TALES FROM THE MID PACK | 2023 Black Canyon 100K
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- On February 18, 2023, I toed the starting line of the Black Canyon 100K at Mayer High School in Spring Valley, AZ. The race utilizes a large part of the 80 mile Black Canyon National Recreation Trail north of Phoenix. While it is a net downhill race, it does feature more than 6000 feet of elevation gain and is fully exposed to the sun for the entire duration of the event. Nearly 1000 runners separated in three waves lined up at the High School track to start the race with a single loop around the track before making their way through town to ultimately hop onto the Back Canyon Trail about 3 miles into the race to continue their journey south towards the town of Rio Vista, AZ for the finish 8.5 to 20 hours later.
As it turned out, nearly one third (300+) runners would eventually drop from the race (DNF) for various reasons, heat and exposure likely to be one of the main reasons.
My buddies, Nick and Ted joined me on a road trip to race in Arizona, the two of them in Nick's van and me in my own camper. After camping at a beautiful free spot in the Coconino National Forest just east of Sedona the night before packet pickup, we headed to Black Canyon City to check out the race expo along with picking up our race bibs. Afterwards, Nick and Ted headed to a hotel in Phoenix while I headed north to Bumble Bee Ranch which not only hosted one of the major aid stations at mile 19 of the race, but also offered runners a really cheap camping option for race weekend with access to both a bathroom and a shower. On the way, I passed the Gloriana Mine Aid Station at mile 24 of the race. From the ranch, it would just be a 30 min drive to an Outlet Mall in Phoenix, where runners would jump on a shuttle to the race start in the morning. We would jump on a shuttle again at the finish line to retrieve our vehicles.
While the race did not pan out at all as I had planned due to some "technical" issues, it ended up being just the adventure I had hoped this bucket list race would be. In the end, I got to run the entire second half of the race with Nick before we would catch up to Ted around mile 50, which made the experience even more fun.
Please check out the beauty and challenging terrain of this amazing race in its entirety. To jump to the various chapters, please see below and please remember to subscribe to my channel and like any video you enjoyed. It really helps my channel and lets me know if anyone is watching and enjoying this content:
0:00 - Title
0:20 - Intro
1:13 - Bib Pickup & Runner Expo
3:22 - Start Line Shuttle
4:51 - Start Line - Wave 2
11:24 - Antelope Mesa AS
17:32 - Hidden Treasure AS
23:49 - Bumble Bee Ranch AS
28:00 - Gloriana Mine AS
31:40 - Soap Creek AS
36:17 - Black Canyon City AS
43:30 - Cottonwood Gulch AS
45:10 - Table Mesa AS
45:42 - Doe Springs AS
46:33 - Finish Line - กีฬา
Great job preservering despite issues, and telling the real gritty story of the race!! Looks like a beautiful day in the desert
Thank you! Yes, it was a fantastic day!
@@ultrakraut I'm considering this for my first 100k, as the 2024 race is only a few months away!
It’s a great event, both scenic and well organized!
I like your videos because you do a great job of filming and summarizing the course. I watch your videos to help me choose Ultras, and you've sold me on Black Canyon!
Thank you! Good luck at Black Canyon!
🤠🌵🙌! Great Video! It was a genuine pleasure running the course with you & TED 👊. Definitely one of my new favorites! Inspiring effort on the day…. Way to push through💪. Good luck on your next race! Keep kicking ass out there 🏃♂️
You, too, brother! Can't wait for our next roadtrip or race adventure!
I love that your video gives such a good sense of the nature of this course - the terrain, the ups and downs, the twists and turns, the scenery near and far. Thank you Martin.
Happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Stellar job my friend! Beautiful course! Loved following along the journey with you in this video. Thanks for sharing.
Great job! Gorgeous scenery and neat music! I loved seeing the mid pack experience. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I gave you the Imodium at black canyon city! Way to power through and get it done. Awesome race recap and great job capturing the beautiful scenery. 🙌🏻
You saved me and my race! Thanks again!!!
love the Pre-Race footage. It's something that we often don't get but makes the viewing experience much more absorbing.
Thank you!
Nice job, great to see the authentic experience and beautiful scenery
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Well done and thanks for sharing your journey!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for a great race summary and once again showing us your true race grit!
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it!
Congrats!
Thanks!
Great video! So fun to see from your perspective, thank you!
great video. amazing how you knew to take the correct path on a fork. 🤷♂️
Well done!
That course looks like it has awesome scenery. Good job on grinding out to the finish. On my last race I had intense stomach cramps after accidentally filling up my water bottles with electrolytes at the aid station then added my own electrolytes. That was enough to slow me down so I feel the pain.
Yup, I'm still not sure what screwed pop my stomach, but you just gotta roll with the punches. Ultras will ALWAYS challenge you!
You are a stud! What an aggressive race schedule.
Stud, fool, who can really say:-) We'll see how it all pans out. May have to drop a race here or there if recovery doesn't continue to be fairly quick and easy for me. Thankfully, my goals for all of these adventures this year are to finish in one piece, nothing more or less.
Wow, small world - I know Nick (and Amanda), lol. Crazy you and I were at Shippey (but I did the 20M) and somehow missed each other. Great video!!
Small world, indeed! Trail and ultra running family is the best!
That laminated card with the Aid Station names, times, and all the estimates of arriving - did you make that?!
Sorry for the awfully late reply. Yes, I make those cards for every one of my 100+ mile races.
Bad stomach can ruin everything. Next time will be better - heads up.
Yeah, first time in more than 10 years that a bad stomach derailed my race, but it's all good, it was still a great experience.
I like your videos because you do a great job of filming and summarizing the course. I watch your videos to help me choose Ultras, and you've sold me on Black Canyon!
Glad to hear it! Good luck at Black Canyon!