Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 09:12:44 -0700 
From: svwriter@postoffice.pacbell.net
Subject: Nolan's 14 2000, Results 

Nolan's 14 is an 88+ mile adventure run through the
Sawatch Range of Colorado. The course is defined by
the summits of 14 14,000+' peaks and has 44,000+' of
elevation gain at an average elevation of about
11,600'.

This was the second annual run. The run is publically
announced only once each year, and is limited to 14
runners who are qualified by successfully running
Hardrock Hundred or by volunteering as a backcountry
aid station.

Thanks to all the runners, volunteers, and crews for
making this a wonderful adventure run this year. The
number of starters doubled from three the first year
to six this year.

Results:
Runner		#14'ers
Blake Wood	11
Matt Mahoney	10
Eric Robinson	9
Gordon Hardman	3
Joe Florio	1
Jim Nolan	1

Joe and Jim were intentionally taking a slower pace at
the start, however it worked against them as they were
still climbing Mt. Massive when a prolonged rain
shower set in. They were soaked from noon until after
8PM when very near the summit of Elbert they turned
back due to hypothermia.

Everyone experienced cold conditions and even snow on
La Plata. Blake reached Winfield first and continued
on without sleep through the night. Gordon was too
cold coming off La Plata and decided to stop at that
point. Eric and Matt warmed up and slept in vehicles
at Winfield and started out again around 4AM when the
bad weather had moved out.

Sunday was a beautiful morning as the three remaining
runners made their way further east and south. But
afternoon thunder storms reappeared pinning Blake down
for more than an hour. When Blake reached Avalanche
Gulch on the south side of Yale, he decided to sleep
through the night before continuing to Princeton on
Monday morning.

Through the night, Eric and Matt moved closer to
Blake, but by the time they reached N. Cottonwood
Creek, Eric had to stop due to tendon pain (probably
due to some of the fast descents he made down scree
chutes).

Monday morning found Blake heading up Princeton and
Matt up Yale under beautiful skies. Matt reached his
final summit shortly before noon, and Blake reached
Princeton shortly after noon. Blake, Matt, and Eric
exceeded last year's record of 7 14'ers in the 60 hour
time limit.

Blake set new 24 hour and 48 hour summiting records of
7 and 10 14'ers respectively. More 14'ers have been
summitted in these time periods by speed sumitters
like the two Ricks (Trujillo and Denesik), but Blake's
records are for summits done entirely on foot, with no
transportation between trailheads. These records are
measured in time from peak to peak although the 3,000'
rule for starting and ending was used.

I used the peak to peak measurement because there are
too many different routes and too many different
combinations of 14'ers to use a -3,000'
starting/finishing time. For example, Blake set the
new 24 hour record twice durning Nolan's 14. First,
the hard way, between Massive and Oxford and then
again between Huron and Yale.

In addition, the peak times were more readily verified
by radio transimission. When the runners were at the
summits, transmission with and FRS radio was possible
for 5 to 10 miles in any direction.

Blake blazed two new routes on Princeton, a NE Ridge
ascent, starting just south of Maxwell Creek, and a
very steep, but fast scree chute into the upper basin
of Grouse Canyon from a point immediately NW of Peak
13971. He also located the trailhead of the lost mine
trail in Alpine. These routes will be important to
runners who are making a north-south transit of
Princeton in the future.

Eric took a brave new descent from Massive, down a
steep scree chute, immediately off the west of the
summit (rather than the normal descent from the saddle
between Massive and South Massive. He dropped 1,000+'
elevation in the first 5 minutes. (No he didn't fall
off, he was running down the chute!)

Matt really excelled at this event. His strategy of
sleeping on the first night worked to his advantage.
However, to complete the course (14 14'ers) someone is
going to have to either move faster or sleep less.

The course will reverse direction again next year
going south to north.

Regards,
Fred Vance