Dave Mackey Pre-Bandera 100k 2012
January 6, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 106 Comments
We caught up with Dave Mackey defending champion the day before the 2012 Bandera 100k. In the interview, Mackey talks about the Bandera course, the draw of USATF championships, who’ll be his biggest competition at the race, and who his competition might be for the 2011 Ultrarunner of the year.
Dave Mackey, 2012 Bandera 100k Pre-Race Interview Transcript
iRunFar: You’re the Bandera defending champion and the USATF Trail 100k Champion.
Dave Mackey: So it seems. Yes, if that means something, so I am.
iRF: It must mean something to you. You seem to run a bunch of these USATF races. What does being 100k Trail Champion mean to you?
Mackey: It usually means a few more of the faster guys will show up which is the primary reason to go to one of the races. There’s a little bit of prize money, which is nice, and usually it’s in a cool location. USATF has their standard with their races, so you know you’re usually going to get a good event and good competition. Some races you don’t get as good of competition. Last year was pretty good. This year it’s really stacked. It will be a good challenge.
iRF: What is this course like? A two-lap 100k course?
Mackey: Yes, two 50k laps. The first third is pretty technical, the middle third is pretty fast, and the last third is pretty technical, too. Overall, you can get some good leg turnover. But when you’re not, you’re kind of in rocky, rutted canyons and baby head rocks, limestone sharp rocks. It’s pretty technical overall when you’re not doing this sort of flat, fast burns through the middle section, you’re definitely going up and down pretty often. There are some pretty good climbs and it adds up. I don’t know what the total vert is but you get 500-foot climbs all the time. It’s pretty good, pretty technical singletrack.
iRF: So even though there’s no high elevation and no big mountains around us these hills add up.
Mackey: Yes, there’s one 600 foot hill right there and that’s as big as it gets.
iRF: What do you think about having course knowledge either just the feel for it or the technicality of it? I ran a few miles of it today and the course is very well marked but if you’re looking around it’s not obvious… the line… there might be two or three paths in one section.
Mackey: Yeah, I was telling my friend Charles when we were driving it, you’ve got to pick some lines. You might lose one second if you go one way or one second if you go the other way but you always end up in the same place. It’s just like a little blurb around a hump of rocks or grass or something. It doesn’t make a big difference. So you go around the first loop, and then you’ve seen the course. So the next time you might take little variations, but course knowledge won’t help out much at all.
Overall, it will help out with pacing. I know what I did last year, and I know this year I want to run it slightly differently. In that experience course knowledge helps a lot. Knowing where that middle fast section is and knowing where the technical sections are might help a little bit, but anyone can onsight this course and do really well.
iRF: Who do you think is going to be out there pushing you the most tomorrow?
Mackey: Just go to iRunFar.com and they’ll highlight it for you. Nick [Clark] is solid, he won it two years ago. I think it was pretty cold two years ago, but I’m sure he’s going to do faster tomorrow. Tim Olson is obviously super fast. Jason Schlarb. Dave James who was second last year, he goes out aggressively. He’ll be going out really fast I’m sure, he always does. Joe Uhan is here. Todd Braje is coming, is that right? Who am I missing? Oh yeah, Yassine (Diboun). Justin Ricks, oh yeah, he’s a really interesting one. He’s set some really fast times in Colorado a few years ago and then he kind of fell off. But it’s good to see him back in it.
iRF: Do you think you can run faster than last year?
Mackey: I’m probably 10 minutes slower right now but hopefully I’m 15 minutes smarter. I don’t know, we’ll see if I can run a little bit faster. It could be by the nature of the competition I might be able to go a little bit faster if I get sucked along in it. I might be faster, but I doubt it. I don’t have the training base that I did last year.
iRF: Busy with school?
Mackey: School and life, I guess.
iRF: It is the beginning of 2012 and it’s the time people are looking back at 2011. Rumor has it that today was the day that Ultrarunning magazine Ultrarunner of the Year ballots were due. Your name was obviously in the mix. Who besides yourself would you have picked for men’s Ultrarunner of the Year?
Mackey: If I had a choice it would be the people who have been listed numerous times: Nick [Clark], Mike Wolfe, Mike Wardian and for the girls you’ve got Ellie Greenwood who’s hard to top and Kami [Semick]. Probably those four guys. I’d go with them. You never know who could pop in there. David Riddle ran an awesome JFK 50 mile and dominated the 50k scene and that didn’t mean much as far as Ultrarunner of the Year which is fine, it’s a different distance. So yeah, those four guys probably.
iRF: No one standing above the rest?
Mackey: I don’t know who I’d pick. Of course I’d vote for me, but, I don’t know. That’s a tough call. Everyone’s got their different specialties. Mike Wardian dominates the roads. Nick’s the 100-mile guy. I’m somewhere in between on the dirt. So yeah, hard to say.
iRF: It’s going to be a beautiful day here tomorrow so enjoy the trails!
Related articles:
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- Cassie Scallon 2012 Bandera 100k Champion Interview A video interview with Cassie Scallon, 2012 Bandera 100k champ and USATF Trail 100k national champion....
- 2012 Bandera 100k Coverage Live coverage of the 2012 Bandera 100k....
