When the wife-and-husband pair of Henriette Albon (Norway) and Jonathan Albon (U.Okay.) gained the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k on Saturday, March 7, it was one of many uncommon occasions a married couple has gained a serious extremely. Each executed dominant races by a chilly and moist evening and a rapidly warming day to complete in 15:16:33 and 12:58:06, respectively.
Husband and spouse, Jonathan Albon (U.Okay.) and Henriette Albon (Norway), win the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
Runners set off a minute earlier than midnight native time on Friday evening, beneath cool, cloudy skies. They ran throughout a sandy strip of Las Canteras seashore in Las Palmas, on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, trailing a string of headlamps by the city and towards the paths. Spots of rain started to fall as they headed into the unpredictable situations of the mountains, which challenged athletes to deal with their layers and diet in the course of the race’s early, darkish hours. In gentle of the climate forecast, organizers required racers to hold a further cold-weather package. By noon on Saturday, nonetheless, they might be choosing up ice on the support stations to remain cool within the solar.
The 126-kilometer (78.3 miles) Basic distance is the flagship race on the five-day operating competition and options 6,764 meters (22,190 toes) of climbing, with the course reaching 1,724 meters (5,656 toes) above sea stage on the highest level. Gran Canaria is a volcanic island off the northwest coast of Africa, and the course traverses rugged floor by the mountains from the capital metropolis of Las Palmas within the northeast to the city of Maspalomas on the southern coast. Nearly all of the climbing is within the second half of the race, nevertheless it’s additionally thought-about the much less technical half.
The Transgrancanaria Basic is the third occasion this yr within the World Path Majors sequence, after the Hong Kong 100k and Black Canyon 100k, and this was the race’s twenty seventh version. Landslides brought on by heavy rains earlier this yr resulted in a course change within the island’s La Manzanilla area. Based on organizers, this yr’s race distance was one kilometer shorter than the traditional route.
The lads’s and the ladies’s races have been hotly aggressive, with final yr’s ladies’s champion Albon returning to defend her title, in addition to Claudia Tremps (Spain), who completed second on the occasion in 2025, and was returning to the race for an eighth time. Different favorites included Katarzyna Dombrowska (Poland), Eleanor Whyman-Davis (U.Okay.), and Stephanie Case (Canada).
The lads’s race featured a powerful British contingent, with Albon and Josh Wade, who positioned second and third final yr respectively, in addition to Tom Evans, who gained the occasion in 2022. They have been joined by Hannes Namberger (Germany), whereas Hayden Hawks (U.S.) suffered an damage whereas coaching on the course and wasn’t capable of begin as deliberate.
2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k Girls’s Race
With final yr’s first and second-place ladies, Henriette Albon (Norway) and Claudia Tremps (Spain), on the beginning line, and lots of others seeking to problem them, the ladies’s race was dynamic from the beginning and changed into one in every of attrition with loads of passing all through.
Tremps took the race out rapidly, initially operating with the crowded males’s pack by Tenoya, the primary support station at 10.7k (6.6 miles), within the high 15 general with 53 minutes elapsed. Lower than an hour into the race, she was already 5 minutes up on Albon and Katarzyna Dombrowska (Poland), and an additional minute up on Mélanie Delasoie (Switzerland) and Robyn Cassidy (U.Okay.).
By Fontanales, 43.6k (27 miles) into the race and with 4:49 on the clock, Tremps led Dombrowska by only a few seconds, with Albon about seven minutes again. Not lengthy after, Dombrowska took the lead as Tremps skilled abdomen points within the morning. Eleanor Whyman-Davis (U.Okay.), who had moved herself into fourth place by Fontanales, dropped by El Hornillo at 53.6k (33.3 miles).
Henriette Albon wins the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k for the second yr in a row. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
Albon arrived on the Tejeda support station at 79.2k (49.2 miles) simply two minutes after chief Dombrowska, who obtained there with 9:44 elapsed, and left narrowly behind her. With pop nonetheless in her legs, she overtook Dombrowska up the slim, rocky climb towards Roque Nublo, 89.1k (55.1 miles), to imagine the lead. With 11:14 on the clock, now chief Albon handed the volcanic monolith with blue skies above and a technical descent forward. Tremps additionally handed Dombrowska on the climb, transferring as much as second place, however obtained to the highest greater than 20 minutes behind the chief.
Dombrowska was now reportedly combating cramps and slowing down considerably, and he or she would withdraw earlier than 100k. Delasoie, alternatively, moved up from fifth to 3rd place between 92.2k (57.3 miles) and 100k (62.1 miles). As positions combined round her, Cassidy remained in fourth.
Albon stayed comfortably in entrance, whereas Tremps was behind in second, wanting as if the kilometers have been including up. At 113k (70.2 miles), earlier than the ultimate climb, with 13:58 on the clock, Albon held over an hour lead on second-place Tremps, who was 12 minutes up on Delasoie. Cassidy was in fourth, one other 19 minutes again.
Henriette Albon reached the end with 15:16:33 on the clock to win the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k, greater than 1.5 hours forward of the remainder of the ladies.
