This Week In Running (Week of 9/26 & 9/27)
September 22, 2009 by Anthony Portera · 7 Comments
We’re back. No, we haven’t returned to celebrate all of the great birthdays that fall on the weekend of September 26 and 27, such as Serena Williams (1981), Linda Hamilton (1956), Jack LaLanne (1914) Johnny Appleseed (1774), Shaun Cassidy (1958), and Sam Adams (1722). Nor are we back to remember the historic events that occurred on this weekend, including Nolan Ryan’s MLB record 5th no-hitter (1981), the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic by the Concorde (1973), the release of the Beatles album Abbey Road (1969), and the first production of the Ford Motel T (1908). We are here to take a look at some of the running events/races that are taking place on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27….here we go….
We begin with the Bear 100, “a cool, autumn loop through the pines, golden aspen and red maples of the Wasatch/Bear River Range,” taking place on Friday and Saturday (September 25-26) in Logan, Utah. Bear features 21,986 feet of climb, a maximum elevation of 9,060 feet, and an average elevation at 7,350 feet. The course underwent some changes over time from its original version, and as such, Bear keeps track of the “old course” and “new course” course record. The “old course” records are held by Karl Meltzer (18:50:45 in 2007) and Ruth Zollinger (23:56:51 in 2001) and the “new course” records are held by Ty Draney (19:59:07 in 2008) and Kim Gimenez (26:16:45 in 2008). The course is comprised of trails (64%), dirt roads and jeep trails (35%), and paved road (1%).
The Hallucination 100 Mile, the Peace, Love and 50 mile, the Mellow Marathon, the Freak 50k and the Hippie Half Marathon all take place from September 25 to September 27 outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. Three days of Peace, Love, Music and, of course, running and walking take place on silent single-track trails through the Michigan wilderness at the “Run Woodstock” events. A celebration of freedom and fitness, these events offer a trip back to the bygone age of nature and love, centered around a mantra of miles on beautiful trails. How can you possibly NOT check out an event that boasts “lots of time to mellow, meditate and MAKE OUT.” What ? Please, anyone attending take pictures of all those making out so we can post them next weekend. They even have a “Flower Power 5 Mile”, a “Far Out 5k” and a “Trippin’ 10k” event.
The 100-mile course is a 16.6 mile loop on the difficult, single-track Potawatomi trail. Runners will cross paved roads three times per loop without traffic control, so watch out!
Keeping with the 100-milers, the Hundred in the Hood (PCT Ultra 100 Miler), a 100% single-track trail race with 10,000 feet of elevation gain, takes place on September 26-27 in Oregon, about 20 miles south of Mt. Hood. The course consists of two straight out-and-back sections. The first 50 miles is run on the course of the PCTR Mt. Hood 50-Mile. The second 50 miles travels south on Pacific Crest Trail through Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
From the 100-mile distance, we move down to 50, miles that is, and the Vermont 50 Mile (Sunday, September 27 in Brownsville, Vermont – also includes one of the most popular mountain bike races around, and a 50k). The course starts at Ascutney Mountain Resort. For the first three miles racers will follow down a gentle downhill on gravel roads. After an easy road climb the course turns onto snowmobile – ATV trails, which it follows through gentle rolling terrain for the next three miles. Shortly after leaving the ATV trails, the real climbing and descending starts. The course will follow ATV and jeep trails, single track and roads through the top of the highest hill in Hartland, where racers will get an incredible view of Vermont and New Hampshire. From about mile 40 to mile 46.5, racers will have a nice snowmobile trail over rolling, mostly downhill terrain, before hooking onto the cross country ski trail system at Mt. Ascutney for the last four miles.
There are several other events taking place this weekend, including: Great Eastern Endurance Run 50k/100k (Charlottesville, VA), Run From The Ducks 8 Hour (Mineral Wells, TX), Big Schloss 50k (George Washington National Forest, VA), Tahoe Midnight 72 Mile (South Lake Tahoe, NV), Russell B. Cheney 50k (Dover, DE), Santa Cruz Mountains 50k (Santa Cruz, CA), Sierra Nevada Endurance Runs (Granite Bay, CA), and Noble Canyon 50k (Pine Valley,
CA). You can check out the specific web-site of each of these events for more information.
[Trail Goat Note: While not a race, Catalan stud Kilian Jornet will kick off his run of the Tahoe Rim Trail the morning of Monday, September 28. You can follow all the action here on iRunFar.com!]
That will wrap things up for this week. Enjoy the weekend, and see you next week for another edition of This Week In Running !
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Anthony Portera a contributing author to iRunFar.com.
All posts by Anthony Portera
That's interesting news about Jornet. I definitely look forward to following the action on that one!
Gretchen,
I'll do I can to keep folks in the loop! :-)
Such an awesome line-up of events you guys have over there Bryon. Is it like that every weekend? Little old Australia has to make do with a couple of 100 milers a year!
Great Ocean Walk 100 for us guys in a few weeks – it's the inaugural run of this event, but is being run by some very experienced guys, so should be a cracker.
Dan, while we do have a great ultra scene in the US, this is a sweet spot in the ultra season right now. Most of the big 100 milers are done, but it is or is approaching the best time of year to go long in most of the country. Tons of 50k and most of the best 50 mile races are still to come.
The Sierra Nevada Endurance Runs are this upcoming Saturday, as well. There is a trail marathon, double marathon, and 100k. Should be good stuff. Here is the web address: http://www.snerultras.com/
Andy, I'll be sure to throw the SNER above the fold. I was actually thinking about them earlier today. I'll have to check them out sometime since they're now in my backyard.