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Headlands 50K 2001 Report(CA): Guy Palmer

Headlands 50K, Saturday, August 24


 Friday night (race eve)- the skies were clear and a heat
 wave was begining to take shape. This potential heat wave would be quite
 the departure from previous year's impenetrable fog banks. In fact, since the
 young race's inception - the race had known nothing but fog, fog and more
 fog. Only near the Cardiac double aid station has it been consistently
 clear, and Friday night looked like the string of pea-soup fog runs would
 be broken. But even though early Saturday morning it was clear (around 6AM),
 almost as if qued by the ultimate race director above- the fog started
 sneaking in right around the 7:AM starting time. But this didn't dampen
 the spirits of any of the approximately 200 runners or so that had braved
 the morning chill on the breezy(and now fog shrowded) Rodeo beach. The
 stage was set. With wet-suited surfers in the background and the contingent of
 Ultra runners amassed on the soft sandy shores of Rodeo Beach - Greg Nacco
 (one of the multiple co-race directors of this event) offered a few
 choice words of encouragement and the pack was off and running.
 It turned out that the fog was a perfect neighbor. It hung around just
 long enough to keep things cool before folks started hitting the Dipsea trail.
 Once on the fabled Dipsea trail the sun came out to warm things up. The
 great thing about this course is that even if a heat wave develops inland
 it isn't long before the group dives back down into the cool coastal air as
 the course follows the shore hugging coastal trail for the entire return trip
 from Stinson beach.
     In another masterfully crafted run the Tamalpa runners came out in
 force in this year's Headlands50k 2001. With over 40 members present in the
 race the odds were good that a Tamalpan would cross the finish line first. And
 the top Tamalpan, Carl Andersen was up to the task. While not taking the
 early lead - Carl still managed to run the first ever sub 4 hour effort
 in this challenging course. Carl took first place with a sparkling 3:59:34.
 (And if history is any reliable indicator - this record could stand for
 some time to come. Those of you who are "...in the know.." are well aware of
 Carl's stunning sub 4 hour time on the Quadruple Dipsea. Carl, to this
 day is the first and only runner to ever break the 4 hour barrier in the
 Quadruple Dipsea and it may be quite some time before this sub-4 hour
 time in the challenging headlands race is bettered.)
 Carl's better half - Ann Trason, led the women with her equally strong
 time of 4:30:16. However, Karen Brown's course record of 4:29:11 - set in 1999 
 -still stands. But you must also be aware of the fact that Karen set the
 record when she was 36. And while Ann may not want you to know this, she
 is 40 this year. It's debatable whether she'll be able to make another
 attempt at wresting the C.R. from Karen's firm grip.
 Returning to the men's competition..
     Cliff Lentz made his debut in the Ultra running world by leading the
 pack - and Carl Andersen - through Pantoll, going down into Stinson.
 However, it was there where Carl showed his depth and epxerience in ultra
 world plus, the miles and miles of downhill had pummeled Cliff's
 inexperienced quads into jello.
     Mark Richtman (another Tamalpan) brought home second in the 40 -49
 age group with a fine 4:13:00. This time was a whopping 30 minutes faster
 than Mark's previous appearance in the race. ( Maybe he's been eating his
 wheaties or maybe he just 'dogged it' the first time around - who knows?)
 Trish Duarte, came in from out of state to grab the second 40-49 finish
 spot in the women's division. Ken Gregorich of the E. Bay Striders pulled down
 the 3rd spot in the Mens 40 -49 and another Tamalpan Scott Murray,
 debuted his Ultra running skills by pulling an E-Z overall10th spot with a
 4:44:53.
 He was also 4th in the 40-49 age group and was the 5th Tamalpan to cross
 the line out of the first 10 spots. Now if we could just get him to quit
 smoking- who knows what he could do (hey, cross my heart, believe it or not the
 guy is a smoker!) But, let's not forget the 30-39 year olds. Tamalpan Tom
 Lyons Led the Tamalpan men's 30-39 year olds with a fine 4:27:16.
 Danny Dreyer pulled another superb performance for the Tamalpan men,
 50-59 year olds. His time of 4:46:32 landed him top dog honors in that veteran
 group of veterans. Tamalpan Geoff Vaughn, came in off of the Road (he
 plays in a band) and strolled to an E-Z 4:48:04 for the 6th spot in the 30-39
 year old men's. Tamalpa's Michael Sweeney was right behind with a 4:51:58 and
 was the 5th 40-49 male across the line.
 Luanne Park was the 3rd overall female to cross the line and the 3rd
 40-49 year old female. Carrie Sisk lead the female 20-29's with a 5:03:43
 Jeri Howland was the 4th female 40-49 and the second Tamalpan woman
 overall.
 Gary Hillard, a former local guy (and former Tamalpan stalworth Ultra
 yeoman) bolted for greener pastures back east, came back to  lead the
 HAURS(Haight Ashbury Ultra Runners Society -at least I think that is what they
 were called. They are the only running club I am aware of that has
 tie-dyed T-shirts for their race uniforms!). I don't know who's been smokin what
 with these guys but it was great to see Gary gettin back into it with Errol
 "the rocket" Jones.
 Another Tamalpan - Dr. Dave Hannaford showed up for this year's version
 of the Tamalpa Headlands 50k and pulled the sixth spot for the men's 50-59
 year olds. Jane Baldwin - showed up to grab the 5th spot in the women's 40-49
 division.And Tamalpan Ultra-Guy of steel - Dave Covey- who was still in an altered
 state of consciousness (or howabout lack-of conscioussness- due to his
 1-week earlier debut in the LEADVILLE 100 MILE run which starts out at
 about 50,000 feet of altitude and I think finishes up on the moon somewhere).
 Well, dave was brought back down to earth. After feeling pretty peppy for
 the first 10 or so miles, that high altitude oxygen depraved buzz,
 finally wore off. Dave gutted it out for a 5:25

 Guy Palmer
 RD Headlands50k
 guy_palmer@headlands50k.org
 http://www.headlands50k.org
 http://www.tamalparunners.org
 http://www.dipsea.net