2013 Map

Map is done! A huge thanks to Christian Johnson who does a great job with our maps.  Each color represents a different “branch” or “leg” of the course.  A separate 100k map is included with its elevation profile.  Elevation gain came in a lot lower than what Google Earth was saying.  There will be some tweaking with mileage and elevation over the months as I get more accurate readings, but this is pretty much it.  So excited to put this course out there for you guys- more scenic trails and I like how it can be broken down into different sections that we branch out to.  On each leg there is that element of exploring new territory but also you have a chance to size up the competition.   Some will like the element of familiarity every once in a while when you are on the return leg of the out and backs.  Overall, runners will branch out to more trails that we’d wanted to incorporate into the run but couldn’t work into a single loop course.   It will also be a lot easier for us to manage since the start/finish line is centrally located for access purposes and we have reduced the total number of aid stations that we need to staff, while providing more aid stations that runners will pass through.  The “crew access” points are also limited aid stations- like a beefed up water only station with some limited aid and shade/chairs but may not be staffed at all times and runners will not be tracked by Ham radio at these locations.  We’ll be doing our group runs on each of these sections starting in the fall. (Will post a calendar in Sept./Oct.)  We’ll post the GPS files in a few months when we’ve fine tuned the mileage and any minor changes to be made to the course.  Remember, anyone that makes it to Aid #9 or farther on the course also gets an official 100k finishing time (taken from their check in time at Aid #9).

2013 Zion 100 map

2013 Zion 100k map

2013 Info

For the last month we’ve been planning while the race and your feedback is fresh on our minds.  We’ve made some adjustments for next year that we feel will make it more manageable from our end, a higher quality course, more crew friendly, and hopefully give runners better temperatures to run in.

Perhaps the biggest change to the race is that there is no longer a 50 mile option. New to this year is the 100k option for those that would like it.  So the race can now truly be called the “Zion 100″- which can be interpreted as either 100 miles or 100 kilometers.  Any 100 mile runners that withdraw after mile 62 will receive a 100k finisher’s medallion and time.  There is only one starting time and one registration fee.  The 100k is similar to that of the Javelina Jundred- more of a consolation prize for runners that run into problems or just don’t have 100 miles in them on race day.  Runners that know that they only want to run 100k are of course welcome to register as well.

The date will be moved up to Friday, April 19th this year.  We’re sticking with the Friday start for a couple of reasons.  #1- Our volunteer base- Believe it or not, it’s easier to get volunteers to help out on a Friday than on a Sunday here in Utah.  And since a race is only as good as its volunteers, we’re happy to accommodate that request.  #2- Post-race party/ambiance.  One of the distinguishing features that we’d like to become known for at the Zion 100 is a race where ultrarunners come from all over the country (and globe) to catch up and have a good time.  At too many races the norm is to get your buckle and be on your way. While we know that you’re absolutely beat up at the end of your run and may not feel much like socializing, we think that we have a unique opportunity to have a post-race gathering that both the front and back of the packers can enjoy together due to our Friday start.  Most people will not start their journey home until Sunday and since the last runners will now be finished by noon on Saturday, everyone will have time to get some rest before coming back in the evening for a great meal, drinks, live music, and the awards ceremony.  Pah Tempe Hot Springs will be rented out from noon until midnight on Saturday.  This will be offered free of charge this year to those associated with the Zion 100.

This year, the race will start with runners going through the exposed, lower elevation desert sections of trail early during optimal running temps.  The new cutoff time will be 32 hours, or 2:00pm on Saturday.

The new course can essentially be divided into 5 sections.  Each one is amazing for different reasons, offering unique views and highlighting a different aspect of the varied desert landscape.

1) The JEM/Hurricane Rim/Virgin desert loop

2) Gooseberry Mesa loop

3) Smithsonian Butte and Grafton Mesa loop

4) Dalton Wash and Guacamole trail (out and back-lollipop loop)

5) Flying Monkey-Smith Mesa-Mesa Road (out and back)

Runners will visit 13 aid stations throughout the run, however, there are only 7 actual locations as most aid stations will be visited more than one time.

