Two weeks from race day. Still in a pandemic. Acadia is still “closed.” Race is still on. Latest update is posted as of today for the start times. 6:30am is the first runner heading out, 9:05am is the last runner. Everyone is projected to finish at 6:00pm at Gorham Parking Lot. A few logistics given the park access is limited and getting to parking lots is different this year. We will need to meet at Flying Mountain parking lot the morning of and shuttle over to the start. We’ll want to limit the cars at that start location so everyone can have their car at Flying Mountain to drive around. Bubble Rock parking is usually an aid station location but it’s no obviously inaccessible by car with the park loop road closed. A few days before if we can bike in a few gallon jugs of water and stash them in the parking lot, we would have some water there. Same applies for Cadillac Mountain summit which normally has a gift shop and water fountains (and restrooms) but will have likely none of that. Either we bike/hike up some supplies to the summit or skip Cadillac and we could use the Tarn as an aid station and have someone there with food/drink before the last push up Champlain. Gorham parking lot will also be inaccessible by cars so we’ll need to finish there and then cut over to Fabri where we can be picked up. It’s a little extra on the end or we simply just finish at Fabri instead. Then we’ll shuttle back to the cars as needed. 2019 Split TimesLooking at the 2019 split times (pulled from Strava from last years race where possible) you can see how long it took people to run those segments. Rebeccah ran the first segment from the start to Route 102 faster than anyone last year (or since) in 1:51. The Acadia Loop (route 102 to Flying Mountain segment) is closer to 1:30-2:00 for most runners. Peter Philbrook actually did this recently as a training run to learn the course and has the CR in 1:19. Obviously on fresh legs, but Dylan did it in 1:24 on race day last year. Jeff Rome probably did it in sub 1:20... Last year we kayaked across the sound which took most of us the better part of an hour from parking lot to parking lot. And left us cold out of the kayak. I estimate the difference to be a solid 30 minutes faster for this transition in 2020 without the kayak and a far more comfortable drive around the sound. Looking at 2019 times, and 2020 projected finish times, consider this difference in your “faster” 2020 times. The East side crossing has a CR of 4:28 by Jeff Rome from last year’s race. I tried it fresh and only doing that segment last June and got 4:43. Race day its a solid 5:30-7 hours for most of us. The overall CR is 7:43 by Jeff last year. That’s with a kayak and generally a fairly wet course last year. 2020 Start timesWith the idea being that we all are given the time needed to run the course and compete for an otherwise equal victory, the above are the current start times. Its by no means an exact science, someone will over-perform these times, several people will “blow up” and finish hours after these times. But this is where I have it now and this is how I came up with it: John Rodrigue - John is probably the most experienced (see: wicked old) ultrarunner of this group. He’s no stranger to the long run and the hours on the course aren’t going to hold him back. Now that he’s worked on the navigation of the course, he’s primed to trim some time off this and beat us all to Gorham. John will be looking over his shoulder all day trying to keep us from catching up to him. Darron Collins - Darron and I randomly caught up to each other on Sargent east cliffs over the winter and proceeded to run some tough miles on some tough terrain for the next few hours. He is a really strong climber, knows the trails really well and he’ll be someone that will do really well on all this climbing. Tobin Peacock - Tobin has been cycling a lot this past year and has gotten really fit in training for a big bike race recently. He’s got the leg speed and strength to keep everyone off his back and probably surprise everyone. Not knowing how much long distance experience he has, but knowing he is a strong athlete who is currently in shape, he’s a hard one to pin down on a start time. Peter Philbrook - Peter is probably the youngest of the entrants and entering for his first crack at this distance. He’s a local speedster who has as much top line speed as anyone in the group. He’s been out running the course to learn the turns, but recently had a minor injury that has slowed him down in his training. Hopefully not enough to get him back out there for race day and see what he can put together on a long day. First ultras can go extremely well, or very poorly. Lets see what Peter has on this one and I’m excited to have him in the group. He’s fast! ***UPDATE: Peter just dropped this gem today which could change his start time. https://www.strava.com/activities/3391799186 Brandon Chase - Brandon is a MDI native who recently moved back temporarily from oversees. An ultrarunner for the last few years running races around various parts of the world, Brandon is excited for one on his home turf. A strong, steady runner who has the ultra background and navigation nailed, he is going to power through these mountains like a champ. Tom St. Germain - Tom created this route we use and the reason we all do this every May now. Tom gets out every day for some form of activity but puts in far more cycling miles than trails. He owns a ton of crowns on MDI, both in cycling and running, and literally wrote the book on MDI trails. He knows every trail, rock, root and tree. A meticulous mind, Tom knows every split from every year and might be the most competitive person in the bunch. Maybe. A power climber, and someone that will not shy away from speeding down the mountains, Tom is a force on the mountains. Given that this year he’s put in 3 training runs over 10 miles in anticipation for this event, its trouble for the rest of us. Usually ACI is his only run of the year over 10 miles. Rebeccah Geib - Rebeccah started early in the race last year and proceeded to put down some of the fastest early miles of the whole field. She took off and put a gap between her followers that only Dylan and Jeff Rome every caught up with. She finished in 3rd overall and a sub 10 hour time, a tremendous day out on the course that puts her in line as a favorite again for next year. She’s moved up in the start times and as she’s perpetually in great trail shape, certainly a time that could happen again, or better. Daniel Cortez - Daniel ran the Bold Coast 20 Miler back in November and where most of us first met him. As it turns out, Daniel moved here in 2017 to work at JAX and nobody had every come across him in the mountains. A sponsored mountain bike athlete in his earlier years of training, he still bikes a lot. Running mountains is a newer passion for him and one that brings him to this event without having completed an ultra. Being his first event of this length that brings a wild card to his day, but as an experienced athlete I doubt it will change the outcome. Daniel flies up and down the mountains with a bounce in his step you can only envious of. He’s strong, fit and fast. Jeremy Dougherty - I love mountains and am just as competitive as Tom. He’s dropped me two years in a row. I’m particularly interested in keeping it from being a three-peat. Bradford Eslin - Brad is fast. He flies down the mountains, hammers miles after miles and if he’s nailed the navigation of this course for 2020, he’ll be tough to beat. He had some gear issues and navigation issues that slowed down his time from last year but has a lot of time on the course so far. He’s put in a full course crossing two weeks ago with Jenn Britz, full west side a few days later. He’s put the time in and knowing how much of a fighter Brad is, he’ll dig deep out there. Jenn Britz - Jenn is strong, fit and extremely experienced. She was held back a bit last year helping others navigate the course, and without restrictions or anything holding her back, I see her flying this year. She gets stronger as the day goes on, she is probably the most well rounded runner in the field with climbing, pace, downhilling, nutrition...she’s strong. If she can stay away from others and just race, she will be hard to beat. Dylan Brann - Dylan battled Jeff Rome for a stretch of mountains last year, from Cadillac to Champlain, making the finish closer than expected. He is probably the fastest downhiller here, and holds a tenacious racing attitude that amps up his abilities even further on race day. Dylan has the speed to match (notable top 100 finish in extremely fast Black Canyon 100K this February) his climbing, and if everything comes together for him its his race to lose. Could all this be entirely inaccurate and create unfair advantages? Of course. But its so much more fun than blasting out of the finish line and running the the same place in the race all day, outcomes decided by mile 2. With this format, its going to be interesting well into the east side crossing. Lets hope for some dry conditions and everyone stay healthy until then! ![]()
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Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.”– Steve Prefontaine |