The UltraRunning link for the U.S.

HURT Trail 100 Report(HI): Alfred Bogenhuber

A runner revealing his true fitness, before a race is like a
buyer confiding his final price to an Armenian rug-dealer! The Wolfie
(Bogie ) came in second to Louis Escobar the winner of the inaugural Hawaii
Trail 100 but had his fun snapping at Louis's tail all the way-even as he
was suffering more than Louis, because lack of fitness due to the fact that
instead to train he went to Austria and ate too much Strudel over Christmas
and New-year and was 7 lbs over his best fighting weight, but Louis didn't
know that!!!  It must be hard when some pesky animal is always behind you
and you don't dare to tend to your blisters and eat right at the
aid-stations-say hi to your friends there etc.  Where the wolfie had it easy 
since there was nobody in sight behind him (an almost 5 hr gap for 3rd place), 
especially after the 3rd 20 mile lap where the crafty race director Salmonson 
and his P.J. put in an "Option" to go 100 km  for an "easy-out" which was taken 
by most runners, to later regret that they didn't run the whole 100 miles.
     Now this 100 km option consisted of an extra 2 miles after the 3rd 20
mile lap. You had to climb up about 700ft over the worst roots you ever saw
and come down over the devils rock garden-nice and slimy.  I think they
all sat at the aid-station and laughed as they listened to the bumpady bump 
banging of heads as they rolled down through there like ripe oranges!!
     Now for the course: You want hills-you got them; 23750 feet- about like
Wasatch. You want dirt -you got plenty of it in this jungle when it
starts to rain that tropical stuff.You want a rough rooty course-you got it. The
worst banyan-roots you ever waded through-(they are as thick as your arm and
grow on top of the surface not under ground like well behaved roots in
California).  You want rocks -you got plenty of those, and none of them are
straight in the ground because the big Hawaiian Kahuna (Witch doctor) for
you guys back east tilted them all sidewise, sharp edge-up.  And they are mostly
wet as we find ourselves in a jungle most of the time, about 90% of the time.
You want Bamboo forest you got plenty of that about 15% of this run and
sometimes they leave the stubbles sticking out an inch or two or they cut
them and lay them sideways so you can run over them when it gets too muddy,
but they shift after a while and they become like a treadmill to nowhere.
You want constant temptation to quit-you got that too-this is a 20 mile loop,
ending with a "beautiful" stocked aid station. The Wolfie is thinking Women
here not food, you gluttons.  And the beach within about 10 min. drive. in
fact some of the crew swam in between legs of 20 especially since some of
those legs took 6.5 hrs.
     The race director Big John Salmonson and akabill from the H.U.R.T. team
also had a big surprise at the start for us since he brought a real Hawaiian
to do a "Chant-Blessing" for us at the start, he or she was dressed in real
Hawaiian trditional garb and they had candles as it was still pitchdark at
the 6 AM start.  So it all looked very dramatic.  This person kept looking
at me while chanting, I tried to hide but I think she saw me and put the
"Whammie" on me.
     The first lap went real good, feels great to run in just your shorts
right from the start, about 4.36hrs only 10 min behind 1st pl. Second lap still
good at 5.00hrs, still 10 min behind 1st.  Third lap still ok 5.30hrs but it
got dark at about 6.15 when I was halfway through the race.  It does not get
light until 7 am in Hawaii.  So after darkness set in; my times greatly
deteriorated, probably a combination of fatigue and lack of good vision, it
really gets dark in the jungle at night!!  How dark was it?  Well as we, my
pacer Edith and me were running down into Nuuanu-valley at about 1am we saw
those 2 runners real low on the ground coming at us, I said to Edith: Look
they are crawling at us and look they are all black from the jungle-mud they
must have fallen down a lot until we realized that those two were not
runners but wild pigs with those little round eyes and big tusks-Hell let's get
out of here!!!But they grunted and shot off into the underbrush of philodendrons
and guava bushes.  By the way we ate a lot of those wild Guavas as they were
laying all over the ground and they taste delicious.
     As it got light Louis found another gear and the gap widened- if I could
have only caught him earlier I probably could have talked him into a pact to
run in together for a guaranteed First for both of us.  But a little
flashlight-trouble during the night might have cost me that.  Maybe the
Wolfie could have told him a nice story and a good limp to go with it so Louis
would have felt sorry and let me run in with him, but as he left that last
aid-station he had his head down and was going for it, to put an incredible
20 min on me in those last 7 miles!!
     This run seemed to attract some interesting people, Dr Dieter Weisshaar
from Germany who ran an unbelievable 20 100 Milers last year  (He opted for
the 100 Km wisely this time) Susie Clark,Thiebalt etc. and Catra with all
her rings in all the right places, all that metal must have cost her at lest one
hour but she did the whole 100 Miles. And the Ladies winner Monica Scholz
from Canada who ran 16 100 milers last year.  As you see this race has
already a reputation for gluttons of punishment. Just look at akabill Molmen who
came in after the 4th lap with barely any skin left on his toes and foot. If
you put a bun on top and bottom you had a nice hamburger.  No way-this guy
is going out again-yes he did, and was the first Hawaiian and 3rd place overall!
     Sorry you guys in the East, in Hawaii they hardly have any mosquitos
since the "Tradewinds take care of them."  And you will miss the "Ticks" and the
"Snakes" as they don't have any of those either, and to you Californians; no
they don't have any 'Poison-oak" either, so you can throw your tired bodies
into any bush and rest-but there might be a "Wahine " in there and you
wouldn't want to come out for a while.
     And there are always the lights of Waikiki in a short distance just
in case you are looking for a good beach, and if you look up into the
beautiful sparkling night sky you will be treatd to a special: You will see
the Big Dipper, which is usually only seen in the northern hemisphere. And
the "Southern Cross" which is usually seen only in the southern hemisphere.
All at the same time.
                                                                 
yours truly,

Bogie The Wolfie