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San Juan Trail 50K Report March 14, 2009 Morning All. The sun has not come up in Laguna Woods yet, but I thought I would get my message across the airwaves as soon as possible. Where does one start to portray the events of this year’s SJT50K, besides using Stings words in one of his songs… Magic Magic Magic…Police 1970 maybe! The few RD's that turned up for the race were spying I know… hey, I hope we can all learn! Their nice words mean a lot, along with the many who took time out to comment. But I realize the accolades really belong to the many volunteers that turn up and work all day under the hot sun! My new best friend and future spouse, lovely Jody was the star of the show…. Came early, took the kids to a soccer game, then returned to duty at Blue Jay in time to catch all the runners crossing the finish line. Of course, my ham radio team did splendid as usual, my mate Heiko is the man, our over 30-year friendship means a lot. Of course, my medical team was always out and about on the course; only one runner was treated for a wrist problem after taking a fall in the first 15 miles. He managed to finish and is going to be fine with a dislocated wrist; maybe can only drink with his right hand for a couple of weeks. He thanks Harry for the temporary wrap support while out there. My aid station teams did good, all the runners where taken care of, again thanks for the nice emails. As for the race itself, I had to open the main gate at 5:15, still bloody dark. I had already hidden the empty wine bottles from the previous night. Jody was on time as expected… all the runners were signed in and as usual we did have a delay in starting on time; who cares! But we noticed many runners had not arrived? Sorry to say there was another event in town and they had similar signage and at least 4 or 5 cars took a detour that went to some wedding site. As the saying goes - the race must go on; none of the late entrants complained about their late start. Of course, we adjusted their finish times. I felt sorry for some of the ones shedding tears, but those big guys were tough and soon got over it. The cool weather worked, the first runner came through the first aid station in record time, and a group of about 5 runners were not far behind including our first women. Must mention the course was changed at the last minute. I did shorten the first 20 miles… By the time the runners where heading back to Blue Jay the sun had started to shine, but the temp stayed cool. My talented mate, Dean Dobberteen, was on a mission. He knew he had hot competitors on his heels, but with a nice lead back at Blue Jay he said those old guys will have to work to catch me. Included in the following pack was an East Coast runner Gary Harrington… noticeably not carrying a water bottle. New mum Darcy Africa was still hounding the rat-pack in front, with our local favorite Michelle Barton grinding away at staying in the top ten. Old man Scott Miles was sweating a little at BJ, his short pit stop behind a tree was interesting to the female on-lookers. The runners were now spread out but our radio team kept us abreast of everyone over the last 12 miles… A few dropped because of various problems, but I did allow a few to continue after our cut-off time at Blue Jay. Sorry we did pull one runner… hopefully she comes back, sometimes an RD has to make tough decisions. All runners thought the course was well marked, for the one or two folks who loved the little loop at the Candy Store so much and decided to go round twice, no extra charge! Dean Dobberteen came across the finish line in first place with his new running shoes not so new, his sweaty hug and the smile told us everything. Of course, he did not tell others that he was doing another 20 miles later this evening - pulling a rickshaw at Disneyland. His competition Big Tom Neilson and his mate with bib #1, Tracy Moore cruised in 15 minutes later, both happy with their magic day. They did mention there competition, our man from the East Coast. Tom said they were glad he didn’t carry water as he may have stayed in front of them. Darcy Africa had a great race coming in first and 7th overall, but Michelle was not far behind to take second, a good confidence builder for her WS 100 race in June. One of the late starters ran her legs off to take third and got a top 10 finish; Angela Shartel was now crying cos of her magic day on the trails…. Go girl. 54 year-old Gary Curry came all the way from Boulder to grace our presence - again, we go back a long running career. All the age group winners were very happy and I want to thank all the runners who hung around to enjoy their day, we had plenty of beer and food left over, my local neighbors will be happy. Must say thanks to my Forest Service team for my 2 tickets… how dare they!!! The parking worked out fine and we are told the campground will be open to the public real soon.
So,
a good day was had by all, all though my mate Billy Dickey’s 10-hour walk
was a little too much. The cold beer I handed him made up for
everything. Thanks all for making my day! Maybe the Shadow of the
Giants 50K is on your calendar at the end of May? If so, we will be
celebrating twenty magic years in Fish Camp. The Saddleback Trail
Marathon is in November, stay tuned to my web sight, but most importantly
stay healthy through your summer and enjoy the trails we are very lucky to
have this sport. San Juan Trail 50K Results 2009
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