The Ultra Marathon of Transvulcania Naviera Armas 2017 will be full of stars for this ninth edition. The main event of the La Palma competition will count on the presence of the entire female podium of the Ultra-Trail World Championship as the strongest contenders for victory. Ragna Debats has been the latest to confirm her presence in the island the next May 13th, together with the previously announced Caroline Chaverot and Azara García.
The Sports and Youth Counsellor of the La Palma Island Council, Ascensión Rodríguez, pointed out that “the prediction for the first place in the four modalities remains unknown for this edition, considering the high level of the favourites that have confirmed their presence in Transvulcania.” Besides, she recalled that this year the Ultra will have 2.000 participants for the first time, “something that will bring even greater spectacle for all the fans and spectators of this distance.”
Dutch athlete Ragna Debats, who lives in Terrasa, closed a superb 2016. Her first win came in the Spanish Cup of Mountain Races after a clear first place ahead of Noemi Delgado and Eva Bernat. Debats did not even have to wait until the last of the six races of the circuit to confirm her victory, something that gave more international impact to her achievement.
That same year, she won the world championship of snow rackets in the attractive spots of Saranac Lake (New York), even overcoming some health issues that she suffered at that time. This competition consisted on 10 kilometres and nothing less than 266 participants crossed the finish line.
Transvulcania will be the scene for a new struggle between Caroline Chaverot, Azara García and Ragna Debats herself, as it happened in the last Trail World Championships, celebrated in the Peneda-Gerês National Park (Portugal).
In this sporting event of 85 kilometres and a cumulative elevation gain of 5.000 metres, Chaverot took the win with a time of 9 hours and 40 minutes, closely followed by García and Debats, who came only three minutes after.
