First, let’s take a look back at the Appalachian Trail Speed Hike.
While I was negotiating the nasty rocks in Pennsylvania, I came upon the Whereskarl RV to refuel. I can’t remember exactly where in PA, but it was somewhere in the long green tunnel. Billy Simpson was feeding another thru-hiker with some trail magic. His name was Brian Doble. He was hanging with Billy, chowing down and talking about the AT. Brian started at Springer Mountain down in Georgia, I figured he was heading to Kathadin and just got lucky to score some feed from us, (we gave away lots of trail magic to thru-hikers). I mentioned to Billy how it would be nice to have poles for a while as my chest was very sore from a crash I had earlier ( I crashed on my sternum and was unable to run at that point). Brian handed me his super light poles,(they weighed 4 oz each) and told me to just drop them if I didn’t want them, he would get them later….but wait a minute, he started at Springer, south from here. Brian was Yoyoing the AT, he had already been to Kathadin, he was on his way BACK to Georgia. Brian was self-supported, his pack with 4 days of food weighed a mere 14 pounds. Talking about going light! Brian made it to Kathadin in 99 days with TEN “0″ days due to an injury. I know the feeling! When he turned around, he started speedhiking about 25-30 a day. Tough in NH and Maine, but once the trail turned smooth, he was easily making these miles. We were near Duncannon, PA, and I was walking with Brian for a while until I stopped to water a nearby tree. Brian kept walking, I told him I would catch up. I lost the trail soon thereafter at one of the very few areas where the blazes were messed up, I lost about 25 minutes. I arrived at the RV only to see Brian chowing again with Billy. Trail Angel Mary had arrived with some trail magic of her own…A huge crockpot of Pasta Carbonara, we both inhaled it!. We stopped here for the night. Brian was offered a spot to sleep in the RV, but slept outside on the ground like he had been doing during his whole adventure, under his space blanket. After my 5am start, I was now ahead, I never saw him again. His goal was to reach Springer Mt. in about 85 days (from Kathadin) at the pace he was going. Maybe I inspired him to go faster! His “unsupported” hike from Kathadin ended up being 75 days. 174 days and he was back to Springer Mt to pick up his car and drive home. Brian averaged a 65 day pace the last 1300 miles, needless to say he saved the best miles for the last 30% of his hike.
Brian Yo Yo’ed the AT in 174 days!!!! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I would imagine, that’s the yoyo record!!
So much for a single direction thru-hike, he took this to another level…and under the radar!!! I shall deem his trail name as YO-YO!! Next year he’s got some ideas up his sleeve. Keep an eye out for his name!!
This is simply an incredible performance…and he wasn’t even really trying to make that happen. I just thought I would share that with everyone.
On another note:The Javelina Jundred is Saturday! The washing machine loop in the desert. Here’s my odds:
The Men
Jorge Pacheco 7-2. Jorge brings experience to Javelina, but has to keep cool early and not go out too fast, he has a tendancy to do so, last year he had my record beat, but fell short at the end. Still his 15:49 is fast and he’ll be chasing that. Todd Braje 9-2. Depends on how Jorge and Todd start out. These two could beat each other up early and leave the spot open for the next guy, but it should be these two in the front. Josh Nordell 8-1. He’s a shoe-in for 3rd, unless…again…the other two beat each other up, and he slips in for the win. Neil Olsen, Jeff Riley, Craig Thornley, and Todd Ragsdale will be lurking in the moonlight if the others get spooked!The ladies
Michelle Barton 3-1. She’s run it before…a few times… and is no rookie on the washing maching looper. Her big smile and cool Moeben Sleeves should be the first across the line. Jamie Donaldson 4-1. Jamie has had a stellar season and if she’s recovered from Korea, she’ll have a chance to win 3 100+ mile races in a year, putting her close to the top of the Speedgoat of the Year voting. I missed a few runners and have added them to the odds, now the ladies race should be good, as long as they don’t beat each other up like the men. It’ll be fun to watch!Let’s not forget the Ultracentric 24 hour run is also going on this weekend, I can’t do odds cuz’ there is no runners list, but if history repeats itself, it’ll be very competitive for the richest prize purse for a looper course. The North Face 50 may be taking over for the richest purse. Nice to see it’s at a trail run!!!