A detailed map is under construction.  For now, if you’d like to have a peek at the course you can email me and and I’ll send you the Google Earth files.

We’ve looked into about every known trail marking option out there that we could find and combined with a few innovative ideas of our own, we are confident that we will have one of the best marked trails out there next year.  Each of the junctions that are on your handheld map will also be marked with signs on the trail with similar wording.

Kali has agreed to make our buckles again next year, and has some great new additions to the designs that will be available for finishers to choose from.

We’re going to try something new for the race shirts- we’re going to stick with our logo on the design year after year, but offer a variety of products that you can choose from.  Upon registering, you will choose one of the following: a T-shirt, longsleeve shirt, hoodie, running cap, visor, armsleeves, or a handheld watter bottle.  All of these items will be available for purchase at the race as well (cash/check) or you can pre-order with your credit card via ultrasignup (this feature will not be ready on their website for another week or two.) Here’s a look at what the merchandise will look like with our logo: 

We’ll go ahead and open up registration now for 2013 now for those that want to make it official!  The registration link on the website is now live… Early registration is greatly appreciated as it gives us some capital to get things rolling on our end.

Also, those that toed the line for the inaugural 100 mile event should have recently received a discount code via email.  Let me know if you didn’t receive that email.

Thank you!!!

What a weekend.  What highs and what lows.  It was amazing to watch runners cross the finish line and be able to talk to them. My family, friends and even strangers stepped up and helped out soooo much, expecting nothing in return.  I came out feeling more connected to the important people in my life and the ultrarunning community than I ever imagined.

What an amazing group of people you guys are.  So effing amazing.  It is so cool to rub shoulders with people that attack life in the same way.  You set out to do the impossible, and in the process when things go wrong in the darkest hour or something out of your control gets in the way, you handle it with such dignity.  You guys have won over the hearts of my family and the volunteers and I have no doubt that we will be able to do amazing things with this race in the future now that they are 100% on board.  All of these minds behind the race are now firing on all cylinders thinking of ways to make it a success.

I am still in the process of taking down the course markings and it has been an eye opening experience for sure.  Gooseberry at night is a whole different world. There is no such thing as “running” the Goose at night.  You just try not to get lost.

As a gesture of saying thanks for having enough faith in us to join us in our first year of existence and as a gesture of saying “We’re sorry” for the sub-par performance on course markings, keeping up with the leaders, keeping aid stations well-stocked for the back of the packers, and not being able to deliver on several key items that I said that we’d have in place- I’d like to extend a 50% discount off of next year’s race to anyone that toed the 100 mile starting line on race day.  We would love to see you back here, and are confident that we will have the above mentioned glitches worked out.

Also, for anyone that DNF’d the 100, but went more than 50 miles, we have a 50 mile finisher’s medallion for you.  Please send me an email if you’d like to have us ship that out to you.

Drop bags- if you send a check for $10 to: Matt Gunn, 810 S. Peachtree Dr., Toquerville, UT, 84774 and include the address that you’d like your items shipped to. We’ll get those sent out to you- most likely sometime next week as we still have about 40 miles of trail to take down and clean up and a lot of organizing of supplies to do.

We’ve got some really cool course improvements that I’m excited to let you guys know about in the future.  Next year is going to be epic!!!

Pictures

Here are the first group of pictures from 3D Media Watch.  The link can also be found on the “Photos/Video” tab.

 

 

 

50 and 100 Results

2012 Zion 100 Race Results

Zion 50 Results

Please email me with any time discrepancies and we’ll get them taken care of.

Please excuse the delay.  Sorry about the DNF confusion that some of you encountered.  The reports we received via Ham radio said that you had pulled (maybe you were just thinking about it?) and we updated it accordingly on ultralive.net.  The problem is that once you’ve been entered into their system, there is no turning back, so we can only post results on a spreadsheet.  We will post a better document shortly, still have a lot of clean up to do at this point in order to stay in good standing with the BLM, State Trust Land, county, and towns of Virgin and Apple Valley.  Still pulling the all nighters at this point but at least there’s light at the end of the tunnel…  Last night I was up  on Gooseberry taking down trail markings all night and only got about half way, then straight from there to work…  That damn reflective tape does not come off of the rock easily.

