Ultra_Tales_Issue_13

EVENT REPORTHARDROCK 100FIRST RIVER CROSSINGsomehow managed to find me another pacer in theform of Ryan Smith from Rocky Mountain runnerswho there with his wife Silke had travelled downform Boulder to be part of the race. Azusa hadpicked up his distinctive accent, in the thin air,(Ryan is a Brit) which is always a bonus in the USand the rest as they say is history.It was a great mental boost to see Azusa and Jon atthis point and it was a blast scurrying done the backside of Grant Swamp pass. KJ just bounced downthis section making it look like child’s pay.Coming into Chapman (mile 19 or so) was a changefrom 2012 where my feet were already cooked.Everything was in working order although I wasfinding it very hot and stuffy. I headed out of the aidstation with veteran Billy Simpson who warned meto slow down as we were on of 32 hour pace whichwas slightly optimistic of me.The first half of Oscars (which is my least favouriteclimb) was very hot and I moved extremely slowly.Towards the top the clouds came in and there was alight breeze and even a couple of drops of rainwhich was a relief. At the top Randy Isler came pastme and was flying, I was happy to let him go. In2012 we had spent much of the race leapfroggingeach other so it was great to see him again.Over the top of Oscars and it’s a great single tracktrail (the only bit of the course I haven’t seenbefore) all the way down to Telluride. A well trainedand motivated John Sharp who took about 6 hoursoff his course PB, (if you haven’t seen it check outhis Hardrock 2012 Summation on you tube) camepast on this section and then the first heavythunder storm struck. I had a picked up a number ofthe $1 plastic rain jackets which can be great in thissituation but as I stopped and fumbled with it BetsyKalmeyer (2nd lady) flew past. On reflection I shouldhave just pulled on my rain jacket, got wet andworried about it later but the trouble is in themountains you never know what is coming nextand I didn’t want to get too cold to early on.Running in to Telluride it was still raining but thesun was also out so the rain jacket was off again butI was soaked through. The last mile or so I ended uprunning with Josh a youngster who had somehowmanaged to beat the ballot for both WesternsStates and Hard Rock on his first attempt both inthe same year. We agreed we would spend 5minutes here sorting our feet our and grabbingsome food before embarking on 4000ft to Virginius.Each time I have arrived in the Telluride aid stationit has always been carnage as there are so manysupporters and crew around, you run in shout out40 ULTRA TALES | OCTOBER 2014Sponsored by thehttp://