Filed under Interviews and Profiles, Races, Video ·
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.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Good interview as always Bryon, it was nice to see Dave in “person”. Odd question though, Dave what are you studying? And what is the deal with students and ultra running? Has college as a 20 something gotten too easy? Okay just kidding, seriously, good job out there Dave and maybe one day we will toe the line together, although I will be in the back, either way what a pleasure that would be!
Congrats to Dave on a awesome 2011. With me turning 40 in February, it’s nice to see a 40+ person running so well and healthy. It’s very inspiring.
Hi Dave,
Congratulations on a great run at Bandera and a great season. Enjoy your downtime and rest up for a UROY two-peat next year!
Congrats, Dave!
Great job buddy. Send me a pair of Hokas please.
Congrats on a great race, Dave. Best wishes for your 2012 season. You have at least one fan in Norway.. Keep it up.
Congrats on UROY!!
Congratulations Dave. I’m still trying to figure out how you run the way you do while powering through PA school. I’m not sure that people realize what an amazing feat that is. Best of luck in 2012.
Nice job Dave!
Dave,
congratulations on Your deserved award. I have followed your journey for several years and have been inspired by You. I hope to meet You out on the trails someday.
Great interview Bryon and Dave! I love following this sport and I love how accessible the athletes are. Reading this website and the interviews make me want to go run! I love it!
Bryon, thanks again for a great interview and keeping us up on all the latest news in the ultra world. Dave, congrats on a fantastic year! I look forward to seeing what you do in 2012. I’d love a pair of Hoka’s!
Great interview, Dave (and Bryon). Heck of a race at Bandera I will say. Congrats on winning UROY. Very well deserved. Hope 2012 is equally as good if not better for you than 2011! Run on!
It’s been fun running Bandera with you the last two years, although the only time I see you is at the start line. Hope you go back next year. I wore my Hokas (old and need replacement ;-) ) this year and felt like those shoes were were made for the Bandera trails. Well done on 2nd!
Great year for you in 2011, Dave! Hope 2012 is more of the same and you keep on rolling! Congrats on UROY! Well deserved
Great year Dave!
Hoping 2012 is your best year yet Dave. I’ve been running in Hokas for almost 2 years now, and while my original pairs have held up well, it’s time for a new pair :) Keep up the great work!!
Nice year!
Tim Casagrande
Rocklin, CA
After turning 40 last month my goals this year are to stay healthy and run my first 50. Congrats on a great year, Dave and thanks for the interview Bryon.
Congrats on UROY 2011, Those Hokas sure would be nice for my first 100 in July…
Julie Caswell
raymond, Maine
Congrats on UROY Dave! Way to start out 2012 well also!
Kick ass in 2012 man. Repeat UROY!
Congrats Dave!!!
Very nice race Dave!
From one Dave to another…
I’m not gonna lie, I’m here for some clown shoes.
Gods job Dave. I’m in for the shoes as well but still glad to see the results. Definitely would have been my pick for UROY.
Congrats again! Awesome year.
Congrats on a awesome year Dave. Great article by IRF.
Congrats on the UROY Dave.
Great interview of a great guy. Thanks so much for all the great interviews and race coverages
Thanks for the interview. Dave is an inspiration.
Great job Dave.
Dave I see you at the races here in the Bay Area. I’m a middle of the pack runner and I honestly don’t know how you can maintain a pace like that. I saw you last at Dick Collins when I saw you on your way back I still had three miles to go to the turn around point, which means you were already six miles ahead of me and you were still smiling. Wicked Fast! Congrats on your Ultrarunner of the year award.
Marco
Glad you got the UROY. Class act. Impressive how you can manage to be so competitive with such a busy schedule. Looking forward to seeing how 2012 unfolds…
Dave- great interview. Congratulations on being named UROY and on your performance at Bandera…hope to run with you again soon…will you be at Nueces 50 mile nationals?
Always enjoy iRF interviews, Dave’s words of wisdom, and free shoes.
Awesome
Congrats Dave on a great running
Nice Job and Yes I’d be glad to try a pair of Hoka’s.
Two guys in a jungle come around a corner and meet a lion head-on
pawing the ground. One guy ever so carefully reaches into his knapsack and slowly takes out a set of Hoka running shoes, never once breaking eye contact with
the lion. The second guy hisses: “What are you doing, you can’t outrun the lion”
And the first guy says: “No, but all I have to do is outrun you”!
Congrats to Mackey on UROY.
Congrats on the UROY! For 2012, I think you need to FKT the R2R2R again. You can’t let that kid from Durango have all the fun.
Congrats on UROY!
Great start to 2012!
Shameless attempt at getting a free pair of Hokas. I’m starting an RN program in 2 days and it drained my bank account. You can look at this as writing you first script. Hokas, just what the Dr. (P.A.) ordered. Good luck with school and the 2012 season.
Congrats on UROY. All the best in 2012.
Congrats Dave on UROY.
Congrats Dave,on UROY and Bandera,looks like another good year shaping up.
Congrats, thanks for the interview!
Zak Branigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Congrats Dave!
Dave — congratulations. It’s been a lot of fun/inspiring to follow your year.