Arcata to Willow Creek Run 12/03/16

8:00 am, Sat., Dec. 3, 2016

Directed by “Bill Daniel” <drd4462@att.net>

Place Name G/age (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

1 Kenny Pocasangre M26 52:30 1:52:00 2:57:00 3:34:51 5:05:44 6:35:04

2 Mike Wood M57 1:01:18 1:56:30 3:16:00 3:51:30 5:27:00 6:52:11

3 Jeff Faulk M23 1:03:08 1:54:00 3:10:30 3:56:00 5:25:00 7:24:11

4 Caleb Hill M21 1:09:00 2:09:41 3:16:22 4:05:15 5:37:38 7:52:40

5 Bill Estes M56 1:08:19 2:14:25 3:40:29 4:29:12 6:11:43 8:34:43

Arcata to Willow Creek Breakdown

Leg (1): West end of the Blue Lake off ramp 299 (6.65 miles)

Leg (2): West end of North Fork Bridge (12.35 miles)

Leg (3): Lord Ellis Summit (18.75 miles)

Leg (4): East side of Redwood Creek Bridge (23.35 miles)

Leg (5): Berry Summit (29.85 miles)

Leg (6): Willow Creek (39.95 miles)

Supporters:

1 Chelsey Castiglione, Anthony Leon, Steven Driedger

2 Sierra Wood

3 Jordan Montano

4 Jeff Haag, Adam Falk, Meaghan Paulus

5 Tom Estes, Kelly Estes, Blake Estes

The weather gods were smiling down on us as the 44’th Arcata to Willow Creek race took place on December 3. The sun shone; the humidity was negligible; and best of all, there was little or no wind. Five runners towed the starting line and five runners finished. Kenny Pocosangre led the pack from start to finish, covering the 40 miles in about 6:35 (see above). Bill Estes, former Mack High cross country great, brought up the rear, finishing almost two hours behind Kenny. He came all the way from Chicago to be with family and run this race. The Club owes a big thanks to Bill for his more than generous donation of $3,000 to our shoe fund. Unlike past years, the runners seemed intent on finishing, but not competing with each other. There were extensive rest stops along the way, that may have allowed some of the lesser trained runners to finish. Doing the race that way should be fun, not excruciating. That means if you ever intend to run this race, even just to finish, you need to be properly trained if you don’t want to suffer, especially going up to Barry Summit.

Thanks to these five runners for continuing the tradition, keeping this race the second most venerable continuously operating ultra-marathon in the United States. Thanks to their support crews (listed above) for putting in the time and effort to support their heroes. Thanks to Barry Milender who provided support for the entire race, to Mike and Yoshi who saw the runners off, to Gary and Cindy who combined their search for a Christmas tree to support the runners, and especially to our timely newsletter editor for his transport, pictures, and general aid and abetment. If I’ve left anybody out, please forgive me. Hope to see folks next year for number 45. -- Bill Daniel