Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

This is Ruperto Romero, 2014 AC100 winner, 10-time AC100 finisher at this year's AC100. But he's not running it. He's pacing Ulises Reyes to an eventual 25:56:50 finish . I totally did not expect to see him that day. He'd been not invited back to AC this year. Think about that for a second. Or not.  Ruperto is lining up on Aug 25 at the Kodiak 100 in Big Bear. He loves to race, and was not going to be denied. And this is one reason why Kodiak will eat AC's lunch. AC100 Takes Two To The Chin   One: Hal Winton, venerated co-RD, died this past Ma y. Two: the original race course from Islip Saddle [25mi] is now a 12-mile asphalt beatdown to Three Points [42.72], with a trail section up and over to Mt Hillyer [49,78], eventually rejoining the original course at Chilao [52.8] then Short Cut Saddle [59.3]. Then you get an eye-opening trail workout to Red Box, then rejoining the Original Course at Newcomb's Saddle [69]. This is due to the P leasant View Ri...

Guillaume Callmettes, 2nd place 100-Mile God, listens to the low-ball comedy of a late 50k finisher. THE RACE The Kodiak 100 Ultras are set in the Big Bear region of the San Bernardino Mts, elevations from 6-10,00’.  The races are the 100mi, 50mi, and 2 50k variants: Front [first 50k] and Back [last 50k]. I opted for the Back 50k, which I’ll refer to as the Kodiak BearBak’d Rear 50k, strictly for its aspects of intimate punishment and acquaintance. You’ll get your mountain-money’s worth here. Mountains, dry mountains. Take note. The Kodiak is still fine-tuning itself. Its an old-school ultra— with minimal markings, and necessary aid-stations with lean but adequate offerings. If you’re looking for your first Care Bear Ultra, with strawberries, vegan-chow, gluten-free what-the-fuck ever nosh; look elsewhere. Get ready to spend a lot of time out there by yourself. Its that good. This shit is tough, and you’ll get served. Ditto any notions of conquering the cours...