Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 18:17:55 -0800 From: Eric Robinson Subject: Las Trampas 50K Results At 2:24 PM on January 17th, Kevin Sawchuk became the first person in the two-year, forty-starter history of this run to complete both stages within the stated timeframe, thereby earning the famed title of Master of Time Management. About an hour after this momentous occasion, Bob Pearson became the second person, actually "improving" on Kevin's performance despite running slower and finishing later. The explanation? It's just one of the strange features of this run. Besides contending with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain and severe mud -- a combination already providing an absurd level of difficulty -- participants are also challenged to choose their own starting times in such a way that they finish the first 30K stage just before 12:30 pm, and the remaining 20K stage just before 4:30 pm. Finishing a stage several hours ahead of the deadline is not necessarily any "better" than beating it by a mere minute. What matters in this situation is the runner's starting time: a runner that starts later than everyone else, but who still makes the deadlines, is ranked ahead of the others in the "results". In this year's "results", Bob edges Kevin on the basis of his later starting times. Of course, Kevin retains the honor of being the first ever Master of Time Management, not to mention setting the course record for elapsed time (6:47). Kevin's elapsed time includes about two miles of extra running while attempting to locate and regroup with Kim and Jim Musick, who apparently chose the first 20K loop of this year's run for an "introduction" of sorts to trail running. Considering my own (course designer's) reaction to certain parts of the course (e.g. the trail through the rock formations on Eagle Peak, descending at a 50% grade on wet sandstone covered in mud), I can only imagine what Kim and Jim must have thought. Four more runners finished the full 50K course, with two of them, Ken Gregorich and Stan Jensen, meeting half of the deadlines, and another two, Dave Kamp and myself, missing both deadlines but nevertheless glad to complete the course. Two additional runners, Bob Ross and Philip Ramsey, completed at least the first 30K stage, which I consider roughly equivalent in difficulty to any "normal" 50K trail run. Special thanks go the following exploited friends and relatives, also known as check-point volunteers: Joanne Ross (who found time to finish one 10K loop), and Karin Johnson. We were all outrageously fortunate that it did not rain on Saturday. At this point, it looks like we found the one and only day lacking precipitation in a period of several weeks. We even had mostly sunny skies. And while Stan Jensen had predicted "seas" of mud, I failed to observe an actual tidal effect: there was approximately the same amount of mud with the moon overhead as with the moon on the horizon. 50K FINISHERS: MASTERS OF TIME MANAGEMENT ELAPSED TIME "SCORE" ================ ================ (Made both deadlines) I II Total I II Total ------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 1. Bob Pearson 3:54* 3:00 6:54 4:03* 3:50 7:53* 2. Kevin Sawchuk 4:08 2:39* 6:47* 4:56 4:35 9:31 * men's course record ONE OUT OF TWO AIN'T BAD ELAPSED TIME "SCORE" ================ ================ (Made one, missed one) I II Total I II Total ------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 3. Ken Gregorich 4:13 3:16 7:29 N/A 3:26* N/A 4. Stan Jensen 5:24 4:14 9:38 5:30 N/A N/A * men's course record COURSE TOUGHER THAN WE THOUGHT ELAPSED TIME ================ (Missed both deadlines) I II Total ------------------------------- ---- ---- ---- 5. Dave Kamp 5:02 3:36 8:38 6. Eric Robinson 4:57 4:03 9:00 40K FINISHER: 7. Bob Ross 6:26 9:04 (40K) 30K FINISHER: 8. Philip Ramsey 5:22 5:22 (30K) OTHER PARTICIPANTS 9. Kim Musick 2:50 (20K ???) 9. Jim Musick 2:50 (20K ???) 11. Joanne Ross 2:38 (10K) RAW DATA STAGE I STAGE II ======================= ======================== Name START 20K FINISH START 10K FINISH -------------- ----- ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- Bob Ross 6:24a 10:30a 12:50p 12:59p 3:37p Stan Jensen 7:00a 10:30a 12:24p 12:45p 3:06p 4:59p Kevin Sawchuk 7:34a 10:30a* 11:42a 11:55a 1:18p 2:34p Kim Musick 7:34a 10:24a** Jim Musick 7:34a 10:24a** Eric Robinson 7:41a 10:58a 12:38p 12:59p 3:09p 5:02p Dave Kamp 8:14a 11:43a 1:16p 1:23p 3:22p 4:59p Philip Ramsey 8:19a 11:47a 1:41p Bob Pearson 8:27a 11:04a 12:21p 12:40p 2:15p 3:40p Ken Gregorich 8:38a 11:29a 12:51p 1:04p 2:51p 4:20p Joanne Ross 12:59p 3:37p * includes 2+ mile detour ** details of their wanderings are unknown, perhaps unknowable # Eric Robinson # ------------------------------------ # ejr@uclink4.berkeley.edu # ------------------------------------ # University of California at Berkeley # Fleet Services