February 24, 2007
Black Mountain, NC
www.blackmountainmarathon.com
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| Taylor finishing the 40 mile Challenge in 5:14 |
The smart money in this race was on Will Harlan, who had previously won 4 times. Interestingly, his name did not appear on the list of entrants even the day before the race. I learned this is what ultrarunners call a "ringer." This was my third ultra and first time to do the Mount Mitchell Challenge. It was a great experience.
The Challenge consists of a 20-mile climb from Black Mountain, NC to the peak of Mount Mitchell, elevation of 6600 feet. That is higher than Denver! The weather started in the upper 30's and rose to a comfortably sunny upper 50's by mid day. I was pumped to do this run on such a beautiful day.
Things looked quite stacked in the women's field, with Annette Bednosky, 2005 Western States champion, and Anne Lundblad, 100k Worlds silver medalist. Lundblad ran off the front of the pack from the start with Sarah Almodovar chasing. Bednosky--on the mend from a hamstring injury--used this day to start conservatively and increase the intensity on the way back down the mountain.
Those opting for the Black Marathon turn back at about 14 miles. With a thinned out pack I found myself in 4th place about 2 minutes back from the lead pack consisting of Harlan, last year's marathon winner Coates Kennerly, and Mark Lundblad. My plan was to catch the leaders and bust this race wide open. The top of the mountain had a few pockets of ice, but it was minute compared to what there usually is at this time of year. Nevertheless I managed to fall three times before I figured out to run around the ice. I'm sure the view from the peak was beautiful, but I was too intent on chasing the leaders to look around much.
The descent is what really chewed up my legs. I started down from the summit too fast, trying to make up time on the first technical mile back down. Just after attempting to blaze that section, I was met with another long steady climb on a gravel road. But the real killer was 2-3 miles of steep descending on the paved Blue Ridge Parkway. The tears in my eyes were from Joy. That's what I tried to tell myself. The splits I received told me that the top were dropping the hammer, and dropping me.
I had to give myself a philosophical attitude adjustment. Here I was running in the mountains on a beautiful day. I needed to find some serenity and quit worrying about what place I was in. I focused on finding my rhythm and picking my lines down mile after mile of descending trail. Coates Kennerrly was the only one from the lead pack to come back to me. He had evidently taken it out too fast by leading Harlan at the top. Harlan also reeled in Lundblad and the two friends cruised in to break the old course record, with 4:54:21 and 4:57:21 respectively. Ashville resident Drew Shelfner brought it home for fourth. My ultrarunning coach, training partner, and fellow Nashville resident Jamie Dial placed 5th.
At the end of the women's race Lundblad's solitary pace won in 5:51:44, narrowly missing a course record. Victory must have been sweet for Lundblad, who finished second to Bednosky in the 2005 edition of this race. Bednosky's conservative pacing paid off as she turned up the heat in the later sections of the course to finish with a 6:16:54, but it was not enough to close on Almodovar's second 6:14:24.
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| Taylor with Training partners (from left) Johnny Pryor and Jamie Dial. Pryor finished the marathon after deciding just 1 day earlier to enter. Dial placed an impressive 5th. |
Jonathan Basham of won the Black Mountain Marathon in 3:20:53. He said he wanted to enter the Challenge but it was already closed when he tried to sign up. Lauren Arnold was second overall and first woman in the Marathon with 3:33:55. Graham McDonald, at the tender age of 18, was the youngest finisher in 8:02:40 for 40 miles.
In the it's 10th year this race started a record number of 252 participants in the combinated Challenge and Marathon. There were four men recognized as as finishers of all 10 editions of the race: Mike Beamon (also champion of the master's Challenge), Guido Ferrari, Luke Lucus, and Dr. Robert Barker .
Stephen Taylor, race report submitted to Ultrarunning magazine.
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