Ultramarathon Daily News | Tue, June 21

Sorry about not posting yesterday. Still recovering from an awesome weekend in Tahoe at Broken Arrow Skyrace. Here’s Justin’s breakdown of all the ultramarathon and trail results from the weekend. More of my thoughts on BASR below.

Here’s iRunFar’s Western States preview for the women’s division. And here’s the preview for the fellas. My predictions? Ruth Kroft and Emily Hawgood on the podium along with a still unidentified dark horse. And for the guys? Gotta go with Timmy, Jared, and mid-40s French dude with legs, Ludovic Pommeret. I’ll head over to FreeTrail Fantasy to input my choices.

 

While you’re watching Western States unfold, you might also want to tune in to the Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Oregon. Here’s the full schedule of live-streamed events.

It does sound a bit iffy when a 47year old guy from Colorado runs a 4:57 fifty miler. I haven’t dug into it enough to have an option, but the LetsRun MENSA Team discusses it in depth right this way.

If this doesn’t make ya smile, I don’t know what will. Courtney Dauwalter climbing a peak at Zegama with the fans in full send mode.

TrailRunner Mag: Alex Nichols has summited PIke’s Peak every month for the past four years. Here’s more.

The International Swimming Body FINA ruled that biological men can no longer compete in the women’s category. The decision also left room open for a third category and for those who have transitioned prior to puberty. While the ruling was handed down by the President, a supermajority of voting members approved the decision. It’s unclear to me if the decision will be retroactive and would vacate Lia Thomas’ recent wins. Anyone know?

Meanwhile, soccer player Megan Rapinoe pulls up the ladder behind her and states that she has no problem with trans women competing in her division.

Finally, World Athletics Prez Seb Coe hints that track and field may see similar restrictions in the near future.

 

Getting bored with training? Here’s Rob Krar’s “Man Maker” workout.

CTS: Iron deficiency and anemia in endurance athletes. This condition affects our training, recovery, and injury status.

I’m typing this at my standing desk.

Peter Bromka writes about the “Endurance Dad Dilemma” and whoa can I relate. Many of you were with me during the time I almost lost my marriage due to training and running and I’ve certainly shared the guilt and paradox of trying to be a better dad by running more.  Nice that Peter is writing about it.

Do you have to go ultralight, or is an RV with a generator a necessity? Nope, there’s a nice gray area that many of us find relaxing. Sarah writes about her kind of camping.

Ultrarunning/Stern: Jeff writes about the Dipsea race and all its glory. Wanna see the race from a head-mounted GoPro? Here y’are.

Broken Arrow Recap and Highlights:

• First, full transparency, Broken Arrow is probably my favorite weekend of the year. We go up as a whole family and Sam relaxes by the beautiful pool at Squaw Valley Lodge while Sunny runs around the village (and, ahem, sings karaoke with Brittany), my son Van hangs out and finds other mountain kids to play with, and I get the best seat in the house to watch the world’s best take on the various events over the weekend. I’ve been the race announcer since the inaugural year and I really love this race.
• It’s not often Brittany Charboneau gets beat in the mountains, and that’s exactly what happened when Jennifer Lichter (new North Face athlete from Whitefish, MT) did during Saturday’s 52k. Lichter led from the gun and never let up.  These two ladies had an awesome race and it was a pleasure watching the action unfold. Also worth mentioning is that Jennifer bears a striking resemblance to Julie Millon, a friend, adventurer, and itinerant volunteer who was tragically killed a few years ago. Julia volunteered at BASR and the race named an aid station after her.
• Likewise, it’s not often the incredible Allie “Allie Mac” McLaughlin gets beat in a race with vert, but that’s exactly what happened when Olympic skier Sophia Laukli put on a clinic in the 26k. Both women had outstanding performances you can watch in the archived livefeed. Next up for Allie is my favorite-race-I’ve-never-been-to Mount Marathon on July 4th weekend in Alaska. Emelie Forsberg has the record but I’ve got money on Allie taking it back to Colorado. Stay tuned.
• Huge shoutout to Brendan Madigan, Jeff Quine, Ethan Veneklasen, Sean Flanagan, Andy Anderson, and the massive team of volunteers who make this event possible. I can’t imagine the amount of work these guys put into the race.
• Sounds crazy to say, but despite being there in person, the real action was best seen on the screen as the event was livestreamed courtesy of Strava. Dylan Bowman and Corrine Malcolm once again provided top level commentary while a team of drone pilots, mountain bikers, runners, photographers, and tech folks all worked to provide the best footage in the world. Photographer and Producer Scott Rokis was the brains behind the telecast and he did an absolute bang up job. You can find the livestream here.
• Sage Canaday took his camera up with him during the Iron Face Challenge on Friday and I’m anxious to see the footage. The event combined trail running and rock climbing and was apparently an awesome experience. Can’t wait to see the video!
• I ran into past guest Carol Seppilu in the village after her 52k and she told me that there’s a race in Alaska named after her now. Very cool! (If you haven’t listened to that episode, I’d urge you to go on a run and check it out. She’s an absolutely remarkable woman.)
• Broken Arrow has the highest dog:people ratio of any race I’ve attended and I’m secretly hoping Brendan has the bandwidth for a canicross event next year.
• The first name I called on Friday was Max King during his Iron Face Challenge finish and the last name I called Sunday was Shari Rogers from Texas who finished DFL because she’d stopped to help another runner who was having a medical emergency on the mountain. Those two bookends are a great example of what makes this sport so damn incredible.

As far as this upcoming weekend, I won’t be up in Tahoe on Friday to sleep on the lift or blow my alpenhorn at the start. Long story, but my son’s birthday was in December and we still haven’t celebrated it. Family comes first and I’ll be spending the day shooting NERF guns and eating pizza with 10 year olds at the park.  Sunny and I will likely be up at Foresthill and Auburn on Saturday afternoon. Look for the blonde on a unicycle.