Way Too Cool 50k 2016 Recap and Images

Way Too Cool 50k

Weather reports predicted not only torrential downpours, but gusting wind all morning and into the evening on Saturday. Luckily, the rain was light, the wind wasn’t too bad, and racers showed up ready to race NorCal classic Way Too Cool 50k.

Race morning. Wet and cloudy, but blue poking through.

At two miles in, David Roche (interview from last year)) held a solid lead, with a chase pack made up of much of the Marin Trail Mafia: Alex Varner, Dylan Bowman, Jorge Maraville, Chris DeNucci (interview forthcoming), Paddy O’Leary, Levi Miller, Dan Metzger, Chris Viscaino, and a few other speedsters.

David Roche leading one mile in. He’s actually *flying*.

It was a frighteningly tough looking group of guys, most of whom train together on a weekly basis with the San Francisco Running Co crew.

Last year’s female champion Meghan Roche (David’s wife) led, with YiOu Wang right on her heels. Anna-Mae Flynn and Lindsay Tollefson were a bit back.

Meghan Roche and YiOu Wang at mile one-ish.

By mile 9-ish, David was still in strong control, followed by Jorge, DBo, Paddy, and the rest of the chase group spread out over a very few minutes. Varner was in 7th place at that time, laughed, and told me he wasn’t in shape.

Paddy O'Leary at mile 9. — Paddy O’Leary at mile 9.

At this point, Meghan was still leading with Yiou 30 seconds back, Anna-Mae Flynn a minute back, and Lindsay Tollefson maybe 2 behind her.

YiOu Wang at mile 9. She looked tough all day.

Next time I saw them was at 30.5 miles, right where the trail rejoins where it’d split off earlier in the race. David was leading again, though looking back to see who else was coming, and this set off an unintentional pattern for the next half dozen runners. Jorge looked back and asked where third was, followed by DBo who did the same, then Paddy O’Leary (stand out performance!) looked tired but pushed on for the final few minutes. Varner came through, again complaining about being out of shape (must be nice, huh?), followed by the rest of the field.

Top men and women finished Roche (3:20?), Bowman (3:23), Maravilla and Roche, Wang, Flynn.

David Roche estimates that he fell “about 15 times, but that’s normal”, including a dramatic slip and fall 50 yards from the finish line on the final turn. Likewise, YiOu Wang wiped out on a bridge and wore a face full of mud through the finish line.

YiOu Wang at finish w her coach Mario Fraioli. David and Megan Roche in background.

With the course sloppy and slippery, it seemed that everyone was about 15 minutes off of last year. Light rain was sporadic around 11-2 with winds picking up, but I didn’t hear complaints about the weather from any runners.

Full results will be at this link soon.

All and all, a great day for racing….and I even got a nice little run on the singletrack in myself.

Below are pics from the race. If you’d like one, just shoot me an email with the image number and I’ll send over a copy. You paid $150 for a 50k, this pic will be free. 🙂