So the course record has now been lowered to 6:15:xx! Not by me, I hasten to add. This superhuman accomplishment was achieved by Shawn Nelson, the younger of the two Nelson boys. Both are elite athletes.
Jeff Hunt, Myke Labelle and myself were instigators of this last assault of the legendary Juan de Fuca Marine trail. 47K of rugged west coast glory. Mostly single track technical trails with some beach running. One of the 14 member crew, wearing a altimeter watch, clocked the entire trail with over 1600 meters of elevation change. It sure felt like it, what with that factor, the mud hollows at the bottom of most of the 40 or so major and minor creek crossings, each one preceded by a series of switch back descents and subsequent accents, made for a grueling day of "primo" trail running. I Love this sport!
On a similiar note this just came in from member Brad:
"Westcoast fellow club fat ass member Brad Holmes runs the west coast trail in 20hrs 13 min, also assisted the first woman ever to officially run the trail in a 24 hr period. Way to go Wannetta Beal from Combs you rock. Wannetta ran the trail 20 hrs 13 mins also officially recorded by park officials. That was by far the toughest, muddiest, gorgeous, exciting, challenging run in my life!!!!!!
Long may you run.
Cheers Brad
I am hoping to do part of the trail next year - hopefully I am over this injury stretch (went for 1:15h through beautiful misty Cap Canyon yesterday, hurrah!). Last year I ran the Juan de Fuca Trail from Sombrio (where is there a Burger King Cheryl - I sure hope that was tongue in cheek; last time we were at Sombrio there was only ocean, beach, huge trees, bear caches and an outhouse) to Botanical Beach in two stretches - with company and a bit more training I could have done it in one session. Leaves to discover the trail between China Beach and Sombrio.
Submitted by Cheryl Johnson on 25 August, 2008 - 12:36.
There's no BK at Sombrio - it's pretty much like you remember it. Geoff and Jeff were joking but we went looking for it...they sounded so darn sincere!
Sitting here lazily with my laptop on my lap, almost out for a run before dinner.
I am going to put this out here for all the turtlepaces out there to ponder: how about a 2 day "assault" on the JDFT in July (the week after KK). Have a base camp at Sombrio. Stay there one night. Drive to China Beach and Run to Sombrio on the second day. Drive to Botanical Beach and run to Sombrio on the second day. Action Jackson can man the base camp at Sombrio with the little Jackson's ;-)
Submitted by Cheryl Johnson on 6 October, 2008 - 11:16.
I'll put it on my calendar for sure. It'd be good if the tides were low and we could run Friday, Saturday and set up a Flash Event on Sunday with aid at Sombrio for anyone wanting to run the whole thing. I'd like a chance to support Carlos and the others,they were so great while we were there.
Submitted by Cheryl Johnson on 24 August, 2008 - 14:53.
Put the Juan de Fuca Trail on your "Must Do" list right now. Wow... hard to describe how beautiful and varied that trail is. Such gorgeous trail with ocean vistas and, yes, even whale watching. I'm definitely running all if it - just not in one day and definitely not in 6 or 8 hours! The through-runners finished with fantastic times.
The island runners are really friendly and fun. Made a great day even bettter. BTW, they challenged us Mainlanders to come up with a run as beautiful. It would be nice if we could find one with a Burger King in the middle, like at Sombrio.
Thanks to Carlos, Jeff & Mike for organizing the run and including all pace groups and thanks to everyone for the smiles.
Comments
WCT Run
Thanks for sharing, Carlos
oh, there's a little mall at Sombrio now
Phew - Am I Glad
I am going to put this out here for all the turtlepaces out there to ponder: how about a 2 day "assault" on the JDFT in July (the week after KK). Have a base camp at Sombrio. Stay there one night. Drive to China Beach and Run to Sombrio on the second day. Drive to Botanical Beach and run to Sombrio on the second day. Action Jackson can man the base camp at Sombrio with the little Jackson's ;-)
2 days is perfect, maybe 3
I am thinking about a mid
Most beautiful trail ever