It was a wild weather weekend in Leadville for the LT100. No sunburn this year, that's for sure. Judy and I have been up there for the race every year since 2001 now, with at least one of us running. This year was different as we both crewed Rick Hessek, and Judy also volunteered the night shift at Mayqueen (86 miles). I paced Rick for 41 miles of the final 50 (resting for the Tree Line to Fish Hatchery and Mayqueen to Tabor legs). Rick ran an unbelievable time of 19:18, which is over an hour PR for him. He finished 4th overall, and really for most of the race the top 5 guys were within 20 minutes of each other, making for an exciting day. The top 3 ahead of Rick really ran smart, well-paced races, as did Rick. Duncan Callahan (sp?) won in about 18:02 which is a solid time.
For the 20 hour finishers, the weather wasn't too bad, but we really felt for those who were out there all night as it was a cold rain nonstop most of the night. Rick and I got hailed on and rained on some, but overall it wasn't too bad the last 50 miles. The worst section for him was the Fish Hatchery to Colorado Trail section outbound where it was very rainy and windy. I think a lot of people got cold on that one.
CRUD had a rough year at LT, with more DNFs than usual but congratulations to all who ran, crewed, paced, and volunteered this weekend. Scott Jaime, a CRUD North runner as well as fellow Pearl Izumi/Smith Optics team member, hung on for 5th place after previously finishing 2nd at HardRock earlier in the summer.
Back in Colorado Springs, a few other CRUDers also battled the elements at the Pikes Peak Ascent. I think all of our runners were able to finish, but many people were turned back at the A-Frame (approx 10 miles into the race) due to deteriorating conditions above tree-line.
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4 comments:
Way to bring Rick home! Solid race! As for me, I took a chance and paid for it later. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Let's hook up for some runs in the next couple of months to get you ready for JFK.
Sounded like a solid run for Rick, what a great story despite the less than desirable conditions.
We had some folks from the Upper Midwest running the race too.
well done!
Paul-
You're right about the top guys running well-paced races: Duncan's 50 splits were 8:47/9:15 I believe...even more evenly-paced than Matt's previous standard of a :32 slowdown. Also, he ran in from Mayqueen in 2:00 flat. Just behind Matt's CR split of 1:57 and ahead of my previously second-fastest 2:03.
Additionally, Andy rocked the Powerline split in 1:47--equal to my split from last year and only 2 minutes slower than Matt's CR split.
I guess it just shows you what a close race and competition in the late stages of a 100 can bring out in a person. I know I would've run much faster in from MQ last year if someone had been only two minutes back and I'm sure Matt would say the same about his 2005 run.
Tony
Paul-
It was great to not only meet you and Judy but great to see you running strong. Keep it up and stay healthy.
Aric
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