100 Miles In 7 Minutes: The Angeles Crest 100


Terrazzo and Desdemona relive the agony and ecstasy of running 100 miles at the Angeles Crest 100-Mile Endurance Race.

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Hello Burnout, My Old Friend

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Everyone is mystified why modern ultra Bobs & Betties burn out after 3 years. Every new crop of young champions rise, burn brightly, then fall out of the heavens back into darkness, as everyone stares at their phones. Jason Koop has some sharp observations on this.

It boils down to race proliferation, #FOMO, social media, and sponsors wanting max exposure.  If you look at Ann Trason’s peak career, or Tim Twietmeyer you’ll see they didn’t race all the time. Or maybe some races didn’t make it into the database.

Ultras have changed mightily in thirty years. What used to be low-rent is now high dollar on both ends of the spectrum. We’ve gone from aluminum lawn chairs and a stopwatch to blowup arches and timing chips.

Here’s the arc: hot young Bob or Betty wins a name ultra. They become a social-media influencer. Winning is a stoke, kid you not. And they race. And race. The season never stops.

Eventually exhaustion sets in. The runner in question begins to realize its hard wo…
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Ultra-Cheating

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Ultras have now matured so that people work at cheating on them. It's always something. I've suspected it in various 50ks, 50-milers, and a few 100-milers. Marathons had their wakeup with Rosie Ruiz, and her 1980 subway-assisted Boston Marathon win.

Cheating can occur in the following scenarios:
Races with interior loops, staffed by volunteers, with little or no help, and irregular contact with other volunteers running HAM and finish line dutiesLong stretches were people can get rides without scrutinyOut & back sections with no monitoring, or proof of completionWhere trails parallel paved or graded roadsCheating has always been rumored, but the rise in timing chip/Garminesque GPS tech watches has closed the gap. Provided the registered entrant is wearing the watch etc.  
This will percolate downwards into the sport. Time-testing will undoubtedly accompany drug-testing in marquee races. 
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2018 AC100: First-time Entrants With Zero Prior Finishes

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Angeles Crest 100 opens its panic-Goober Gold Rush entry process the day after the race ends. A week later, after a cryptic “lottery,” the next year's entrants are announced. They now have a year to get their one 50-mile qualifying race done, just like in 1986.

The First-time Entrants With Zero Prior Finishes compose the overwhelming majority of the field: 177 with 83 all other prior finishers. I began to wonder what are their immediate qualifications? It runs the gamut from names like Jim Walmsley [WS100] and Darcy Piceu [Hardrock 100, Bigfoot 120], to the entrant with the one recorded 7mi finish.

Also noted that there were a startling number of half- and full Ironman finishers. I didn't include these finishes, because at best its a marathon. I expect yelps on that too. 

The stats showed that:

22% have no ultra experience whatsoever at signup, only 14% have completed a 50-miler.Entrants in the None category might not have any qualifiers; or the data may be absent, as databases h…
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