Interview with Transvulcania winner Abby Hall

UTMB has spread its wings, with several races spanning across the globe. Transvulcania ia one of them. The race takes place on the Canary Island La Palma with athletes traversing over volcanoes on their way to the finish line.

This year’s female winner was Abby Hall, addidas TERREX athlete based in Flagstaff, Arizona. We caught up with her to discover more about the event and her success during the race.

Can you tell us a bit about the Transvulcania by UTMB race? 

I’ve wanted to race Transvulcania for years. It was on my calendar in both 2020 and 2021, and was cancelled both years–in 2020 due to COVID, and in 2021 due to the volcano eruption. When I heard the race was finally on for fall 2022, I knew I wanted to make it a focus of my season.

The way my calendar falls, I usually assess whether or not I commit to a fall race after my summer goal, which for the last several years has been CCC. Coming out of CCC this year, I knew the turnaround would be tight (about 8 weeks) but I felt like I had a lot of fitness leftover from my CCC build and knew I wouldn’t have to do anything crazy training-wise before race day. My motivation to finally experience the atmosphere of this famous race was high. So, I decided to give it a go. 

For me, it’s a shorter distance than I’m used to racing. Because of this, I knew I had to make every minute count.