The 30th Annual Badwater Ultramarathon began today and the picture above is of the 6:00 am start group (it is a wave start; 6:00 am, 8:00 am and 10:00 am for the elite runners). Badwater is known as the "toughest foot race on the planet;" following is a description of the race from the event website:
"A true "challenge of the champions," this legendary foot race pits approximately up to 90 of the world’s toughest athletes–runners, triathletes, adventure racers, and mountaineers–against one another and the elements. Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA in temperatures up to 130F (55C), it is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet. Watch the webcast HERE. The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at 8360' (2533m). The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent. The Portals are the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States."
Ultrarunner and 13 time winner of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, Ann Trason, on Badwater: "It's more of a hike, a 130-degree-in-a-sandstorm hike, a torture-fest that I don't want to repeat. I like adventure, but this is an out of this world experience."
Fellow SLUGs Tracy Thomas and Brian Kuhn are participating in this year's event (in the picture above Brian is covering up the lower part of the "E" in "Kiehl's"). Only one SLUG, Jan Ryerse, has ever attempted and completed Badwater; you can read his full 2002 Race Report HERE. You can track Brian and Tracy's progress along with the other runners through the event's webcast. Badwater has a 60 hour time limit and will officially end for all waves at 10:00 pm this Wednesday, July 25th.
When you are running the next few days and struggling in what you think is hot weather, think about the participants at Badwater to inspire you to run hard and strong.
Happy Running,
Carey
2 comments:
Saw your profile featured in the SLTC's TTN. (They fouled my membership and I just got several back issues this week.) I am also a member of the Alton Road Runners - a back-of-the-packer, if you will. Glad to see another running-oriented blog here. In 2002, we were treated to a slide presentation of the Western States 100 at the annual RRCA convention. These ultra-endurance ultra-marathons are truly mind-blowing.
I occasionally post essays under the "Rear View" category - many were featured in the TTN in years past. Hope to see you out there; I plan on attending more St. Louis events again soon (long story that). Peas.
I would like to congratulate all the SLUG runners that ran at Badwater this year. Great job and what an incredible accomplishment. Kudos to Brian Kuhn considering his recent WS100 finish as well.
I maintain the Chicago Area Dead Runners Society blog site and we congratulate all Illinois runners there, some of our "Illinois" runners are members of SLUG.
That article can be viewed here:
http://chiadeads.blogspot.com/2007/07/badwater-race-in-progresscongratulation.html
CONGRATULATIONS again. Thanks for posting this article Carey. Hope all is well.
Brian Gaines
http://briangaines.blogspot.com
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