the world. Those who come to such races are people of all social categories, between the ages of 18 and 70 or more.
But do you know what they have in common?
Common sense, fair play, the kind of people that know very well what type of race they are signing up for and have no false expectations. They know they come to such an event for the experience itself and not for a big fat race kit content. They come to these races to disconnect for a week out of everything and have an inner trip to themselves.
I have no doubt that these are the runners who will line up at the start of the first edition of Ultra Race Romania. If you are not passionate about such experiences, it is also difficult to imagine why you would do this.
Why the Buzău area?
Although the Buzău mountains do not have high altitudes and dizzying heights, they are unexplored mountains of the world, forested, with virgin and wild places, and which hide many mysteries of which time has weaved a lot of legends.
We wanted a route profile in which, even where there is a shadow of civilization, through the crossed hamlets where the living conditions are quite archaic, that feeling of “freezing time”, reminds of our origins.
Do you want foreign runners to discover Romania through this route? Or for Romanian runners to have other types of competitions to choose from?
We want, through URR, to bring endurance sport to another level in the country. On the other hand, we know that for many foreign runners Romania is the land of Dracula and Ceausescu.
Our goal is to create for them both a competition aligned with those of this kind that take place worldwide, as well as to show them another image of our country.
The Buzau area is an oasis of wilderness filled with local legends and we are sure it will reveal a new face of Romania.
I don’t think anyone knows the logistics of a organizing a 7 days contest. Are you ready to be on the other side of the barricade, this time?
Indeed, the organization of such an event is totally different from any kind of competition, from a logistical point of view. The experience I have gained over the last few years, as a runner in such races, has made me observe all the organizational details very well, so, I believe, I am prepared that, together with my partners with whom I have embarked on this adventure (Daniel Nica, Beatrice Ionescu and Edi Hîrjoi), to offer the competitors an event to remember.
Moreover, Ultra Race Romania aligns with the international standards of organization for the competitions of this profile, the registration fee being below the average accounted at European / global level.
It will be difficult for me to be on the other side of the barricade. I think it would have been easier to run. But I really wanted Romania to enter the international circuit of multi stage self supported races.
There are about 30 worldwide and two more in Europe.
Who is your colleague, Dan Nica?
I met Daniel in 2016, when we shared a berber tent at Marathon des Sables for a week. We quickly became friends and the passion for such races brought us back together in China and Chile at Gobi March and Atacama Crossing.
He is an amateur runner like myself, with job and family, who runs out of pure passion. Always joking, a man of his word, a soulful person, in short the right guy you want to start such an adventure with.
We already know that a part of the registration fee will be donated to the association for which you have run thousands of kilometers on different continents in the last years
I met Autism Voice in 2017, just before I headed to Grand 2 Grand Ultra. Established in 2008, Autism Voice specializes in recovery therapy for children with autism, developmental and behavioral disorders.
I ran back then with Michael in my mind, a blond child with such eyes I had never seen before. Since then I supported their cause, as an ambassador and I set out to do everything in my power to make their story known.
