ALL IN

BY FRANCESCO “PACO” GENTILUCCI PHOTOS PAOLO SARTORI

Whenever you hear talking about Varese, you have the impression that it is becoming one of the hottest Italian areas for running. Until some time ago, you could only hear talking about Courmayeur or Cortina because of the races hold there, but nowadays Coronavirus has razed the competitions to the ground and there are only small realities formed by people, so Varese for many runners has magically appeared on the Italian map. There is excitement, there are the right features and there are trails.

But what is really happening in Varese? We asked Manuel Crapelli, “the frontman” as well as the local of reference for this group of riders.

Manuel, tell us a bit about what’s happening in Varese and surroundings e why is this city becoming one of the reference points of running in Italy? It's true, I also believe that in the Varese area and its surroundings in recent years there has been great excitement both for running in general but above all for trail running. I'll try to explain a little historical and empirical analysis. This has always been a land of sport: cycling, rowing and basketball even before football. Today running is also a protagonist, I think for a set of logistical, geological, infrastructural aspects and above all because it is a simple thing. Varese can be reached quickly and this leads many people from the province, but also from Milan, to move here to experience the mountains and go trekking, and some of these also end up starting to run. Lately this trend has exploded. It is a pre-alpine area, we are about 400m above sea level and only 2km from the city center start the trails of the Campo dei Fiori park, leading to peaks of about 1200m, with a good variety of routes, not particularly difficult and generally well maintained thanks to the volunteers of Anima Trail and some individual initiatives. There is also a very crowded cycling trail that runs along Lake Varese, about 27km long. In short, there is something for all tastes and for those who start running in this ares, at some point it is inevitable to go up to the Sacro Monte passing through the approximately 2.5km gravel road of the Via Sacra which is completely uphill. When that happens, curiosity triggers and leads people to go beyond the square at the top and continue on trails.

How did you start running? I was born as a cyclist and for years running has been only part of my winter preparations. I competed on road bikes from the Junior category and I stopped shortly before moving to U23. Beautiful years, always travelling for competitions and training camps. After cycling and before discovering trail running, I was a boxer, I competed in more than 50 matches. I would talk to you about boxing for hours, it's a wonderful, complete and complicated sport. I think it is very difficult to explain it,

certainly it is not just about fighting like many people think. It is not even based on strength alone, breath is very important and running is an integral part of a boxer's training program. So I used to run a couple of days a week, then as soon as I stopped boxing, I simply thought of running a little more and launched myself into some 5/10km races on mixed terrains. It was 2017 and in a short time I approached mountain running, together with my great friend Lorenzo Barack. With him I did my first mountain running race in Switzerland: the Kreuzegg Classic, about 1km uphill. But the real baptism of fire was a few weeks later with the Grand Bucc Sky Race, 30km and about 2000m of altitude. It was a Sunday in June and I had returned the day before from a week at the beach. I had always raced but I was not prepared for that distance and that difference in altitude, I still let myself be convinced in thirty seconds by my friend and high-level runner Stefano Rino Rinaldi who simply told me that with the 30km course we would have reached a beautiful summit, which was touched by the short race. It was very hard because I didn't spare myself and I reached the finish line with cramps I had never experienced before. That was perhaps the first step that led me, in a short time, to fall in love with long distances.

Tell us more about the rather unique combination of ultra running and boxing. It is actually not that obvious. Boxing is pure adrenaline, especially the moment you climb the ladder and get over the ropes to go into the ring. Then when the gong sounds you have to think and act fast, realizing what you have been maniacally feeling for weeks in the gym. Mentally it is a different discipline from ultra running. But despite the many differences, boxing and ultra running are united by the need to know how to suffer and grit your teeth, they are sports that give great emotions, someone may define them as extreme, but I believe that they are both ideal for those who have a volcano of energies to channel. They are activities for loners, both in the ring and on the trails you are alone, when the crisis comes you have to know how to dig inside yourself to find energy, motivations, sometimes pride or simply the desire not to give up.

I also think that they have one thing in common which, in my opinion, is negative. I’m talking about this rhetoric of sacrifice and redemption that we continually hear about when there is some interview or article about these sports. I don't think there's anything heroic in getting in a ring or running a 100 mile run. Nobody forces you to do that, when you are not a professional and there is dedication and passion for a sport, the real sacrifice is not being able to practice it for other commitments, not on the contrary the fact of doing it.

What relationship do you have with your own city? Varese is my city, but I haven't always had an idyllic relationship with this place. To express the concept, I’ll quote an old song by the Merchants of Liquor which says: “Lombardy, how easy it is to want you badly. You don't smile and you like to treat me you badly…”. For a period of my life I saw Varese like this, it felt too tight, I didn't like the dominant mentality that was a bit closed and conservative. After high school I had the opportunity to go study first in Bologna, then in Venice and then I spent two years in France between Montpellier and Paris for a master and my first job. Clearly I have never severed my roots in Varese, I have always had my family and dearest friends there, but being away for so many years made me appreciate it when I returned and I literally rediscovered it.

