Grand Teton 100 Preview
August 28, 2007 by Bryon Powell · Leave a Comment
I just got off the phone with Andy Jones-Wilkins (his blog). I’m really excited to be pacing him at the Grand Teton 100 this weekend for so many reasons. First, I truly love to pace. I view it as giving back to the ultrarunning community in a very personal way, and I think I can really help runners. Second, it means I’ll be spending a couple days out West and getting to explore the Tetons. Also, I’ll be out there at night under a beautiful Rocky Mountain sky. Third, I get to hang out with AJW. I’ve run with him briefly at Western States before and enjoyed his company, but am looking forward to getting to know him better. I also think I’ll learn something from him. I often learn something while pacing, whether directly from the runner or from my own observations; however, I’d guess that there’s to learn than normal with Andy.
Looking at the southern end of the Tetons from the east.The Grand Teton Races are on the far side of these mountains.
[That's Grand Teton to the far right of the picture.]
I won’t handicap this race for a couple reasons. That said, Andy will obviously contend. For those of you not keeping score at home, he was fourth at Western States at the end of June and won the Vermont 100 four weeks later. Matt Hart (his blog) of the Montrail-Nathan will also contend. I can’t say that this will be Hart’s coming out party as he let the cat out of the bag with sweet runs at the HURT 100k in January (his report) and the Mt Hood 50 miler at the end of July (his report). However, this will be his first 100, so it will be fun to see how he does in his debut at this distance. Matt obviously has ample speed to run well and has competed in (a.k.a. kicked ass at) mountain bike and adventure races of similar duration as a 100 mile run. In addition, Matt has a stud pacer for the final 25 miles, Ty Draney, who also runs for the M-N team. While there may be a dark horse out there, this has the appears of a two man race up front. Best of luck to Matt and Andy, may you both run well.
Related articles:
- Course Records Crumble at the Grand Teton Races With a weekend of perfect weather on the west side of the Tetons it’s no surprise that records were falling like boulders during the thaw. Over the course of two...
- Dakota Jones Post-2011 Hardrock 100 Interview An interview with Dakota Jones after his second place finish at the 2011 Hardrock 100....
- Andy Anderson Grand Teton (& Longs Peak Roundtrip) FKT Interview An interview with Andy Anderson on breaking Kilian Jornet's Grand Teton FKT, as well as his Longs Peak roundtrip FKT....
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
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