From owner-ius-l@AMERICAN.EDU Tue Sep 2 12:08:49 1997 Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 08:24:24 +0100 To: ius-l@AMERICAN.EDU From: Pete Petri Subject: ROTS I thought that instead of giving you a boring personal account of the race, which is just "delete key" fodder, I would just give a participants review of the race & course. It was a fun day, and got to see/talk with John Scott, Phil, Eric, Geri, Dave Olney, Margie, Stan, Neil and other non-listers. The socialization/party after the run was real nice. As for the race: The race starts and finishes at the Fresh Pond exit of My 50, just past Pollock Pines...it's a nice open area with lots of parking. Nice goodie bag, with a very nice tee for all participants (race logo only, no corporate sponsor stuff), and some goodies like hard candies, PowerGel, etc. Although not preannounced, 50mile runners who thought they needed extra time were allowed to start earlier than the official 6:15 start. The course is a toughie. Pacers are allowed after 21 miles, and although I didn't think it one be needed at all, the race is small and tough enough that it might not be a bad idea. The course was marked with 3 different colored ribbons, one for each race distance, and were very easy to follow...I don't think I have ever run on such a well marked course, with lot's of rubbons, extra chalk arrows and barriers for questionable spots, and even chalk on top of tricky rocks on the single track! After a couple hundred feet on asphalt, it's on to the logging roads. The first ten miles are pretty much uphill; there are a few little downs, but most up, although most of it is runnable. At about 10 miles you peak at 5,100', then start a long descent, still on the logging roads. After about another 7 or so miles, it's off the logging roads and onto a trail which follows a PGE canal, then heads into the forest for a while before starting a sharp climb at almost halfway and a journey onto asphalt again. The asphalt lasted about 5 miles (some great views up there), then after refueling at 30 miles, a very grueling climb on the logging roads again, lasting about 4 miles in some hot and unprotected areas, then the descent begins again, re-covering the 11-16 mile part of the course. Still on the downhill and on the logging roads, until about mile 44. After going around the lake in Sly park, the last climb begins, which has a couple of short but very steep sections...save some gas for that! Things seem a little down hill, mostly level until the final run down the starting section and back to the start. I chose the finishers sweat shirt (very handsome, race logo only), although I could have taken a buckle. There is a term in golf called "course-management", which basically means that you can't just swing away and hope for the best..careful planning is required. Some 50 milers I think you can just "swing away" on, but this is not one of them; ROTS demands good course-management. This is a very challenging course, the most difficult I have done by far, and I could see that look in a lot of the other runners' eyes. Post race was a lot of fun, with blaring music, BBQ and fixins, announcements of age group winners going on and lot's of socialization. There seemed to be a lot more camaraderie than at most races, maybe because of it's smaller and more intimate nature. So overall, tough course, a little dusty at times, but great aid stations (especially Renda & Jenn's ;-)), great giveaways and a great crowd. Come, but come prepared. I had a pretty good race, finishing in 9:11:54, 19th overall, but that was with a 4 hour first half. Can you say crash and burn ;-) Pete ================================================================================ Armand "Pete" Petri http://www.crossingpress.com/pete/ The Crossing Press http://www.crossingpress.com (408)722-0711 Work (408)338-0559 Home If hell and back is 26.2 miles, then run a crossing@cruzio.com little farther to get to heaven ================================================================================