What is the Ciuk Running Team? We are the vanguard of an alternative, informal and essential way of experiencing racing: without cards and affiliations. We are a group of friends made of people who respect each other as well as the environment in which they run, with a strong devotion to the mountains, to running and in particular, to long distances. Even if there is nothing structured, we are a team in the sense of having formalized with a name and a few t-shirts something that satisfies our need to belong.

Who are the members of the Team? Lorenzo “Barack” Clerici and Marco “El Tractor” Frattini are the ones with whom I share the most km and days of competition. Barack is the friend of a lifetime, since high school. We also started running together, first completely randomly and then trying to train with a little knowledge to be able to extend the distances more and more. He has moved to Switzerland for several years, but we can often see each other here in Varese or in the Appenzell where he lives and of course we never miss a run or a race. He is one of the people who makes me laugh the most in the world, he has a great sensitivity and acumen and he is also a songwriter and musician. On the other hand, I got to know El Tractor thanks to running, we started training together on the weekends and the personal and athletic harmony immediately started. He also comes from this area and we race almost every competition together. Ultra running is an individual sport, but being able to share hours and miles with people like this makes a huge difference in terms of well-being.

Is it true that within your group there are people who come from the punk world? How did someone like Oscar integrate and find his place into this group? That’s true, hardcore punk is one of the many souls that characterizes our group. As an attitude, but also as a musical and cultural background: I’m talking about Oscareddu for example. He also comes from boxing and has been running for a couple of years. I remember that he wrote to me asking me for an advice on what races to do, I gave him some alternatives and he practically did them all. Last year, if there had not been the lockdown due to Covid, he would have competed every week, he had already signed up for I don't know how many races without fear of distances or the difference in height, but instead with an unstoppable desire to spend some beautiful days of fatigue on the trails with some hardcore music in his headphones! Then there is Rino (Stefano Rinaldi) who is not only the strongest and most competitive athlete of the Prealpi, but also the most punk one. Great engine, great head, infinite dedication, a real runner. He trains every day with crazy intensity. He comes from cycling too (in the youth categories we also raced together) and was already very strong. Then he skated for some years before discovering running and quickly became one of the most competitive athletes on the ultra scene. I think he is not the classic natural talent, but he is the son of hard work. Out of attitude he never backs down, he doesn't give a damn about the vain glory of local races, when he puts the bib on he always pushes hard. As all Elites should do. And this allowed him to arrived just behind Miller, despite not being a professional and working a the office 8 hours a day.

And what about Rob Isolda? Rob is a great athlete! Perhaps one of the first in the Varese area with a high level. I think he has run all distances and on every surfaces, now he is dedicated to 24

hours on the track and 100km on the road. He is one of the most feared person by the gyms of the North-East, a lover and prophet of training on the treadmill, capable of running on it for hours putting a strain on the resistance of the engines of the machines. After buying a treadmill he inaugurated it running 85km in about 8 hours.

Your training chronicles are always a lot of fun, and every time someone runs all in you get tagged in stories. What does it mean to run all in? It is the way I try to experience the race, adopting the strategy of “start out of laps, half go full speed and increase in the final”. Said like this it may seem a crazy thing, but, beyond the slogan, in reality it is rather calibrated on the distance to be faced and the preparation. It doesn’t mean “it’s all or nothing”, because I’am always rational and respectful when facing a race. I just try to go beyond what I feel is my best, I take into consideration the risk of failing and I embrace it, but that’s not a big problem for me. It is a lifestyle that has given me great satisfaction, indeed I would say unique emotions like the first time I ran more than 50km.

What is your favorite place to train? Do you have meeting points related to running, boxing or even pubs? The ones we attend the most are certainly the trails of the Campo dei Fiori park: trail 10, Martica, Chiusarella, Scala del Cielo, Punta di Mezzo, Forte di Orino are some of our key trails. The main meeting point has become my home, precisely because I live at the foot of the Sacro Monte and as soon as we leave home we can immediately get on the trails. Lockdown aside, we often start from here and end with a nice refreshing beer in my garden.

Can you recommend us a place where to run around here and a pub where to have a drink afterwards? A place where to eat? In Varese, I definitely recommend the Forte di Orino, passing through Sacro Monte and Monte Tre Croci: beautiful and simple. In the surroundings I would say the Pizzoni di Laveno starting from the village of Cittigli, or the Monte Orsa which can be reached from Saltrio and which allows you to make some very beautiful tours on the border with Switzerland. To stay in the province, a bar with a nice atmosphere is definitely Le Pine in Bodio Lomnago, where you can also eat well. A restaurant that I recommend is Il Borgo a Brinzio, right in the heart of Campo dei Fiori. For those who go there in winter, they can also find a beautiful groomed cross-country ski slope. As a great pizza lover, I have several interesting options: La Piedigrotta in Varese and in the countryside Made in Italy in Cassano Magnago.

Anything to add for our readers? Go along trails and discover ultra running, take care of the woods and mountains by always keeping them clean and do not wait for some institution to do it for you. And then come and visit us in Varese, if the Marche is the Oregon of Italy, this is the Squaw Valley. It is really worth a run, a nice all in, so don’t be scared!