EverymanTri Completes Gore-Tex TransRockies 2010

It’s all over folks. The 2010 Gore-Tex Trans Rockies race ended in Beaver Creek Friday afternoon and what a finish it was as we dropped out of the aspens and into the finish at the ski village after 27 hours of trail running. I must admit I got a little choked up with a few miles to go as I contemplated finishing this running odyssey across the Rockies.


We made it home 12th in the 80+ division, after losing 1.5 hrs on day 3 due to teammate Mandel’s altitude sickness. Mandel had to dig deep, probably deeper than he has ever had to dig, and to his credit he lined up every day, even when sick as a dog. This is what the Gore-Tex TransRockies is all about. It’s about finding the ability to overcome adversity, because the chances are pretty good, that you will have challenges, no matter how fast or slow a runner you are. It’s the nature of the beast!


For Team EverymanTri .com the trials, tribulations and amazing adventure are over and what an event this has been. It’s hard to convey to a reader the true experience of running an event like this, but all I can say is that it has been one of the most incredible experiences of my athletic life. Looking at the event on paper is one thing, but when one actually gets on to the trail it begins to sink in. This is a truly amazing adventure, experience and run. Now that I have my rookie year under the belt , I’m thinking of racing this again in 2011.


No matter how you look at it, completing this race is quite an achievement. The thought of running four and half marathons in six days, with over 21,000ft of climbing, is ludicrous. Yet somehow, one’s body and mind adjust to the daily grind and grow stronger day by day. It’s like the body resigns itself to the daily hammering and says: 'OK, I give in, have your way with me, I’ll stop complaining!'


The most amazing aspect of this great race is… the people. Yes, the racers, organizers, volunteers and sponsors are what made it most memorable for me. The people that are attracted to this type of challenge are fascinating - from auto mechanics to pediatric surgeons.


Every day one makes new friends on the trail and at the end of each day you will hear the tales of woe and triumph around the campfire. There’s the girl who fell down the trail today and broke her hand, yet is still racing in a cast. Then there’s the Gore employee from Flagstaff who got so sick at 12,000ft on Hope Pass that he went to hospital after stumbling to the finish line.


From the 18-year old cross-country college star that blitzed the trail each day, to the 74 year-old German lady who hiked the entire route, there is a great story to be shared with everyone you meet. We ran with the Giorgio Armani buyer and her partner - a futures trader from Brooklyn, shared dinner jokes with the OBGYN from Sacramento and enjoyed cold beers with a crazy French duo in the evening.

As a South African I especially enjoyed teasing my fellow countrymen with Zulu and Afrikaans jargon (there were two husband and wife teams) on the long ascents and around the camp. You will never find this spirit in a one day event because there is little time to make friends. The Gore-Tex TransRockies race offers competitors six days to race together, suffer together and celebrate together. By the end of it all you will leave the event with new friendships, forged in the heart of some of the most scenic and dramatic landscapes on the planet.


This race is not about who wins and who loses. Every entrant that crosses that final finish -line is a winner. If you get that medal draped around your neck at the end of the week, in my eyes you are a rock star, whether you came first or last. The finisher’s medal means you posses; courage, compassion and true grit!

 Final Results 2010 Gore-Tex TransRockies


http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/2010-STAGE6-GTTRR-GC.pdf

Gore-Tex TransRockies Survivors!

The altitude took its toll on many competitors on day two of the grueling run across the Rockies, but it wasn’t  still the start of the most grueling day, the 24-mile Stage 3 from Leadville to Camp Hale, that it really kicked in for Team EverymanTri  athlete -  Paul Mandel.

Mandel started the day with typical AMS symptoms and barely made it out of camp along with the rest of the competitors.  At the top of the first climb of the day on Tennessee Pass (alt 10, 500 ft),  a dizzy Mandel ground to a halt with vomiting and nausea and then had to contend with these symptoms for another 12 miles to the finish in Camp Hale. It was going to be a long day in the saddle!

Team leader Paul Shippey nursed and coaxed the weakened Mandel over some challenging terrain, but in the process the team lost 1.5 hrs in the GC, finally staggering into the finish in 6hrs and 3 min, which dropped the team from 8^th to 13^th in the 80+ Men’s division.

Mandel was treated by race medics after the finish, and a bottle of oxygen later he felt way better - to the point that he was able to line-up for today’s 14 mile 3000ft climb from Camp Hale to Redcliff.

The best way to describe this race is; that it’s like an army special-forces test. 

Your legs hurt like hell at the end of each stage and you wonder how you will muster the energy to do it all again the next day, especially when seasoned competitors point out the mountain top ridge you will be cresting the next day.  Imagine running a marathon, then a half, then another marathon, then another half and then another two 20 milers back to back and this is over 12,600ft mountains and through rivers… say no more! 

 Camp life also means broken sleep, a long trek to the ablutions in the middle of the night, and a high risk of catching one of the stomach bugs floating around, cold nights and more.  Somehow one deals with all this and then the thought of beating yourself up again, to rally for action day after day.At the end of day two, Paul Shippey had to have a hole drilled in his toenail to relieve the pressure from a blister under the nail - just another day in the life of a Gore-Tex TransRockies competitor.

The most amazing part of the race is seeing the times posted by the front runners.  These elite athletes are running a 24 mile trail over 11,000ft in 2:46min.  Super studs! Two days to go, 40-odd miles, and Team EverymanTri is preparing to make it to the finish in Beaver Creek on Friday! It’s all in the mind they say, but in this race the body has a lot to do with it too.

Rocking Along The TransRockies!

It's day 2 of the Gore-TexTransrockies. I am in Leadville and enjoying some respite after completing stage 2. The good news is Team Everyman Tri is still in the race and making slow progress in the 80 + Men's Class. In case you're wondering, the 80 + class  denotes the our combined ages.

Day one on Sunday was brutal for the 92 degree heat and the fact that we ran in topography that reminded me of Arizona scrub land. It was a long 20.6 miles in riverbeds and box canyons. Our team made it home in 4:18m , which was quite a way behind the winners Max King and Andy Martin who stormed to victory in 2:26m. Age definitely makes a difference when one races at 8000ft!!

Today was a much shorter, but steeper stage which took the field over the 12,600ft Hope Pass en-route from Vicksburg to Twin Lakes. We started at 9600ft and hiked up and over the pass, before a long 8 mile descent into the finish in Twin Lakes.

Many of the competitors succumbed to altitude sickness today. My self and teammate Paul Mandel made it home in 3:18, which is an hour and 14 minutes behind Max King and Andy Martin, who ran a 2:04m - incredible given the elevation and descent today!  Our hard efforts have moved us up the ranks to 8th in our division.

For a triathlete, this event will be somewhat of a shock to the system. There is no cushy luxury at the end of each stage. A well organized tent-city awaits, with good food and hot showers, but its still a little of primitive side for those accustomed to a comfy bed and hotel room. Carrying your kit bag around also takes a toll especially after a long day on the trails.

Tomorrow a 24 miles stage awaits which tops out at 10, 124 feet for a 2930 ft elevation gain. Whew!!

Countdown To Epic Adventure Race

Paul Shippey and Paul Mandel make last minute preparations for an epic running adventure, which traverses the Rocky Mountains from August 22- 27.

In case you were wondering how the Gore-Tex TransRockies race came about, it’s actually based on the GORE-TEX® TransAlpine-Run in Europe and the TransRockies mountain bike race in Canada. The two events abroad were so successful that they decided to stage a version on US soil, home of the title sponsor Gore-Tex!

Since it started in 2007, the TransRockies Run has evolved into one of the fastest growing, best known, and most grueling stage races in the world. TransRockies has grown from 112 racers to 264 last year. 

Stage racing in general, where runners cover specific distances each day and sleep at night, has become increasingly popular in recent years.  Each year, new races pop up in exotic locales around the world.  Among the best known currently are the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara desert and the TransAlpine Run in the European Alps.

The Colorado event consists of a multi-day point-to-point format, which allows athletes to access and traverse great mountain scenery, while building camaraderie, overcoming adversity and sharing a singular adventure.

The 2010 GORE-TEX® TransRockies Run course runs from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, through the heart of the White River and San Isabel National Forests. The course includes a mix of single-track and forest road with nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain, reaching altitudes of over 12,500 ft.

The race is fully supported which means that racers carry a limited amount of mandatory gear, such as: a rain jacket, small first-aid kit, a survival blanket, hat and gloves, etc.  All meals are tastily prepared and runners’ tents are set-up every night by crews of worker bees. There is even a hot-water shower truck for athletes to rinse off the dust and grime after each stage.

Another element that sets the TransRockies run apart is its two-person team format, which means you are only as good as your teammate.

During the stages athletes are supported with feed and aid stations along with a fully equipped and mobile medical team. Each day’s run is filmed by a professional TV crew who produce footage, which is shown during the daily awards ceremony recognizing the stage and overall leaders.

Each morning, the racers will leave the race village en masse and tackle the day’s course before arriving at the finish where the Event Team has moved in and rebuilt the village from the night before. With gear bags, tents, showers and food waiting, the racers can spend the rest of the afternoon and evening trading stories, healing wounds and recovering in preparation for the next day’s run.

Team EverymanTri

Our TransRockies rookie team - EverymanTri team consists of myself (Paul Shippey) and Paul Mandel, this is our first attempt at this epic adventure. Trying to find people to offer a rookie advice was a challenge, but I finally tracked down Jonathan Toker of Team SaltStick, who placed fifth in last year’s race in the Open Men category. Jonathan has done the six-day race twice, but this year he will tackle the solo division in a new shortened 3-day version of the event.

We asked Jonathan what the key to success in the main race is?

What is the recipe for success in a stage race like TransRockies?

You need to adopt a happy go-lucky approach to racing TransRockies, don’t get too worked up over it. It’s all about working together with your teammate. You have to have empathy for him or her and work around issues such as not feeling good on a particular day etc. Strong communication with your partner is the key!

What’s the most challenging aspect of the race?

It’s the repeated exposure to running over six days. The recovery is the hardest aspect. Some athletes don’t eat or drink enough and they pay the price in performance. The altitude can also be quite a challenge.

How does one figure out how much gear to race with?

Try to have less than more, but there are rules that stipulate one has to carry space blankets, first aid kits, etc. It depends a lot on the weather too. Two years ago it snowed at high elevations, which caught some people out who ran without the right gear.

Going From Strength To Strength!

Everyman Tri team member Paul Mandel reports on his TransRockies race training from the trail.

As teammate Paul Shippey and I continue preparations for the 115 mile 6-day GORE-TEX TransRockies Run, we are feeling great and very optimistic about the upcoming event. The training has had interesting effects as I have felt better and better while climbing hills at high altitude over the course of the summer. I've run plenty of road races and road workouts, but the trail running is fairly new to me. I did run on the high school cross-country team thirty years ago, but the courses were pretty flat compared to what we're doing here, and they were at sea level in Long Island, New York.

The photo above is from a recent training run up the hill behind my Boulder neighborhood. I used to be out of breath just walking this trail, but now I am challenging myself a couple times a week to run the "Hogback Loop" at shorter and shorter overall times. The view from the top is fantastic. I can't wait to see the scenery on the TransRockies stages. I believe my ankles and feet are getting stronger and more nimble as I get more practice dodging around and over the rocky trails. Quadriceps and calf muscles are developing as well, but I have to watch out for tightness that can lead to bursitis in my knee. To that end, I am religiously using a Trigger Point foam covered plastic pipe roller to stretch out my illiotibial bands.

The gear we are using is different from when I started out running. Where all I used to need was a cotton T-shirt, gym shorts and sneakers, things have gotten more technically advanced these days. I never used to wear sunglasses at all when running, but here in Colorado the sun is so strong you could actually damage your eyes, not to mention injure yourself by tripping over a rock or something, if you didn't have adequate eyewear and a cap.

Team EverymanTri uses Ryders eyewear, and I have been very pleased with the Ryders Sprint glasses (pictured below) I have been using since spring. They have very lightweight frames with rubberized earpieces that stay put. The nose piece is metal with rubber pads. The best thing I can say is that I don't notice that I am wearing them unless sweat drips over the lenses. The medium dark lenses work well in varied conditions (mostly bright) encountered on Colorado trail runs, and there is plenty of contrast for making out terrain ahead.

On longer runs I am using an Osprey Manta 25 hydration backpack with a built-in three liter Nalgene water bladder. This pack has a thin wire frame and a mesh panel that keeps the pack off your back. I love the hydration tube that is held by a strong magnet to the chest strap - it's always in reach for constant hydration. The pack has room for rain gear, first aid kit, emergency blanket, and GU energy gels and GU Chomps to keep me going. Fueling is something I have learned about over the last year with all the endurance events I have done. It is certainly possible to complete medium to long distance runs on water alone, but not a great idea. Whereas I used to have toast and tea as my pre-race ritual breakfast, I now have a energy bar or something like that before a longer run, supplemented with energy gels or chews at one hour intervals during the run. The small amount of caffeine in some of the energy gels is a welcome addition, as it boosts respiration and energy and helps with concentration.

Footwear is also very important. I have been running in Addidas Supernova Riot shoes, and they are working out pretty well although I sometimes get slammed by a rock through the soft uppers. I'll keep you posted as we get closer to "The Big One" on August 22.

Gore Tex TransRockies: Training Is A Blast!

Fun, fun, fun....I'm having loads of it. To be honest, compared to training for a regular road marathon, this is amazing!  Over the course of the summer training for the Goretex Trans Rockies,  has seen me run through some of the most beautiful scenery Colorado has to offer. I have not missed pounding on pavement and dodging cars, or the smell of exhausts.  Instead training for the Trans Rockies has us running through lush forest, along burbling mountain streams and single- track lined with verdant wildflowers.

Over the past two months or so, my training partner Paul Mandel and I have slogged up historic mining roads, raced the gondola up the near vertical Aspen mountain and stood breathless at the top of such runs and gazed on great vistas. Sure, extreme trail running is no picnic, but the rewards are incredible.  Will I ever want to return to road racing after this incredible experience? It will be hard...

We have a little over three weeks to go and have made great progress. Our bodies are getting accustomed to running up and down mountains. Running at 10,000 ft now feels normal, where a couple of months ago it was a challenge. Yes, we are both making the odd visit to the physical therapist for some fix-up work, but all in all we are feeling good and ready to tackle the big one.

A huge shout out to all our sponsors for the fantastic gear they have supplied.  A little more than three weeks till we head to Buena Vista for the real deal. Bring it on!

GoreTex Trans Rockies: D-Day Approaches!

Beaver Creek, Colorado- The GORE-TEX® TransRockies Run has become a leader in the growing field of multi-day stage races, a spiking popularity that has stacked its field with top endurance athletes from around the world.

The GORE-TEX ® TransRockies Run is a six-day race from Buena Vista, Colorado to Beaver Creek.  One hundred and fifty teams of two will run 115 miles of grueling terrain over six stages from August 22nd, to August 27th, with the route featuring trails that will take runners 21,711 ft of climbing.

The first day of the race begins in Buena Vista and stretches to 20 miles that will climb 2,700 ft. into the mountains east of Buena Vista on a mix of trails and jeep tracks.  Aaron McConnell, the TransRockies Run Director, said, “Stage One is a great warm up with spectacular views and the weather is usually mild and pleasant for this first day.  “

At the start of the second stage, runners will find themselves in Vicksburg, an old silver mining town that is regarded as one of Colorado’s legendary ghost towns. Stage Two is shorter, a 13.5 mile stage from Vicksburg to Twin Lakes.  This stage starts with an uphill grind of 7 miles which is a steep single-track slog up and over Hope Pass, lying at 12, 546 ft.  The day’s finish line, at the dam at the east end of Twin Lake, gives the runners a scenic run along Twin Lakes, and past the historic village of Interlaken.

Once in Leadville, runners will be challenging their altitude acclimation. Leadville is Colorado’s highest incorporated city at 10,430’.  Stage Three, starting in Leadville at 10,000 feet and rolling over 24 miles, is one of the longest routes but finishes at the historic military site, Camp Hale, the founding place of the 10th Mountain Division.  Runners will leave this historic site and head towards Red Cliff, covering 14 miles and climbing 3,009 feet.  Stage Four crosses over the top of Hornsilver Mountain at 11,400 feet before winding down to the day’s finish in the small valley town of Red Cliff, Colorado. 

Stage Five features 21 miles of spectacular scenery, grinding up Shrine Pass Road from Red Cliff, traversing across the ridge to Eagles Nest, and descending the mountain using the network of single-track trails at Vail Mountain to finish at the ski village base.  Stage Six, the final stage, takes runners up the Red and White Mountain north of Vail and across 21miles of ridgeline with 4,800 ft of elevation gain to the finish line in Beaver Creek.

For more information on the GORE-TEX ® TransRockies run or details on the individual stages visit www.transrockies.com.