Words from a Race Director » Endurance

Lance Armstrong Takes Second At Leadville 100

kfordham281 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:51:07 +0000

Lance Armstrong finished just short of 2 minutes behind the winner of the Leadville 100 mountain bike race today. Six-time defending champion Dave Wiens finished in 6 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds; 1 minute and 56 seconds in front of Armstrong.

[Via SI.com]

CPA staff Cathi Cannon also raced Leadville today. She finished in 12:46. Way to go Cathi!

UOG 2008 Received Some Press!

kfordham281 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:06:24 +0000

Thanks to the Greenville News, the UOG received some press for the first time! Mike Foley profiled three Greenville area UOG participants and threw in some rogaine history also. You can read the entire article HERE.

Listen To The Tour de France Live

kfordham281 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:24:01 +0000

If you’re like me and stuck at work while the Tour de France is live, at least you can listen online. Just head on over to Eurosport’s Tour de France page. Go down the page about half way and click the button on the right side of the page labeled “Live audio”.

I find the flat stages a little boring to listen to, but the mountains provide lots of action. My top three TDF GC contenders (in no particular order): Evans, Sastre, Valverde.

You have no excuse not to run

kfordham281 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:59:35 +0000

Ever heard of Buster Martin? Me either until this morning. As it turns out, Buster will be running the London Marathon this weekend. While running a marathon is certainly a great acheivement, Buster’s marathon will trump your marathon. Why? Well, let’s just say Buster is a senior. To be exact, he’s 101 years old.

Buster is trying to become the “world’s oldest competitive runner.” For a guy 101 years old, he certainly doesn’t look like it. After finishing up a half maraton, these were the first words from Buster: “Where’s my beer?” Gotta love his spunk.

UOG recap

kfordham281 — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 02:39:16 +0000

It’s been exactly a month since the Ultra O-gaine started on June 8th just outside Chattanooga, TN. 24 hours later, the event ended and months of planning came to an exciting conclusion. Jon Barker, from Team Checkpoint Zero took home first place in the Ultra (24 hour) course. In the Half Ultra (12 hour) course, Team Toccoa (with some of my old teammates) took home first place. Congratulations to both Team Toccoa and Jon Barker for their first place finishes!

Robert Milks from Wilderness Adventure Photography was out on the course and took a bunch of pictures. Drop by his website and pick up a few pictures for your collection. Jim Farmer took a few pictures too and you can see them here.

Patrick and I would like to say thank you to everyone who came out and participated in the UOG this year. We have received some amazing feedback from everyone and from our survey results everyone really enjoyed themselves. Those participants that have raced both UOG’s said this years race was much more enjoyable. We really went over the feedback from last year and made changes that we felt would make it a more enjoyable event. We’re very glad it seems to have paid off.

A big thank you to our volunteers (Colleen and Marc) and to our sponsors Hammer Nutrition, myTopo, and Zanfel. We look forward to seeing you at another one of our events. Best of luck to you all for the rest of your racing season!

Prentice Cooper is beautiful

kfordham281 — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:54:47 +0000

Patrick and I took a day trip up to Prentice Cooper this past weekend to hang some flags for the upcoming Ultra O-gaine. I hadn’t been to Prentice Cooper since I ran the StumpJump 50K a number of years ago. Wow! The area was absolutely gorgeous. Large flowing creeks, steep climbs, waterfalls, dead snakes, we saw it all. For those who did the Ultra O-gaine last year at Pine Log, you’ll definitely like the beauty of Prentice Cooper much more than Pine Log WMA. Be prepared for a challenge come June 8th! With over 10,000 more acres than Pine Log, the course will be BIG! See you soon.

Venue change for Ultra O-gaine

kfordham281 — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 03:47:48 +0000

We have been hard at work to bring you another great Ultra O-gaine this year. Although there are always “hiccups” involved with planning these types of events, they are usually transparent to the participants. We’ve hit a “hiccup” that we feel won’t be resolved within a time-frame needed to give us and particpants time to plan appropriately. We have been told that due to the increased number of requests to use the privately owned Pine Log area for endurance events such as UOG, the GA DNR is currently undergoing a review of their permitting process. Unfortunately, the DNR cannot approve any event permits until this review is complete. With the June 8th event date fast approaching, we have decided to seek an alternate location for UOG 2007. Although we are disappointed that we won’t be back at Pine Log this year, we are excited to announce that we have obtained approval to hold UOG 2007 in Prentice Cooper State Forest near Chattanooga, TN. Prentice Cooper offers an additional 10,000 acres vs Pine Log, specatular views high above the TN River, much larger areas for parking and Hash House, and primitive camping for folks that want to get some sleep after the event.

We’re also going to extend pre-registration an extra week for anyone that wants to jump in due to the new location. You’ll save $10 per person if you register before April 30th.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Kevin and Patrick

PSA for outdoor athletes

kfordham281 — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:07:25 +0000

In light of the recent accidents involving James Kim, Danelle Ballengee, the climbers on Mount Hood, and a pair of missing climbers in China, I thought it would be a good idea to share some tips about going out into the wilderness. It’s easy to think that we will be fine when we go out to play in the woods; I know I’m guilty of that. But the fact remains that sometimes accidents happen and we should be prepared if an accident strikes.

1) Let people know where and when you are going and when you will return. In the event of an accident, the sooner you are noticed missing the better your chances of survival.
2) Choose your equipment/food wisely.
3) If you can carry a communications device, do so.
4) If you deviate from your original plan, let someone know if possible.
5) Notify the local land managers if required to do so. Sometimes you are asked to fill out a log or other notification methods of your trip.

For those that are still missing, lets hope you are found safe.

Please add any more tips you have in the comments.

Ivan Basso joins Discovery

kfordham281 — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:54:17 +0000

I just read that Ivan Basso, formerly of Team CSC, has signed a two year contract with the Discovery Channel team. What does this mean for Basso? Provided he can stay healthy, he is without a doubt the favorite for the 2007 Tour de France. He was the favorite of many (including myself) going into this years Tour de France before he was not allowed to start. With the kind of support that Discovery can provide, he is now even closer to winning his first Tour de France. This is HUGE for Team Discovery which struggled in the first year since the retirement of Lance Armstrong.

Rebecca Rusch going for 24hr solo crown in my backyard

kfordham281 — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 15:25:01 +0000

This weekend adventure racer Rebecca Rusch will be in Conyers, GA attempting to add yet another title to her long list of endurance accomplishments. However, she’s not doing an adventure race this time. Rusch will be in my backyard (figuratively) to compete in the 2006 24-Hours of Adrenaline’s solo world championships at the International Horse Park. Best of luck Rebecca! Show all those mountain bikers just how good adventure racers can be.