Mr Trail Safety Speaks!

Scott Jurek, leading in 1999 at Chilao (51mi). Tom Nielsen was gaining on him.             This post concerns the 2000 and 2001 AC100 races.  In the course of reviewing the facts, I'd realized that I had merged two races together. Thanks to chats with Jennifer Johnston and Tom Nielsen, I got straightened out. The story is more interesting that way.  1999: Prequel Scott Jurek and Tom Nielsen had locked horns at AC in 1999. Everything was ducky up until Chantry, when  Mr Murphy starts dropping wrenches in the gears. Tommy caught Ian Torrence on Mt Wilson [79mi give or take], and then Jurek at Idle Hour.  Idle Hour. 81 miles, in a Dark Hole in the side of a mountain.  That is a hard place to get served.  I think this was pre-packet radio days, and Ham-radio transmissions sometimes got lost or delayed bouncing off the canyons. There are 2 additional checkpoints, but nobody is quite sure where he is.  Or it seemed th...

Guillermo Medina, 2005 winner. AC100 finish line. Johnson's Field, Altadena CA. 050925_9079_01 Angeles Crest has never failed to amaze and surprise. What is canonical received wisdom at 30 miles was turned inside out and abandoned at the finish line. Everything you thought you knew was wrong. Guillermo Medina won it in a personal best of 19:33. By carefully picking and choosing his races for this last year, he saved his mojo for the Big Show. In front of him was Jorge Pacheco, three-time winner. Behind him were two of the fiercest no-brakes downhill runners this race has seen in the last ten years, Tom Nielsen and Andy Jones-Wilkins. Tom's won it twice before . The first time was a remarkable come-from-behind assault on Scott Jurek's  "unassailable" lead in 1999 where he caught Jurek at 83 miles in the black hole that is IdleHour. By the way, that lead was nearly an hour. That was also the year Ann Trason had her head handed to her, and she dropped at ...