Tough Marathons

Dot

Chris Smith wrote:
>
> Dot, thanks for including that quote below in your post. I was surprised to see the Deseret News
> race listed as tough only because I had been led to believe somewhere that it was a fast course.
> It may be that the early climb before the mostly downhill second half, and the ridiculously early
> start (something like 5 a.m. I think), plus the dry air, might make it tougher than it looks. It's
> point to point which also means logistical issues.

This is my whole point about these lists being arbitrary. That's why I've suggested to others to
figure out what type of challenge or event they're looking for, then select among those to meet the
level of challenge they want, rather than "toughest", hottest, etc. Another race is always going to
be tougher, taller, hotter, colder, faster, etc. FWIW, I think 5am is actually a common start time,
esp. for longer or hotter races (not up here), and I think some start at 4am.

Thanks
> again. I would think that the race in NC where you run up a mountain (Bear Mountain? can't
> remember) and finish to bagpipe music at a Highlands festival would be on somebody's
> toughest list.

Grandfather mountain http://www.gmhg.org/wwwcgi/gmhgbuil...&event=marathon
http://www.hopeformarrow.org/gmminfo.htm

but I think it's mostly on road and in summer so some of the winter issues shouldn't be a concern.
Their course record time is faster than the one in Fairbanks, but I have no idea whether they were
set by comparable quality runners. I think there was some trail race there this winter, but can't
remember if it was an ultra distance or ultra-level challenge (shorter distance, but rougher running
or more elevation), but it sounded quite challenging (can't remember which group I read the report
in, might have been on RW trail forum) because of the snow / ice and weather in general. In fact, I
think the official race skipped part or stopped early or something. I've been on top Grandfather Mt
when I was a kid - which must mean the road goes essentially to the top for my parents to have even
considered going there

I just took a quick look at a couple (not all) of these descriptions to get a feeling why they were
on the list. I would definitely put Fall Equinox in Fbks ahead of a couple of those, at least based
on their descriptions - more elevation gain, substantial part on trail, but also a fair amnt on
pavement and dirt roads - diversity is part of its challenge. I couldn't find a web page for
Nunavut, which makes it intriguing, esp. if it's the Nunavut I'm thinking of (NW Territories).
Pike's Peak is one of the ones I was already familiar with that definitely rates being on the list,
IMHO, not that anybody cares about MHO. Nipmuck also looks like it has a deserved reputation. But I
got a hunch there's a bunch of small, challenging trail marathons in assorted places that the people
that make these lists have never heard of.

And if you get away from the marathon distance and consider races of shorter length, but longer
times, as Andy (amh) points out, then it's a wide open field. There's just too many races in that
category. Winners of the 14-miler out my kitchen window took 3+ hours last year by national-class
runners. I think the last person came in in about 8 hours. No roads to shut down on mountain races
And I know Colorado has a bunch.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope