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The Samaria Ultra Kayathlon 1st Edition (SUK2014). 29 August 2014

I had a dream, to cross Crete in one day using only human energy, and going through the most beautiful and wild scenery.

So the idea was to access the Gorges of Samaria by kayak, coming from Loutro on the South coast, then to hike up the Gorges and run or bike down to Hania on the North coast.

We enrolled a couple of crazy friends and tested the feasability of this adventure, timing, water points, etc.

Good news, it is realistic to do this in one day. So, now we can plan for another edition with more optimized logistics and options for
participants, especially, the choice between bike or run for the last part (a marathon from Omalos to Hania).





In green, the kayak, 13 km, in red, the Gorges, 13 km, 1250 D+, in yellow the bike (run) 42.2 km.
It took us, 3 h for the kayak (almost no waves and no wind, very lucky), 5 hours for the hike (very slow, can do faster next time), and 2 hours for the bike. With all the "transition times", the total was from 6h45 am to 7 pm.

You can see more details on this website: http://ultrakayathlon.org/


Loutro. Start of Kayak part.
















Samaria, leave the kayaks, start hiking.














Top of the Gorges. Switch to bikes.








Hania. Swim.

And then, rest and eat.




Join us for the next edition in 2017...

In the meantime, enjoy this video.














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