Watching the runners come into Cunningham Gulch was amazing. The aid station was located in a valley with steep cliff walls on each side and a waterfall flowing down one side. The runners would appear way up high, above the waterfall and we could watch them as the worked themselves down the switchbacks to the valley floor where they would cross a small stream into the choas of the aid stations. The lead runners were:
Scott Jamie at 1 hour, 56 minutes, followed by Karl Meltzer 20 seconds behind. Then it was Jared Campbell, Sam Thompson, Troy Howard, Diana Finkle (leading woman), Ryan Burch, and Andy Jones Wilkins. This is the order as I witnessed them. It differs from the webcast which I have noticed is not 100% accurate. Jamil came thorugh in 19th place at 2:24, Andrew at 2:29 (34th). Honey and Kirk came in close together at 2:42, followed by Robert and Jody. All looked good, although Jody was complaining about not feeling well before pressing on.
5 comments:
Do not let Jody drop, she and JJ are the only reason I finished last year, she has to press on. Remind her of my pain.
Great updates Joe!!
she may be sick to her stomach knowing that soon she will be approaching the site where azspeedgoat hacked up a huge oysterish looking life from from deep withing the dark recesses of his windpipe, spit it in a cup and handed it to Jody saying "here get rid of this."
The section between this year's start and Cunningham gulch is well documented here http://vimeo.com/2243412 in the Pacer's Union Local One Zero Zero movie "The Making Of a Hardrocker." Starting at about minute 11:20 "Cunningham Gulch" you can see the beauty of the environs and azspeedgoat on the top of his game.
Obviously this year the race is being run in the opposite direction as last year and we also know thanks to Higgy announcing it at WMRC "this year the direction makes the race easier." Right Higgy this year there's only 33K feet of gain at an average elevation of 11K unlike last year when the numbers were the same :)
Didn't I say this direction is Harder?? I will get back to you after my research.
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