As long trail records seem to be the Ultra of choice for a select few, keep an eye on Brian, something tells me everyone will know him soon!
I need to stick up for Oregonian contingent (not just the former Oregonians Todd and Josh): Look for Craig Thornley, Niel Olsen, Jeff Riley, and Todd Ragsdale to all be lurking, along with Josh Nordell, should Jorge and Todd knock each other out.
Gotta give strong consideration to Thornley and Riley (although I’m sure they’d prefer to stay below the radar. I think they’re both in sun-17 hour shape.
AJW
Thanks for the odds Speedgoat Rockstar Karl!! I’ll do my best to make those odds come true in true Moeben style.
I ran the Saddleback Mountain Trail Marathon this past Saturday and took first place overall female. You will be missed at Javalina Karl!! It was cool sharing the trail with you as you blasted away the course record in 2006!!
I think Josh Nordell is going to ROCK the course this year!
Karl-
I’m running Javelina Jundred 100 this weekend. Not that it would change your odds, I’m still a little tired from Korea. But watch out for me in the costume category:)
Jamie
yo karl,
yo yo is king of the flip flop. i can’t wait to see what he does the pct in. i think i may go the northbound leg with him. light and fast. he sent a note to buzz. we’ll see what happens with that.
peace bro….how are the legs doing?
billy
Karl,
It’s about time for another killer coupon discount code from Backcountry! 20% at least. Hook us up, I’ve some Christmas shopping to do.
Thanks, Bradley.
Are you accepting bets with those odds? I’ll give you action. How much?
…Joe
Keep an eye on Andrew Heard, local speedster with course 411. He took 2nd at SD 100 last year gaining on Neilson all night. Top 5 Zane and Old Pueblo every year.
Karl-
Not sure if you heard that Nikki K stopped at 30 miles in the ultracentric due to camber/cant of the loop. Scott J stopped at 50, although I don’t know why.
BB
You were right on AZ Speedgoat. Andrew Heard is one cool cat!! Ran strong all day. Great job Andrew
Bummer that Nikki and Scott bailed at Ultracentric, but it’s a classic reason trail runners don’t run in circles! It just ain’t healthy. Scott is still the man at Spartathlon though, with the exception of Yannis, his times there are spectacular for 153 road miles. Like I did a few years back, Nikki took a run at the looper. I doubt she’ll do it again, and for good reason. Running for prize money is great, but top trail runners should “Run what they like to run, not what others expect them to run”. Cheers to trail running!!
Karl,
Ran into Red Fox and Creature heading south a couple days ago in South Western VA. Said you all had an awesome time destroying the buffet while you were recovering in Great Barrington, cool guys… said bunches of nice things about you. Congrats again on your success. The AT is out of kontrol… Gotta love that trail magic, it always presents itself when you need it the most. The AT is definitely magical, there’s just no other way to explain it… perhaps you could give us a mention.
http://www.2175forALS.com
Happy Recovery
-Rick-
Congrats to Jamie Donaldson for another win at Javelina Jundred. Jamie is unstoppable this year, winning 4 or 5 100+ mile races, and 4 or 5 other ultras. Can anyone say UltraRunner of the Year?
I think Creature, Dare and Red Fox have had the best AT adventure of all, glad I could provide some trail magic to them, I would love to give them some more, but it’s tough to send in the mail!!
Jamie Donaldson, definately in the running for Ultrarunner of the Year, it’ll be interesting to see how the boys at U-mag vote it. Jamie’s only downfall is that she hasn’t raced against stiff competition….and I know her pain on this subject. I have also won 5 100s in a calendar year and didn’t win the voting, so I’d bet Jamie gets overlooked by U-mag. Remember that Susannah Beck is also in the running. I would vote for Jamie because I am somewhat 100 mile biased, (and not afraid to admit it), but Susannah has dominated every race she has run and has beaten some of the best in the sport, and with superior record times. Remember her times at the Moab 34, Way Too Cool 50K, White River 50 mile, and Lithia Loop Trail Marathon?, against some of the toughest competition. After reminding myself about those runs it’s a tough vote. Wardian or Jorge at this point should take the men. Jurek wins performance of the year at Spartathlon, but doesn’t get close to the top 5 for overall, kind of like Carpenter when he set Leadville. Maybe we should start threading on this……..
Karl-
Karl-
For the men I agree it is a close call between for UR of the year between Wardian or Jorge. I think that Jorge gets my vote based on having the fastest 100 mile time this year (14:12 @ RR) and his Badwater 135 victory.
For the women, I 100% agree with you that it should be Jamie. Susannah is having a great year but she only runs “short” ultras. Jamie has won 8 races this year with three of them being course records, two of them should be in the top 5 for female performances of the year, Badwater 26:51 and Umstead 16:21. The only race she did not win this year was the 24-hour world championships where she placed 5th overall (137+ miles). Unlike Susannah, Jamie has run and dominated in variety of ultra distances. Jamie ran 5 races that were 100 miles+, 100K, double marathon, and 50K.
BB
I hope the U-mag recognizes that! They should. If anything is 100% in the bag, the “Speedgoat of the year award”-mantle piece will be hanging over the fireplace! That one counts against the men too, it stands up to be one of the most dominant years in the ultra world for both genders. The nasty goat should be hers.
A couple things to add:
I’ll give Skaggs a serious look for POY. Maybe not better than Jurek in Greece but pretty close. After that, male POY falls off fast.
For the women, Kami Semick’s Silver in the World 100K has got to get it done in that category.
And, for Ultrarunner of the Year (men), you can’t overlook Hal. I know he basically took nine months off with injury but since then he smoked AC, Firetrails, and World of Hurt in Vegas. My guess is he has a couple other ones up his sleeve before the New Year. Perhaps not enough to beat Jorge and Mike but pretty good nonetheless.
Female of the year goes to Jamie (but I, too, am obviously biased toward 100 milers).
I voted for you in 2006!
AJW
is ur magazine’s POY limited to races in north america? i thought it was but maybe it’s just performances BY north americans? either way i kind of feel like skaggs gets the nod over scott in my book. those are clearly the top 2 but don’t forget about what d. mackey did at miwok. i think that performance was probably closer to these other 2 then he’ll end up getting credit for.
I’m still stupified in why folks are still not remembering one incredible performance in the Cumberland Mts of Tennessee, this really easy race called the Barkley, who’s CR was smashed this year by Flyin Brian in some 54+ hrs of relentless hell. If that does not get performance of the year then there is no justice and I’m a monkey’s uncle.
followed by other strong finishes:
Skaggs/hardrock which would win any other year.
Semick/ world 100km
Jurek/spartathlon
donaldson/badwater
mackey/miwok
Ricky Gates/ world Mtn Running Championships
wardian/caumsett
storkamp/arrowhead
Roes/wasatch
Koerner/angeles crest
ROTY: For awhile I thought Pacheco most definitely, but I can’t help but to think of the solid performances against some of the best competition that Wardian accomplished. Most of us would cough a lung to bust just one sub 2:30 marathon, but he blasts them out seemingly every weekend. With over a handful of marathon wins and top 5’s, olympic trials competitor, 3 USATF ultra wins and a close 2nd at USATF trail marathon, solid run at world 100km, hard to see POTY going to anyone else.
Now we’re putting things together.
In my opinion, Scott’s run at Spartathlon is solid too, but not a record, and far from the record from Kouros, so it can’t be rated as performance of the year. I just think the boys at U-mag will vote for Scott because they vote that way. I would vote for Skaggs if it were my trophy. 23:23 at Hardrock is retarded, anyone who has run there, slow or fast, will definately agree….I hope!
Wynnman, you are a monkey’s uncle! Flyin’ Brian won’t win that award…unfortunately. Even though it was very good, it’s not a race, it’s a survival hike. Barkley is an orienteering event, and although Flyin’ Brian’s performance is truly awesome, it is no comparison to Skaggs at Hardrock.
POY is tough, because Mackey’s Miwok was spectacular too, and he blew a stellar field away. He gets 2nd in my book, but my book doesn’t count.
Wardian’s only downfall is the same as Susannah Beck, no 100s on the list…that hurts some.
Remember when I say who I think is gonna win, it’s not necessarily my vote, but what I think the U-mag will vote…there’s a difference. They have a mind of their own.
It’s also like saying my 54+ day on the AT is nothing to yack about, but for those select few that have been there know 54 days on that trail is quite fast…especially with 4 “0″ days. We’ll see what happens next time.
We continue to yack, thanks Wynn for that list of performances, it helps alot when the big vote comes down for the nasty goat!
Geoff, I think the POY is by US citizens only. Look at Ulli Steidl, every time that guy runs, her crushes everyone. Last year at the NF Challenge, beating Matt Carpenter was sick, and the next guy was Leigh Schmitt about 50 minutes back. Ulli runs at a different level, but is german so he loses. Just a thought, Im off.
yeah karl, thanks for reminding me how easily Steidl crushes everyone when he runs since i’ll be looking for some miracle way of staying with him at the NF challenge in 3 weeks. thanks a lot buddy
Can please someone explain to me who exactly who votes for the UR magazine UR of the year? As many of you have referred to it seems very biased.
BB
Ulli runs like a gazelle, when I saw him take off a few years ago at Way Too Cool (the first 500 meters, then he was gone) it appeared he was levitating and running on only his big toe. His stride is awesome. Good luck at NF50 in a few weeks Geoff, it’s gonna be a great race any way you look at it. Scope it out first, so noone gets lost, I’ve heard that’s a smart thing to do there. Miracles do happen, have faith!!!
OK, here’s my men’s POY top-5 (revised)
1. Skaggs (HR)
2. Jurek (Sparta)
3. Mackey (Miwok)
4. Koerner (AC)
5. Roes (Wasatch)
Gotta say, with my #5, the dude was tough and he had nobody chasing him:)
AJW
My vote is for Skaggs! Maybe because he beat me by 6 and 1/2 hours??? I dunno…
All of those POY posted by AjayDub are amazing feats and could easily win in “other” years but I find myself being biased to the races I’ve done - I hope those who vote don’t have the same kind of bias. (i.e. RDs for any of the aforementioned races)
Top 3…on the nose, the next two are tough, Koerner’s AC was stellar and gets into the top 5, and so was Geoff’s Wasatch. Noone ever chased me at Wasatch when I ran 19:43 or 20:06. The 19:43 didn’t even make top 5, and Skaggs’ 19:35 barely made top 5. I am speaking of the U-mag voting though, if it’s speedgoat of the year, Roes and Koerner are a toss-up for 4th in my book. We still have JFK and the NF50 to look at, and with Ulli the gazelle running at the NF50, it’ll certainly be in there for a top 3 voting…even though he’s a German :):). I sometimes think his performances get overlooked because we expect that of him. When he beat Carpenter last year they were so far ahead of everyone else, and it didn’t even get recognized. And let’s not forget the Wynnman’s pick of Flyin’ Brian at that silly hike through the Brushy Mountains in Tennessee, that’ll also get overlooked….we can go on forever. We’ll see what Ulli does next.
I’m not sure who votes for the UR of the year but I agree with Karl that Scott J should not be in the top 5 this year. This year he has DNF’ed at the Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc & and Ultacentric and DNS for the 24-hour world championship. While he did have one good race this year he has not earned a top 5 ranking. If he somehow manages to get voted in the top few than that is a perfect example of “biased” voting.
Joy
If 100’s are the “supreme being” so to say, which in my mind they are, then Jamie Donaldson should have a gnarly goat sculpture/conversation piece above her mantle as recipient of SPOTY by year’s end.
just my 2 cents.
I hope Kyle Skaggs will be Speedgoat und Ultrarunner of the year.
A sub 24 on Hardrock is amazing!
And I don’t think that any Hardrocker doesn’t agree with that.
What I do not understand: Why can’t be Uli Steidl in the List? He lives and works in the US. And he is pretty good as well.
i think it’s worth noting that mackey had his performance at miwok against a field that contained many of the others being mentioned as potential POY candidates. just a thought. i have a tough time putting these performances in order, but if i had to i would say: skaggs, mackey, and then jurek… but all very close. i also think that whoever wins the NF50 will be a lock for the 4th spot (or better). someone’s going to step up with the big money on the line and have to beat at least 4 or 5 very fast guys (just like mackey did at miwok) to win that race.
Hey Karl,
Any odds for the JFK this weekend?
Mike V.
Hi Karl,
I was looking at the WS100 runners list, and I did not see your name for 2009. What’s up with that? I did see Mackey, who I thought had sworn off 100 milers.
Marco D
JFK
Lundblad
Lavine
Breckinridge
I decided not to run Western and return to Hardrock instead. Hardrock is alot more fun! Not to mention Western is not my kind of race. I like to run races I enjoy, not what is expected of others. I’ll be running for 2nd or even third at Hardrock if that fast guy runs, but the two week vacation beforehand and hanging in Silverton is worth not running Western…sorry.
JFK??? I’ll look at it now, Wynn has posted three for starters, JFK is tough for me as most of the guys up front are names I do not know…To the search engine, eh?
I know Mark Lundblad has to one of the favorite at the JFK
That’s what I’m talkin’ bout - Karl “THE Original Wasatch Speedgoat” Meltzer at Hard Rock! Welcome home! I hope to see you there!
Just like you, I spent 2 weeks in Silverton prior to HR last year and I think it makes a world of difference. If I get in I’ll plan on some runs n brews with ya!
Markus, Ulli should be in the vote, I think only the USATF old school doesn’t recognize “foreigners (sp?). Ulli never runs enough races to be Ultrarunner of the Year, he just selects a few and wins them with ease, with the exception of NF50 last year. Only Matt can compete with him at this point…until some other runners run races that people expect them to run…we know who I’m talking about.
I think Mackey took my spot at Western, he must have got in with a “special consideration” They continue to call it the big race.
Karl,
That’s cool, I was just hoping to see you run at WS100. I’m going to volunteer, since it is close to where I live. Maybe Mackey got in because he took miwook 100k earlier this year.
Marco D.
Regarding Wardian…since we’re talking about Ultrarunner of the Year, although super impressive, his marathons really should have no merit in the voting here. That said, he’s obviously had a helluva an ultra season and I’m sure all of his stellar ultra performances will be taken into account.
If Kami’s Silver at the 100k Worlds doesn’t get POTY, then that’s just stupid.
I think the voters for UR Mag’s voting are random ultrarunners from around the US. I once knew one guy who was on the panel and I firmly believe he was not biased towards any one surface, distance, etc.
Sean, you are correct, Wardian’s marathons are Moot, still impressive, but doesn’t count, marathons are too short. Sounds like you’re voting for Kami.
As for any future AT endurance record attempt on Karl’s part, if he, and his supporters, approaches it with the same kind of attitude (i.e. website banner heading)and with the same kind of logistical process, I give him a 30% chance of breaking the record (up from 20% on his 2008 attempt).
Nice to see you resurface Warren, I finally feel like I’m recovered, it took exactly what I thought 3-4 months. Running strong again. Realizing you hated the banner, I did too but could care less what others really think, so I went with it.
No doubt the stars have to line up to break Andrew’s record. I do feel it is attainable, the knowledge i have now gained by completing it helped alot. I am not a bailer and knew it would be good to get it done, no matter what my time was. I know what is possible in certain areas in terms of miles. I can break it, it just has to all click. It did not click last year after I dealt with Tendinitis.
RV, probably not, it’s hard to find a good crew who can be there the whole time, so that has alot to do with my next attempt. I would like to in 2010, but again, someone else has to commit to sleeping in a truck for 7 weeks. We’ll see.
Cheers! I’m going skiing now.
Oh yah, thanks for the odds, you fit right into my website