George Peak. That's where we going.
Good morning and welcome to George, South Africa. My name is Angus and I'm here with the
Running Channel today to talk about VK's. What is a VK? How does it work?
And then I'm going to try run one myself.
Hi, I am an adventure filmmaker from South Africa with a love for running and adventure sports. I met the
Running Channel crew at an event in the UK while traveling the world to live with and learn from
some of the best runners there are.
So we know what a 5k is, we know what a 10k is, everyone knows what those are.
But what is a VK? Well, VK or vertical kilometer doesn't measure
distance over the ground like a 5, 10, or standard running distance.
Instead, it measures its distance vertically upwards.
So we're starting here and our finish line is 1000 meters of vertical ascent to the top. Let's go.
The route that we're running today is part of the George Mart Trail Week and competitors of the main race
happening over the weekend are invited to attempt the VK in the days leading up to the main event.
Vertical kilometer races are often done as time trials, where competitors are set off at intervals
or have a period of time in which to run their race. Today we are recording our run into our GPS watches,
which we then submit to the race organiser.
So, here we go. VK time. 1000 meters of vertical ascent from here to there.
And it's starting in just a few paces. I'm a little bit nervous for this. Let's go.
So the interesting thing about the race is that every route
is different in the sense that every route climbs at a different rate throughout the course.
Generally they tend to get steeper towards the end.
This one is no exception. It's still very runnable and very beautiful in these forests.
But I'm expecting the running to turn into a bit of a hike,
a bit further up the mountain, you can look at the elevation graph on the
watch. We've started at 254 meters, that's sea level now at 462, which means we've done just over 200 meters.
We're further way, starting to get high.
Vertical kilometer. George Peak. That's where we going.
Looks like things are about to get really hard. Look at that.
That is straight up. And that's kind of exactly what VK running and racing is all about.
It's just pure grit. But it is such a beautiful way to see the world. Halfway.
So these markers that I'm seeing along the way are not telling me my distance, they're telling me the
height or elevation that I've gained since the start of the run.
At the start of this challenge, I thought that a VK would be similar
to running like a 10K all out, because the professional
world records are about a minute apart.
28 for the VK, around 27, 26, for 10K.
But I think this is going to be a lot slower than my 10k time, that's for sure.
Garmin telling me to hurry up, that's just brutal.
In order for a course to be considered a real VK course, it needs to get 1000
meters of elevation gain done in under 5 km.
This means the routes end up being ridiculously steep.
Just came up that. The first 300 flew by, and now every single 100 feels big.
So I kind of would compare the vertical kilometers in trail running to the mile race in track and field and kind of
the marathon side of the sport just because it's like an all out test of athletic performance, really.
It just really tests how hard you can go. So I love the purity of it and the simplicity of it.
There's the top. Woo.
Stop.
That was tough. That was really tough. But it is stunning up here.
Let's see 4.2 km in
52 minutes. I'm king of the world.
So that's our vertical kilometer finished. We're at the top.
Yeah, we did 1000 meters elevation gain from the start line to the finish line in just
over 4.2 km. Except the thing with vertical kilometer racing is when you
reach the finish line, it's not actually finished. We still kind of need to get
down this mountain, so yeah. Let's go.
We made it. Downhills are not always easy, but that was a lot of fun.
I enjoyed that. And if you enjoyed that, be sure to leave a like on the and let us know in the comments.
How many of you guys are keen to set
your own time for a VK?
Looking forward to seeing you all on the next one.