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Chuckanut Mountain 50K Trail Run 2001 Report(WA): Ron Adams

Bellingham, Washington
Saturday, March 17th, 2001


Race Directors Doug McKeever and Richard West deserve kudos for once again
putting on a great event.
I was surprised to learn that this event is now the 22nd largest ultra in
the USA and the 10th largest 50K trail ultra.  This was all the more
surprising to me because it was not too many years ago that I remember just
a few ultrarunners showing up at the parking lot where Richard West had
water jugs on the tailgate of his hatchback, we tossed in a few bucks for
the aid station food and were given a map (no race numbers to pin on ...
back then you just memorized your number and called it out when you came in
to a checkpoint) :-)

The RD's had promised mud and they delivered.  In fact, this year there
were parts of the course with mud where I didn't even know mud could
exist.  The usually sunny Pacific NorthWest (at least this year it has been
usually sunny) had a rainy week before the race, and a big downpour the
night before the race, but by the start we had just overcast skies and
later in the race we were back to sunshine.

The course was very well marked.  The only runner I know of that went off
course was in the area of Fragrance Lake where some fishermen had removed
course markings.  The runner also admitted that he was distracted opening a
GU and just missed the turn.

Trail purists will be happy to know that this year the climb up to
Fragrance Lake is now on trail instead of road.  This trail is through
pretty NorthWest rain forest and featured mud.  My time on this climb
(compared to previous times on the road, indicates that it is pretty much
the same distance).

The prettiest part of this race is the Ridge Trail that goes along a knife
ridge called Chuckanut Mountain.  At times the trail is right beside sheer
cliff drop-offs, at other times the ridge is only about 10 feet wide with
steep drop-offs on both sides.  This section of trail  ends in a drop down
from the ridge called "Doug's Dive" where the trail resembles falling off a
cliff, only due to the mud this year   "slide" might be a more descriptive
word.  One thing that was noticeable this year is that some of these trails
(like Little Chinscraper) are obviously becoming popular with mountain
bikers, since areas that once had distinctive trails now have patches that
are beginning to resemble bare eroded hillsides. :-(

The race was won by William Emerson in a course record 4:08 followed by
former race winners Dave Terry and Ferg Hawke
(I think that I got that right ... check an ultralist near you for official
results from the RD's ... I hope)  I'm not sure who the women's winner was,
but she passed me on the ridge trail like I was standing still.

My own race was really enjoyable.  I went out a bit fast, but instead of
doing a crash and burn, I just slowed down a bit and still knocked 40 mins
off my previous best on this course.   I did have some problems with calf
cramps that threatened, but then resolved themselves.  One of the biggest
logistical problems (from a runner's perspective) in this particular race
is that it takes at least 1.5 hrs to 2 hours to run from Aid Stn #3 to Aid
#4.  I planned for this by knocking back lots of water on the Cleator Road
climb and then what I could on the Lost Lake mud track, but clearly what
kept the calf cramps in check was that prayer I said on the backside of the
Mountain :-)   Next year everyone will have lots of water since race
sponsor, Montrail, handed out free water bottles to every runner crossing
the finish line.

Cheers
Ron Adams
North Vancouver BC
Capilano@ATTglobal.net