Faster Than Your Couch!
Grindstone has 23,000+ ft elevation change, ES has 21,000. I don't think the cutoffs at ES are too tight.
The terrain is not more dangerous than WS, Hardrock, or Grand Canyon (or any exposed mountain trail). Footing is bad in some areas, but ok for a technical course. I would not change it, and I don't feel it needs improvement. It's just hard to run on trails in that area, let it be. It is the charm of that race.
Maybe qualification standards should be raised. Of course it is difficult to set generic limits. Perhaps specifying certain 50-milers rather than allowing just any 50-miler for qualification?
A beard, and certain length of hair should be required for the guys.
Although, thinking of Leon, that's no guarantee for finishing either.
Run for fun.
Le professeur de trail
I remember in 2014 the weekend of ES like it was yesterday despite not being a part of either the 100 or COTW. I had originally signed up for ES when reg first opened in 2013 but due to injury and 0 running I pulled out Jan 1st 2014. But I remember the temps that weekend were very good for PA, so much so that I thought I had missed my chance at ES because it's not too often like that in Aug in PA. So I did a little research:
I checked the temps from last year (yes there are websites you can do that) and the high for Sat 2014 was 77 and that was late in the afternoon, low of 51 at the start of the race – 63 at noon and mid 60s in the evening time. Sunday was higher temps, 75 at noon and topping out in the 80s later in the afternoon. Humidity was in the 90’s to start and then bottomed out as the day went on. This year, 64 at the start with 90% humidity, and topped out at 90 in the afternoon with lower humidity. It was 70 at Midnight and got down to 65 but with higher humidity again. Then on Sunday it topped out at 90 again in the afternoon.
On another note, I was just reading some comments from people on FB to one of the RDs and they definitely felt that some of the AS cutoffs were too stringent and that attributed to some DNFs. Some people felt like they still could have made the 36 hours but could not make some of the AS times. With the higher temps and humidity, it would make a lot of sense that people would be slower on day one to "conserve" energy but then due to the technicality of the trails, not be able to make it up.
Well, it makes sense to me. I don't know what the cutoffs are and certainly don't know the course but that might be the only thing to change.
But if a beard is going to be required, I guess I am out.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
Keep Going
It would be very interesting to hear why some of the top runners such as Welts, Blandford, Gardner dropped out this year and what their perspective is. I heard that the reason David Lister dropped out last year was a nagging injury.
I know Jim Blandford and run with him at Hamburg and he dropped due to a nagging calf strain/calf pull. The back of his leg at the calf was actually red but was almost fine by Tuesday. He told me that he will be at Labor Pains 12 hour and most likely running in it! Hopefully he can pace me! He also dropped early at MMT this year for an odd knee pain he felt. That also went away in the few days as well. He's as badass as they come as far as elite Northeast ultrarunner's and as nice as can be. He loves ES and vows to be back next year. He calls the course a 'beast' and if he says that then you know it is. He has won MMT in the past and should have won ES last year but took a wrong turn in the last few miles that allowed Welts to catch up and pass him. Not sure what happened to Welts this year as he dropped at the same aid station as Blandford. Maybe Wardian was running so well at that point and neither of them could catch him. Being nosey I'll probably probe Jim some more the next time I see him. Maggie Guterl was pacing Gardner and I haven't heard anything as to why she dropped. Not a bad pacer to have eh? The stories that come out of these events are so cool. I can't wait to hear some of them. I did hear that Maruccio the guy that fell and broke his hip is doing really well and will be discharged soon from the hospital. He's got a long road of recovery ahead. Thank god he's ok and I'm sure he will return to the trails.
100 milers are my favorite
I was working on my RR and doing some poking around at the finishing times. Ended up on Ultrasignup looking at last years results. I went through a bunch of the names that DNF last year and looked at their running history. There were a lot that had either ran "easier" 100's or qualified with a 50 miler. There were some DNF's that had run courses like MMT and Grindstone, but more that had run the flatter less technical courses. I don't know if that was the same this year or not as they don't have the DNF's listed for this year.
That would make it appear that indeed there are a lot of people who are in a little too deep before they start. The RDs may have to choose to continue to accept people like that to keep the numbers up or reject more people and let the race grow slowly.