Herc Open

[gratefulskier]

Lostone mentioned the Herc Open in another thread.

I did the Long Course on Saturday and it was a blast. John Atkinson designed one tough course and he and Matt and Laura did an amazing job of setting up the course. Parts of the course were cleared with a mower, but Matt told me that they had to use weed whackers to clear a lot of the course. I can't imagine how hard that must have been on some trails like Spillsville and Ripcord.

Doug Lewis ran a great race, showing that he is not just a wintertime athlete. I do a lot of running, year-round, and I was nowhere close to him on Saturday.

The long course had five significant climbs. The first was up Snowball and the traverse to Allyn's. The second was Ripcord to Spills to Ripcord to the summit. The third was Lower Downspout (from the Castlerock entrance) to Bailout and Lower Castlerock. The fourth was Village Run and then straight up skier's right of Sunrise. The fifth seemed easy - Sleeper Road to Waterfall and then up to the top of Gate House, but after the previous 4, even that one hurt.

For people not quite that adventurous, the short course did just the first climb and then returned to the base.

With lots of food, a band, and $25K in cash prizes for those in shape to contend, it was a great event and I hope it will be back next year. It's certainly a good mid-summer test of fitness. Considering that snowmaking could start as soon as 11 weeks or so from now, we should all be thinking about getting in shape for ski season, right?

After the race, I enjoyed some cold beers with Bubba and we talked to Lostone briefly. Bubba said that he would have entered, but the race didn't have a 100KG weight category.

My quads still hurt today.


GS

[Bubba]

I just checked the results page and you were'nt there!??

http://www.racetiming.com/07%20Herc%20Open%20Overall.htm

I'm beginning to think that you were only there for the shirt and the post race "carbo loading". :wink:

[noski]

You guys are ALL nuts! (I mean that in the kindest way, of course) I don't even run to the phone.

[gratefulskier]

I'm not in the results because I DQ'd myself after the run by reporting a navigation error to the timers.

There was an intersection just below Allyn's lodge that we hit twice. The first time, we were supposed to go straight on Downspout and the second time, we were supposed to turn right onto Lower Jester. The course markers were made from yellow plastic plates on stakes planted in the ground. The first time past the intersection, I saw a series of plates on a stake. I was running downhill at the time. The top plate had an arrow to the right. The middle plate said "Long Loop". That was good enough for me and I turned right. The third plate that I ignored said "2nd time". I realized my mistake when I got to the base of the climb up Ripcord and saw runners coming from a different direction and I saw how the course was marked at that spot.

So, the second time around, I went the other way. By doing that, I covered every single mile of the course, but I did it out of order. So, I went to the timers at the end and informed them of my mistake and they DQ'd me. I know that a number of other runners made the same mistake, but I don't know if they reported it or not.

My only complaint with the race would be that John's attempt to brief us on the course in detail was cut short and then there was no one directing traffic at that intersection. Ultimately, the runner remains responsible for knowing the course, and I owned up to my error. But, when running downhill right after a big climb, having a person at the intersection directing traffic would have been helpful for oxygen-deprived runners.


GS

[noski]

Grateful- that was a commendable and honorable thing to do. Hopefully they will make note of your suggestion of a traffic director. Nice. (still nuts though....) :wink:

[Lostone]

I hope you're not including me as one of those nuts! :evil:

Not that I'm not nuts... just not nuts like those runners. :roll: :lol:

I rode the lift up and walked slowly down, taking a few pix, here and there. I just stopped by their table to say hello. :wink:

Oh... and I don't run for the phone, either. I have an answering machine for that. :lol: