Leor Pantilat wins Way Too Cool……by default. Joelle Vaught takes the women’s title.
By Default? Yah, while hanging at the Way Too Cool 50k this past weekend, it was quite entertaining to watch the race from the other side of the fence. I made the best of it and went for a 10 mile run and put myself out on the course to watch where no other spectators were. At the Goat Hill aid station, mile 26.8, Max King, Geoff Roes, and Leor Pantilat were all together. It was shaping up to be a great battle the last 4 miles. I was sitting across a meadow where I could see a few minutes back. Once I saw all three guys, I started running towards the finish line, thinking they would catch me. They didn’t catch me, but I waited at the last aid station where there is only 1.3 miles to go to the finish. Leor came in first, with a 3 minute gap over Max King. Where was Geoff Roes?…..he was running on some other trail where he got off course….OUCH! Geoff had the race in his pocket, but only to find he had burnt a hole in it running so fast. Wrong way, lost 15 minutes…ended up third. Leor looked good at the end, but in Leor’s words….”Geoff was gone, and would have won”. These things happen in ultras………..I guess it’s a good thing there’s no real prize money. 🙂
Joelle Vaught returned to Way Too Cool after finishing 3rd last year. She had some stiff comp from “expected winner” Kami Semick. Joelle turned in a stellar performance running 4:13 to make it her second win at WTC, not too far off Susannah Beck’s record pace set on the old course. Kami Semick dropped for some reason, Bev Abbs ran second around 4:26, Darcy Africa ended 3rd a few minutes behind. Both races were great to watch. This one always brings in strong talent, and this year was no exception.
The Speedgoat 50k is now over half full, and I can now expect it to fill up early as entries continue to trickle in. If you are thinking about running, time to make the committment and get’ er done. Only 97 entries available at this point.
This weekend I will travel to NYC for the opening of the new Red Bull Stadium, in support of the “New York Red Bulls” Futbol team. (Soccer for all you US folks! ) 🙂 I don’t think I’ll be moving around like the guy in the video, however, it will be an extreme honor to hang with fellow olympians, Shaun White, Lyndsey Vonn, and all the other Red Bull athletes this weekend. I hope I can hold my own in this crowd. I’ll just be myself and be entertained in many different ways.
Coyote Two Moon results are up now. For the second straight effort, I finished 4 minutes behind the “winner” in this year’s event. Although I was easily the fastest one to complete the distance, it doesn’t really matter here, it’s who has the most fun. Although, I can say I was right in there in the “fun” catagory.
I will have to add that this was my 29th 100 mile win in 44 starts. The time counts in my book!
