Where the road ends, in Jiri, Dolankha district, at the natural entrance to Solukhumbu, begins the Everest Trail Race by The Elements. It is here that the highest mountains on earth are located and the Everest stands out, evidently. There is also the most beautiful mountain declared: the Ama Dablam. Today at 6 o'clock in the morning he woke up to the whole camp. A tea or coffee in the tent tastes twice as good first thing in the morning. Something very important is missing: the flight permit from Kathmandu Air Control is the big news every morning. The eighth edition of the Everest Trail Race with 43 runners can start now. Twenty minutes before the start, the participants gathered at the starting line: official speeches, indications of race direction, welcome and the moment to start closer and closer. The nerves, the emotion, the fears, the illusion, everything together come out once and for all when the race starts. The moment for which the participants have waited so long has arrived. First stage, not the most demanding, but with numbers that frighten anyone in the first contact in the competition: 21.5km with 1,975m positive and 3,800m of accumulated difference in level.

The stage runs through millet fields, few stretches of track, forests and a constant up and down. The big climb of the day has 1,000 meters positive and a final descent to the finish line of eight hundred meters uninterrupted. At a competitive level, Jordi Gamito (@Gamitron ) with the number 1 dorsal led the race in Check Point 1 (CP1). Behind Sergio Arias and Eleuteri Adelantado with Pasang Sherpa.

In the female category, Manuela Vilaseca passes first through CP 1, followed by the local runner Purnimaya Rai and Rebecca Ferry. After passing through CP 2, km 13 of the race, he continued leading Platja d'Aro, second Sergio Arias at 8 minutes and Eleuteri Adelantado third. In the feminine category the thing did not change, first the Brazilian settled down in Catalonia, Manu Vilaseca, second the Nepalese Purnimaya Rai and after these two the British Rebecca Ferry was maintained.

Finish and victory in solitary for Jordi Gamito of The Elements team after passing first all the controls of passage of the stage with a time of 2:40:05, behind him, the Fuenlabrada, Sergio Arias, 17 minutes. The third on the podium was Eleuteri Adelantado after stopping the clock with a time of 3:04:05. All were very far from last year's record set by three-time world champion Luis Alberto Hernando with a time of 2 hours and 17 minutes.

In females, Manu Vilaseca, Brazilian of The Elements team, dominated the stage from beginning to end, finishing in 3:22:01; behind Purnimaya Rai, the local runner more than 9 minutes away. British athlete Rebecca Ferry, who is only 5 seconds behind the Nepalese athlete, was third, almost sprinting to cut seconds off the time trial in the final stretch. In the team modality, the Elements team formed by Jordi Gamito and Manu Vilaseca had absolute dominion.

The runners have charged during all the stage it's own bag pack with all the mandatory gear that they will need until the end of the race next Tuesday. They are now resting in the camp in Bhandar where they have food, water and tents to sleep. We have to add another difficulty to the race: the runners can't have a shower until the end of the race. Another fact we need to keep in mind for this   nice adventure in the Nepali Himalaya with the big mountains surrounding the runners.

Tomorrow the 2nd stage is going to take place where the runners are going to reach the summit of the race, the Pikey Peak summit at 4.100 m of altitude. The stage has 24km and 3.486 meters of vertical gain.