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Showing posts from June, 2016

AC100: Severe Challenges Ahead

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The Angeles Crest, looking east from Mt Wilson The Angeles Crest 100 is facing serious threats to its continued existence. Both are man-made.  The AC100 had been given an informal pass though the Pleasant View Ridge Wilderness by the USFS since 2011, because of their over-stressed/underfunded assets. Since 1996 the Race has contributed thousands of hours of trail work. This has been extremely important . Hal Winton, co-RD, has been the lead on all this. He's sat through more endless grinding meetings, then driven to remote areas, bucked chainsaws and deadfalls, and introduced hundreds of runners to trail-work. The 2014 Monument decision merely opened up the whole mess for review. Yes, the 1984 Granite Chief Wilderness decision affected the Western States 100, and they were able to grandfather the race in. Antonio Rossman was part of the legal team that made that happen. Was a phone-call put in to Reagan from his old friend Wendell Robie? Maybe. That would sure

AC100: It's A Man's Race, and Less

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RD Ken Hamada has made clear that the AC100 is a "man's race". A sufficient number of men and women disagree. The 2016 AC100 is bearing down on us less than 8 weeks out, and there are interesting scenarios building in three areas: procedural, legal, and 2017 entries. The Procedural DIY The Race was recently looking for qualified medical team. This used to be handled by Nick Nudell’s Ultra-Medical Team . Nick had begun to retool his business model to move in a different direction earlier this year .   T he tim ing of Nudell's withdrawal, notification were not known to me at the time of writing. The well-regarded John Emmons stepped up, and that problem has been solved .  When Hamada fired Lambert Timmermans and Jean Ho as Assistant RDs [Oct 2015], he evidently deleted Negative Split Running’s timing service as well. The Race will supposedly be timed from Kenny’s phone w a scanner that will read the chip on the bib.  It's a flying start alrea