Growing up hiking in the White Mountains, Gabby DeAngelis always wondered why people would zoom past her on the trail as if they were in a race. She thought they’d miss the views.
Her perspective is completely different now.
New Hampshire runners come in all forms: They compete in local 5Ks, marathons, the highest levels of the NCAA and in the Mount Washington Road Race.
DeAngelis, a recent graduate of the University of New Hampshire, is testing her abilities in a different way. She’s become one of those people rushing to climb trails as fast as possible.
“Every time you race, too, like you get a little bit more experience and confidence even, and like how long you can hold your max effort,” she said. “And I think for some reason, chasing that is like super exciting to me.”
DeAngelis will represent the United States at the World Skyrunning Championships, scheduled for Sept. 18-20 at Trail Gomera Paradise on the volcanic island of La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands.
Skyrunning is pretty much what it sounds like: a mix of road running, trail running, hiking and rock climbing, scrambling up and down challenging courses — nearly touching the sky on a run.
Gabby DeAngelis found a passion for skyrunning because of her background in running and hiking. Credit: Gabby DeAngelis / Courtesy
DeAngelis’ upbringing in New Hampshire (she’s a Bedford native and Bedford High School graduate), her talent as a multi-sport collegiate athlete and her passion for hiking all funneled her way into the sport.
She spent four years on the women’s soccer team at Siena College, and she picked up running toward the end of her time there. After a year as a walk-on runner at Siena, she pursued graduate studies and spent her last year of NCAA eligibility on the UNH women’s cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field teams. She earned her masters degree in environmental engineering this past spring.
DeAngelis will run in the vertical and sky disciplines in Spain. The vertical competition covers 3.05 miles in length and 0.6 miles of vertical climb on Sept. 18. The sky race is two days later, covering 18 miles of distance and 1.2 miles of elevation gain.
“The sky race is one of the longest races I’m gonna race, so I’m kind of nervous for that but super excited to get my feet wet in that distance,” she said.
Skyrunning combines trail running and power hiking for a truly challenging athletic endeavor, and Gabby DeAngelis is preparing to face the world championships by pushing herself to the limits. Credit: Justin King
The biennial world championships take racers “from hell to heaven.” The Gomera Paradise Trail is on a small island of volcanic origin, only 13 miles in diameter, with a mountainous skyline reaching around 1 mile high.
It won’t be DeAngelis’ first time running for Team USA in one of these extreme trail running disciplines. Just last year, she competed in the Mountain Running World Cup in Velika Planina, a high mountain plateau in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps of Slovenia.
Her training involves a mix of running, stationary biking, incline treadmill running, trail running and hiking. It’s a busy schedule to say the least.
DeAngelis spends her weekdays before and after work nearby, but on the weekends she ventures farther on her hikes. The rock scrambles and technical terrain on top of Mount Adams are hard to stay away from, she said.
For now, DeAngelis is trying to block out the reality of just how soon the competition will arrive. It feels like the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I’m really excited for the vertical. That’s just basically how long you can hold your red line, and I think that’s … I know it sounds so awful. It sounds awful for me to say it out loud, too, but like it’s such a challenge,” she said, thinking ahead.
USA Skyrunning is still fundraising for its athletes, international competitions, uniforms and lodging. More information about skyrunning can be found on www.skyrunningusa.com.
