Monday, August 8, 2011

Wasatch Whoa!!

While I will not be running the Wasatch 100 this year I have a friend, Scott, who will. The current plan is to pace him at least the last half of the race. His preparation has included running a lot of the course. In the last week he's run from the start to Bountiful B and the section from Big Mountain to Lamb's Canyon. He is feeling pretty prepared.

However, one concern for him and something I noticed that could be a real concern for everyone is how much the course is overgrown in the first 53 miles. He mentioned last week that there were sections near Francis Peak and Bountiful B that were so overgrown you would lose the trail in a matter of 100 yards. Likewise, while we were running the last half mile into Lamb's Canyon the trail completely disappeared. We ended up going a quarter mile too far and had to bushwhack up a hill onto the golf course. Even with trail marking, if the markings are close enough in these sections a lot of people will get very lost. They still have a month to clear some of the really bad spots and mark it completely, but unlike past years the foliage is a lot more overgrown and there should be some sincere concern for how the course will run for up until Lamb's Canyon. Below are some pics that represent how overgrown it is.


  

5 comments:

Enoch Davies said...

I hope that the course works out okay for all concerned. You will give Scott some great support.

Good Luck Scott!

Mike Place said...

Weird, I just posted about this very same thing on my blog (wasatchrunner.com) this very morning.

I also posted some photos of some serious snow drifts in the first 20mi of the course. Runners out there without compression socks or something to protect their shins are going to regret it.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info! We have the same situation up here in Teton Valley, Idaho.

How's the stinging nettle? It's pretty bad here.

Dusty
www.addisonssupport.blogspot.com

jun said...

The stinging nettle isn't very bad. There are some very short sections that are overgrown with Thistle, but only a few.
The smart thing will be to wear slightly longer shorts (I generally wear very short shorts) and compression socks.

Unknown said...

I appreciate the advice!