Drop bag pick up

Drop bags can be picked up at Pah Tempe Hot Springs through this evening.  After that, send me an email if you are missing something and we’ll see what we can work out.

Official times will be posted by Monday at 5pm.  We are aware that some runners are appearing as DNF’s on ultralive.net that did finish.  We will have that taken care of in the results.  Thanks for you patience, we’re super busy with course and event clean up at the moment.

Facebook updates via ultralive.net

100 milers can sign up for Facebook wall postings of their splits for all their friends too see if they sign up with Ultralive.net.  This is only available for the 100 mile runners .  Here is the link to sign up: http://www.ultralive.net/my.php

Again, here are the links to follow the:

100 Milers: http://www.ultralive.net/zion100/

50 Milers: http://www.ultralive.net/zion50/

Twitter summary: http://www.ultralive.net

Thank you so much for making this service available to our runners, Ted!!!

Cedar Gnats

Bad news… One of our trail markers just reported back that the “cedar gnats” or  noseeums are out on Gooseberry today.  They weren’t there yesterday, must have hatched today.  I knew that we would be safe on Smith mesa because they don’t hatch until the first week of June up there and I assumed we’d be safe on Gooseberry since elevation is only slightly lower.  They’re out during the hottest time of the day normally and shouldn’t be in the lowlands, hopefully just limited to hot hours on Gooseberry.   We’ll have repellent at aid stations, but if you have a favorite brand, you’ll want it in your drop bag at aid station 5 or 6.   They tend to leave you alone if you keep moving, so maybe that will help your finishing time out a little bit…

Course preview

Here’s a great write up by Cory Reese on what to expect from this course…

http://www.fastcory.com/2012/05/zion-100-course-guide.html

Thanks so much, Cory.  You’ve been such a great resource throughout all of this.

4 days…

Wanted to share a cool idea that we’ve come up with for trail marking that I haven’t seen being used out there yet.  We’ll call them “trailies”.  This is a take off of the words that the idea originated from- “throwies” and “glowies“.

I just learned about “throwies”about a week and a half ago and started on the idea late, so we won’t be able to have too many of them (about 100) on the course.  Thus far, the idea is going so well that it seems possible and quite economical to do all night time markings using “trailies” in the future.  We’ll have the standard fare of reflective tape and glow sticks this year since the materials have already been purchased and distributed to trail markers and we want to try it out first.  The lights and batteries I ordered got here 5 days ago and my test subjects have been lit constantly for 5 days now and are still burning pretty bright.

Cost breakdown of a throwie: 5mm LED light= $0.16, CR2032 battery= $0.20, Clothespin= $0.04, and 3″ of electrical tape= $0.01.  That puts the total at around 40 cents per marker, half of which can be re-used for next year.  Seems very reasonable to mark an entire course well with LED lights spaced at 50-100 yds, significantly reducing the # of runners going off course.

Add a 17″ outdoor balloon and rent a helium tank and you’ve got some “glowies”.  We’ll have a different color of glowies marking each aid station through the night, hopefully you’ll be able to see them from afar as you’re trekking through the desert towards your destination.  If there’s wind we won’t be able to float them up very high, but on a calm night they’ll be floating over 100 ft. in the air.  Apple Valley might get some UFO sightings Friday night

The light in this balloon has been going for 5 days now.  The 17″ balloon (about $0.25 each) stopped floating after about 15 hours, plenty of time to get through the night!  (FYI- If you buy a pre-made “glowie” you’ll pay about $2 each and they only glow for 3-4 hrs.  and get a smaller, poor quality balloon that only floats for about that long).

Here are the ingredients we picked up at the local health food store to make a big batch of vegan broth for the aid stations.  Abe and I have been busy making electrolyte snow cones and we’ve got some awesome boiled red potatoes marinated in Italian dressing that we’ll be serving at the aid stations.

Many nights spent organizing once the kids are in bed.  Our garage and storage unit are filled to the max!