In the meantime, the race for the remaining podium spots remained dynamic till the tip. Delasoie caught as much as Tremps within the last 15k of racing, opened up a couple-minute hole, which Tremps then closed with a few kilometers left. In the end, Mélanie Delasoie and Claudia Tremps crossed the road collectively in a tie for second place in 16:49:20. Robyn Cassidy stayed regular and completed fourth in 17:14, and Zita Kosač (Lithuania) was fifth in 17:26:08.
Mélanie Delasoie (proper) and Claudia Tremps run to the road collectively to tie for second on the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k Girls’s Outcomes
1. Henriette Albon (Norway) — 15:16:33
2. Mélanie Delasoie (Switzerland) — 16:49:20
2. Claudia Tremps (Spain) — 16:49:20
4. Robyn Cassidy (U.Okay) — 17:14:03
5. Zita Kosač (Lithuania) — 17:26:08
6. Kelsey Hogan (Canada) — 17:53:28
7. Stephanie Case (Canada) — 18:14:52
8. Ingrid Lid (Norway) — 18:27:08
9. Paula Barbosa (Portugal) — 19:06:06
10. Sonja Muittari (Finland) — 19:29:58
Full outcomes.
Mélanie Delasoie (left) and Claudia Tremps tie for second at 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k Males’s Race
Tom Joly (U.Okay.) began with an aggressive lead from the gun, alongside pre-race favorites Tom Evans (U.Okay.), Jonathan Albon (U.Okay.), Josh Wade (U.Okay.), and Hannes Namberger (Germany). At Tenoya, 10.7k (6.6 miles) into the race, they ran alongside others, together with Borja Fernández (Spain), Abel Carretero (Spain), and Seth Swanson (U.S.). Because the chilly evening wore on, the group whittled right down to Albon, Evans, Wade, and Namberger. At El Hornillo, 53.6k (33.3 miles), they have been all along with 5:31 on the clock. Evans would drop quickly after, leaving the others to struggle for the rostrum.
After passing by the very best level of the course and heading right down to the Tejeda support station at 79.2k (49.2 miles), Albon and Wade moved away from the remainder of the pack. Namberger held onto third place however was transferring much less easily, regardless of seeming calm and composed earlier.
Jonathan Albon waves to the group as he wins the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
After a decent race to date between Albon and Wade, Albon broke unfastened from Wade on the climb to Roque Nublo, 89.1k (55.1 miles) into the race, summitting the climb with a two-minute hole and 9:39 on the clock. Now in brilliant, sunny situations, he made fast work of the technical, rocky downhill sections across the 100k (62.1 miles) mark, however so did Wade, each seeming to search out the terrain underfoot just like their respective coaching grounds in Norway and the U.Okay. Namberger reached the highest 3.5 minutes behind Wade in third place.
Behind the highest three, important gaps have been opening. On the Roque Nublo summit, Fernández was in fourth place, about 21 minutes off the lead, and Victor Richard (Belgium), who was sixth on the occasion final yr, was in fifth, one other 17 minutes again.
Hannes Namberger finishes second on the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
Because the leaders made their method down from the mountains and towards the coast, Albon appeared firmly in management, and the battle for the ultimate two podium spots was heating up. On the last support station at Ayagaures, 113k (70.2 miles) into the race, Albon had 11:47 on the clock and a seven-minute lead on Wade. In the meantime, Namberger had closed the hole considerably and was now simply over a minute behind second place, and his arrival on the support station seemingly triggered Wade to hurry out. At Ayagaures support, Albon and Namberger picked up ice of their packs earlier than starting the ultimate climb within the warmth of the day, however Wade, leaving in haste, didn’t seem to take action. Final yr, Fernández dropped quickly after this level after not taking sufficient water, so he additionally duly took on ice and water this yr.
Albon continued to maneuver economically, however amongst the leaders, the problem appeared to be the athlete who pale the least earlier than the end line. Namberger had been steadily catching as much as Wade, and with an ice pack bobbing round his neck, he made the move into second place on the rocky river mattress towards the end line, with a sportsmanlike high-five between the 2.
Josh Wade finishes third for the second yr in a row on the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k. Picture: Transgrancanaria/Carlos Díaz-Recio
After the rocky riverbed close to the end line, Jonathan Albon discovered his last stride and gained the 2026 Transgrancanaria Basic in 12:58:08, giving the finish-line crowd excessive fives as he got here down the chute. Hannes Namberger completed second, holding his son in his arms as he crossed the end line in 13:03:10. Josh Wade held agency to complete in third place for the second yr in a row with a time of 13:07:54. Borja Fernández completed in fourth in 13:34:08, and Victor Richard was fifth in 13:58:55.
Early chief Joly completed simply exterior the lads’s high 10, in eleventh place, and Swanson was the sixteenth man.
2026 Transgrancanaria Basic 126k Males’s Outcomes
Jonathan Albon (U.Okay.) — 12:58:08
Hannes Namberger (Germany) — 13:03:10
Josh Wade (U.Okay.) — 13:07:54
Borja Fernández (Spain) —13:34:08
Victor Richard (Belgium) — 13:58:55
Abel Carretero (Spain) — 14:31:54
Pau Rius (Spain) — 14:41:22
Dylan Dame (Belgium) —14:52:05
Robin Fournier (Switzerland) — 15:14:19
Łukasz Sum (Poland) — 15:28:52
Full outcomes.
