Subject: HURT II - A VIEW FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE From: akabill Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 14:25:17 UltraRunner, Greg Cuadra, HURT II Race Director gave me permission to send on his account of HURT II. I hope you enjoy, aloha, aka ********************************************************** A VIEW FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE After reading many of the letters, e-mails and articles written by the race participants for the 2002 HURT II 100 mile trail race, I decided I'd offer my views of the race from my angle. Directing an event such as this as well as sometimes even watching races of any type for the last two years has been difficult for me. After two knee surgeries to repair the torn meniscus on my right knee and all the sitting around I could stand, I found it hard to go to races and not participate in something that had been a major part of my life for many years. I've been blessed to have an edge that most don't have, some run to forget, some run for exercise. I run because I love it, the wild animal like feeling of blasting down a mountain trail with total abandon for hours on end is something I just couldn't seem to get enough of, mere words could never describe it. Last year the directorate of the HURT 100 voted me the "race day director" which other than my duties as the aid station captain for Nuuanu and other minor tasks meant I was supposed to be the final say in any matters that required any sort of judgment. Of course nothing happened and I was grateful. This year however, the directorate decided it needed a calm negotiator or mediator to assist the board in making this a world-class event, and giving all participants all the aloha of the year prior. Now I don't have much to do as the Manager for a large government contractor, cross country and track coach for a high school team, owner of a building in town as well as a father of a teenage daughter, so I threw myself totally at this task. Meetings after meetings, with board, local residents, EMS, police and fire officials as well as the state parks division, and more paperwork than I had ever encountered finally started to come together about the middle of December. The week before the race was probably the worst. I was constantly bombarded by e-mails from every direction imaginable and all the smallest of details, which needed to be worked out or finalized. I was physically as well as mentally exhausted. I had spent weeks organizing trail crews and going on all of them. I had scrutinized every detail of the race that I was responsible for as well as ones that the board members were responsible for, everything had to be perfect, and at the same time I wanted to maintain a calm and confident appearance outside. On the Monday prior to the race I finally met with the trails director for the state and signed the permit, what a load off my mind. The board members and many volunteers helped marking the trails and getting the supplies, packets and equipment needed for the race this last week. It was a mad dash to the finish and the race hadn't even started. Friday 18 Jan 2002. The prerace brief, the weather had been great up to this date and some of us were half joking saying wouldn't it be great if it would just rain like heck and make the trails a little more interesting. We had no Idea that god just happened to be visiting our church of the holy trail that day. Thursday night and Friday rained like the gods had taken us seriously, but once the check in started almost all worries went away as old friends arrived and we started talking story and reminiscing from the prior year. These folks had come here to race, rain or shine. After an almost sleepless night my daughter Christal and I were up early to go get the aid station set up. John Salmonson, president of the Hawaiian Ultra Running Team and member of the directorate would do the start. Christal and I met our crew at 5:30am at Jackass Ginger. The crew consisted of most of my high school cross-country team ranging from 13 to 18 years of age. We began setting up in the dark and pretty much had the camp set up by daylight. Then began the endless task of preparing food for the runners. I can't remember a time during the entire race when someone wasn't cooking. With the constant cold rain the runners wanted anything warm. The first runners began coming in earlier than we expected, Ian, Brandon, Peter, and Mike all came in very close followed by Louis, Jeff and others. Even the Women were ahead of schedule, there was going to be a race between Stephanie, Monica and Catra. All was well the first two or three laps depending on where you were in the race, but then the rain came back with fierce cold winds and darkness fell. Anyone who has ever spent an evening on the trails of Tantalus can tell you, for some place so close to the city, it sure can get dark. Runners began to come in with that glassy look in their eyes that comes from total exhaustion with their wills almost broken. The crew quickly gathered around them and tried to cater to the every need as far as food or drink while helping them with drop bags, shoes, socks or first aid. My now famous Portuguese bean soup, which had lasted the entire race last year, was almost gone and the night was very young. We would make three trips to local markets to try getting any soup we could to try keep the runners warm. As the night wore on we had runners of every ability come in that needed extra care from wrapping in blankets to massages or just a little help deciding to continue, one gentleman even took a nap for several hours before continuing. About mid-night John called on the radio to tell me that Stephanie Ehret on her 3rd loop was in need of a pacer and would Christal my 17-year-old daughter and the youngest member of the HURT gang be able to pace her. We all agreed on meeting Steph at Paradise Park, so off Christal went. Shortly after starting Christal had a flashlight failure and had to depend on her emergency backup up. But the pair continued through the wind, darkness and rain. At about 3:00am I started to worry because I thought they should have reached my aid station by then, so I left my wife in charge and off I went with two flashlights and a headlamp. About two miles up the trail I saw them coming and gave Christal a fresh light and off they went. Christal continued on to the Nature Center with Steph and had had enough, but by now it was light and Steph could find her way. Meanwhile the triage area of our MASH unit or so it resembled was packed. The weather was definitely taking its toll. Mike Sweeney was totally exhausted from running with the leaders early on and was contemplating dropping at 92.7 miles. His crew and I would have nothing to do with it. We covered him, fed him, massaged him and kept encouraging him to just keep going, finally he decided he would try and once more he was on the trail. So we turned out attention to the 2nd place runner Pete Bakwin, who had announced when he came in that he was all used up and looked terrible. Pete Who had been running neck and neck with Ian Torrence all day and night was on the verge of quitting, we just all gathered around him and gave him all the support we could and finally off he went and went on to keep his 2nd place albeit by a larger margin. Right after he left we go word that Ian had won in 25 Hours and 18 minutes. Then in came Stephanie on her 5th lap, it was obvious that the 2nd sun had rejuvenated her, so after little fuss she was out and I paced her all the way to the top of Nuuanu ridge, then I turned around and paced another group who were on the 3rd loop of the 100k back down to Jackass Ginger. I had passed Mike Sweeney on the way up Nuuanu with Stephanie and on the way back, he still had not been able to make it all the way up, so I stopped and had a few motivational words with him and we parted ways, he would go on to finish with the grace and style of a champion. The race wore on and the steady trickle of runners through the day continued until at three pm we were ready to close our aid station but Paul Schmidt was still not accounted for. He had left Paradise Park but had not reached us. So we tore down leaving out enough supplies for Paul should he arrive. We packed up everything and I was giving last minute instructions to my crew to deliver the drop bags to the finish area and I was going to run over the mountain and find Paul. Finally we got a call that he had made his way to the road and got a ride to the finish and had dropped due to hypothermia. So off we went to the finish. We got there and were waiting for the last finishers Catra Corbet 3rd women and akabill and Paul Lindaeur. I started up the trail running the course backwards and met Catra just a short jog up, we exchanged the time of day and I went in search of my long time running partner akabill. About two miles up there he was plodding along with Paul. We did the Church of the Holy Trail sermon, and we kept running on down to the finish. As we entered the base yard at the finish I peeled off so they could get their photo taken as finishers and congratulated the both. The Race was over, or was it. I spent the next hour chatting with friends new and old just looking at the amazing look of accomplishment on all their faces. We had actually done it again. A great race put on and staffed by ultra runners, with nothing more in mind than to treat runners with aloha and give them an experience of a lifetime. I went home that evening with a feeling of satisfaction that stayed with me all the next few days as my family and I cleaned the mud from all the equipment we had used and began the thank you's and planning for next year. Lastly, I need to thank all the runners who made this race what it was, and to the directorate who made all the arrangements and plans without you I surely would have lost my mind, and to the countless volunteers much mahalo. And to my wife who can't understand why I do the things I do, I love you.