Roch Solid! Crewing & Pacing at the 2009 Cascade Crest 100 Miler

roch horton before running 100 miles
there are a couple hundred milers in washington state. with the plain 100 having just one aid station and no course marking is a different kind of beast. therefore charlie chrisman's cascade crest 100 miler is THE 100 for washington ultrunners. in 2007 justin angle and i paced patagonia ultrarunner jamie gifford to a win. this blog has some good video of bill huggins, darcy africa, nuun ultrarunner bruce grant and of course jamie gifford finishing in easton, wa that year.

this time around i had the honor of crewing and pacing my friend and mentor roch horton. roch runs for patagonia and vasque and is a legend. he's finished hardrock 100 nine times - nuff said.

i won't go into the blow by blow - instead i'll just list some thoughts and observations. oh and the videos are coming soon...

• phil shaw ran his gutz out. it was fun to watch him get the course record of 20:33:43
  
• scott wolfe did an awesome job taking roch the final 30 miles to the finishline
• wow - jamie gifford ran his 10th cascade crest 100 (he's got a couple of wins in there too)
  
• charlie chrisman is a great race director
• it was very cool to see jim kerby (he's a bad ass)
  
• jonathan bernard can run a 100 miles in a good mood the entire race
• i heard laura houston's no name aid station was the best on earth, and roch said they had "real good coffee" in the middle of nowhere
  
• proud of rod bien for running such a smart race
• i am torn between UTMB and CCC100 next year
• every nw runner i saw at olallie ate one of scott mccoubrey's pirogis
• roch horton is fuckin tough

roch horton and rod bien before the race
roch's bag of race necessities and his laminated pace chart

race director charlie chrisman
2nd place rod bien and his team of justin angle and walter edwards
adventure racer miles ohlrich finishes his first 100 miler in 6th place!
2nd place rod bien showing me his rewards
monica ochs made my day a whole lot more enjoyable

a shot of roch's bag with quotes - i like: "sex is speed, endurance is love"

top 20
jonathan bernard and pacer western states fast guy phil kochik

On the Road & CCC 100

TR Update
i arrived late last night in denver. long 8hr+ drive from slc. had to stop and nap. that is the beauty of the eurovan, i can pop the top and get some rest pretty easily.

i was supposed to have three pairs of streaks waiting for me here in denver. a bit of an address snafu and i have no shoes and a race that starts in just over 24hrs. i also left my nathan handhelds and krissy vest in the where's karl rv. they were supposed to be shipped to me in slc but didn't make it in time, so no handhelds or vest either.

but i'm here. i'm healthy. i have one pair of pretty old streaks i can wear. sean is bringing me some of his extra handhelds. i know it will all work out.

i keep getting asked about the competition. it will be fierce. if these guys don't win it then one of them got hurt or eaten by a mtn lion.

---

Cascade Crest 100 Miler

i just got from justin angle that seattle guy tom ederer just won the cascade crest 100 miler! whoa, this is HUGE! justin is tom's coach. wow. great work justing in getting him there so fit and ready for his first 100 miler. congrats tom! so stoked for you man.

word on the street - "gifford was struggling with bad belly. aaron heidt dropped. phill shaw 2nd".

with the cascade crest being the premier 100 miler in the seattle area i made sure nuun was a sponsor of the race... so it's at every aid station and the winners get some great free product.

2007 Cascade Crest 100 Mile Endurance Run Updates

just spoke with becky gifford. apparently stan holman is leading the race. followed closely by a group of guys running with darcy africa, who is leading for the woman. it's assumed these guys don't know who she is!.. and are running themselves into the ground trying not to get chicked.. ha.

justin angle and i are headed up to snoquamlie now. we are meeting with becky gifford and hopefully will see jamie come through olallie meadows (mile 47.7). i pick him up at hyak (mile 52.7) and run 15 miles (i have my own 100 next weekend) up and over keechelus ride to kachess lake. at kachess lake (mile 67.9) justin will pick him up and run him into the finish. it's going to be exciting. jamie has the most finishes on the cascade crest course going into this race with 7! he's won and held the course record as well in 2004.

i'll be text messaging updates to my blog - not sure how much service i'll get out there but i'll try to do it frequently so you can follow the race.

nuun active hydration proudly sponsors the 2007 cascade crest 100 mile endurance run!
race site : course map

---

Updates consolidated below

---

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Stan Holman 9th in 23:34
posted by Hart at 9:37 AM

---

Bill Huggins 8th in 23:28!
posted by Hart at 9:35 AM

---

Sam Thompson in 7th at 23:14... yelling "worst race ever! no course markings!" and slaming his water bottle to the ground.
posted by Hart at 9:21

---

Bruce Grant (Montrail Ultrarunner) 6th in 23:05
posted by Hart at 9:14 AM

---

Phil Shaw 5th in 22:54
posted by Hart at 8:57 AM

---

Keith Kniplin 4th 22:13
posted by Hart at 8:22 AM

---

Eric Peitzsch from from bozeman 3rd in 21:45
posted by Hart at 7:56 AM

---

Darcy Africa 2nd in 21:15!
posted by Hart at 7:53 AM

---

Jamie Gifford (Patagonia Ultrarunner) wins in 20:52!
posted by Hart at 7:03 AM

---

Jamie Gifford, still in 1st is now on the road about 20 min from winning 2007 ccc 100!
posted by Hart at 6:46 AM

---

I saw Darcy Africa come at the kackess lake aid station. She is working her way back up after getting off course, i think she was 5th over all 1st woman.
posted by Hart at 12:00 AM

---

Saturday, August 25, 2007
I just paced jamie in 1st for hyak over kechelus ridge. He was super steady & said that was the most he had ever run of that climb. it rained on us pretty much the whole time. jamie let me wear one of his patagonia 9 trails jackets- super sweet! with my nuun headsweats beanie i was warm enough to help propel him up the boring dirt road climb.
posted by Hart at 11:57 PM

---

Darcy & Sam got lost. Bad course markings sent them the wrong way. It was actually mis-marked. This allowed jamie & bill to take lead.
posted by Hart at 11:52 PM

---

Just thru olallie meadows, mile 47 - Sam Thompson? North face guy in 1st. Darcy Africa out 2nd, Stan Holman out 3rd, then Bill Huggins out 4th and our own Patagonia Runner Jamie Gifford out 5th!.. the savy vet is no doubt biding his time before making a move!
posted by Hart at 7:47 PM

this weekends excitement!

keep an eye on these events this weekend:

• cascade crest 100 miler - this is like a seattle ultrarunners home town course, running through the snoqualmie pass area. i was sooo very excited to pace patagonia runner rod bien, but he got injured and had to drop (send him some good healing vibes please!). today i get an email from patagonia runner jamie gifford asking if i'd pace him! i'm in.. this will be my last real run before my 100 miler. i'll run only 15 miles, hyak to kachess lake. i'm super excited to help him. word on the street is "Jared Campbell had to drop with an injury and Phil Shaw ran Leadville last weekend so he will be on tired legs."... also "julie fingar bailed as well". i didn't hear why however and i don't know her.. but i hear she is fast.



• tour du mont blanc ultra - this one starts tomorrow! with karl meltzer (2006 ultrarunner of the year), scott jurek ('07 hardrock winner and western states god) and hal koerner ('07 western states winner) all in attendance to do battle with the euroes who have won in previous years this will prove to be an amazing event! sounds like my kind of course too - it's now on the "must run" list.
  
  i love the northface press release for the tour du mont blanc... it mentions karl meltzer, hal koerner and... dean karnazes? "the extreme runner of the The North Face team who is specifically training this year for The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc". my 2 cents? wait for it.. dean's chances of winning this race are slim, and the north face left out scott jurek (possibly the best ultrarunner in the world right now) intentionally because of his comments about dean during his endurance planet.com interview.