RE: Barkley 2007

i have to admit that i also enjoy the pictures & race reports that usually 
issue from the barkley,
altho there hasnt been much this year.

i dont understand why there are never pictures from the scenic overlooks
(god knows there are plenty enough to choose from)
perhaps the runners are not looking up when they get to the hilltops?
been expecting to see one from fykes peak sooner or later,
with its awesome 360 degree view
and the smokies clearly visible from 100+ miles away.
maybe the runners are preoccupied with the fact they are on top of a 
rattlesnake den?
i was sure there would be a shot of raw dog falls.
possibly the runners were just too eager to get to danger dave's climbing 
wall?
(judging from mike b's pictures, his group went further downstream and went 
up it the "easy" way)

the dearth of race reports is a little easier to understand this year.
how does one explain failing to finish the run
when the course was so clear,
the weather so good (well, except for heat, rain, & fog)
and the time limit so soft?

we didnt even have any runners still out on loop one after 24 hours
(and that has been a constant over the years)
so no one got to recount their harrowing tales of a night at the limacher 
hilton.
heck, milan didnt even get to visit the prison.

with the field we had, and the weather, i really expected to see several 
finishers.
altho i guess 4 completing the fun-run, and one into loop 5 is a pretty good 
result...
at least compared to last year.

i reckon it's the old saying;
"bad things happen at the barkley"

i cant speak for horton, nelson, and thompson.
a trio of guys with loop 5 experience, all gone before the start of loop 3.
casualties of the early heat.

i know andras low (one tough hungarian) was hurt by their absence.
a little insecure with routefinding,
he stuck with a group that was just a little too slow on loop 3
(come on guys, you're supposed to do the day loops faster!)

flyin bryan looked like he had it in the bag,
until he got a little off course in the fog on loop 4,
and ended up looking for his landmark on the wrong mountain.
(what a terrible feeling it had to have been, when he finally looked at his 
compass and saw that he was looking for the summit af a north-south ridge 
along an east-west ridge)

the dobies cranked out his best result in many years,
and got back to playing with the big boys.
but he petered out during loop 4.

greg eason really opened some eyes with his run this year.
having dispensed with his virginity last year,
he attacked the course like a hungry animal...
it beat him down in the end,
but greg put his name on the list of folks with 100 mile potential.

wendell doman also showed some real progress this year,
with nearly 16 hours cushion going into loop 3...
the only problem was, he didnt go.
his form still looked great, but he was going at about 90 minutes per mile.

i know that every person who went out there,
from the naivest virgin to uber-veteran johnny d
has some sort of a story to tell, or an excuse to make...

i'm still waiting to hear them.

i would almost swear, if i didnt know better,
that the happiest runner in the park was balacz koranyi.
he skewered his knee within a mile & a half of the start
and (following a visit to the ER) spent the whole weekend in camp.
the more runners who came in, the bigger the smile on balacz' face.

we all know it is doable.
maybe next year?

laz

----------------------------------------

this is what youve all been waiting for.
the SCREW results are in.

i expected to see an improvement from last year,
and i wasnt disappointed.
there were no fun run finishers last year,
but this year we had four fun runs.
and brian looked like a sure thing for five,
until he got a little off course in the fog.

i had hoped some of the big boys,
horton, nelson, and thompson
would have gone out on loop three.
but with good performances recently,
there was little incentive for them to suffer more
and get a higher rating.
so the SCREW needs some fixin.
and ive got a year to figure it out.

i didnt keep an organized record of partial loops.
and with little sleep
this is what i can remember.

brian robinson: 4.1
mike dobies: 3.1
greg eason: 3.1
andras low: 3.1
pat costigan: 2.3
andrew thompson: 2.0
jim nelson: 2.0
wendell doman: 2.0
milan milanovich: 1.6 rawdog falls
chip tuthill: 1.3 stallion
ed furtaw: 1.3
leonard martin: 1.3
johnny d: 1.3
sue thompson: 1.3
mike bur: 1.2 garden spot
david horton: 1.0
bill losey: 1.0
dave henn: 1.0
art fisher: 1.0
de wayne satterfield: 1.0
mark shipley: 1.0
hiram rogers: 1.0
david hughes: 1.0

and a bunch that failed to score.

if anyone sees an error,
youll have to let me know.

i promise to take better notes,
and count pages for partial loops next year.

laz