Savoy Mountain 20 Mile Trail Race
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Savoy Mountain Trail Races info
2007 Savoy Mountain Trail Races results
Savoy 20 mile course map (PDF)
Great weather today, but between the distance and the terrain - that was a beast of a race! I hoped for a great day with a 5 hour finish... instead, I had a fairly good day with a 5 hr 44 minute finish.
Did the "crawl out of bed" thing at 4:30 so I could pack my gear and have breakfast before making the 90 minute drive to Savoy Mountain State Forest in northwestern Massachusetts. The only real question was - what to wear? The forecast called for a chilly day (low 70's) so I ended up packing short sleeved T-shirts... one for the first 10 miles, and one to change into at the turnaround (where a fresh dry shirt just feels so darn good...)
the view just past the hairpin turn - click for a larger view
The drive over was uneventful, compared to two years ago (when I reached one turn and discovered that the road I was supposed to take to VT and MA was closed, and had to find a new route on my maps while worrying that I wouldn't make it there on time.) Drove through Troy and up into the Taconics, then a brief jaunt through southwestern Vermont and into Williamstown, MA. From there it was the now-familiar trek up the mountain, around the hairpin turn, and into the wilds of Savoy.There was plenty of parking... actually, it almost seemed like the turnout was a bit light this year, but maybe I'm misremembering the numbers from 2005. (I just checked and it looks like I am...) Checked in, geared up, and then hung around until it was time to run...
Just before the start of the 20 mile, one of the WMAC'ers called us all together to make a presentation to the original RD for the Savoy races, motivated in part by the rumor that this might be the last year for these races. Then the current RD came up, confirmed that the rumor was true (due to extreme difficulty in getting volunteers to help with the race) and gave us the lowdown on the course, including the all-important "how to get back." In at least one previous year, there was a lot of confusion regarding the route back and a number of people were DQ'd for taking the wrong path to the finish. He also gave a lot of credit to a group of folks who helped him mark the course (and from what I saw during the race, not only did they do an excellent job, but they had their work cut out for them!) And then - off we went!
The first bit took us along an easy stretch of trail around the pond, then we crossed a bridge and headed off on a more challenging stretch of singletrack. Lots of roots and a fair bit of mud, though not as much as in 2005. Within the first 5-10 minutes most of the runners had disappeared off ahead, leaving four of us at the back hiking uphill and then running downhill. After about half an hour, the trail came out on Old Florida Road (though in this case, the term "road" is used very loosely... it's so badly eroded in spots that you'd need an ORV, and in other spots it's a mudhole.) Stopped briefly at the aid station there, and then headed uphill on the road.
After about half a mile, we left the road for a multi-use (or, as I recently heard them called, multi-abuse) trail. These were used fairly heavily and torn up fairly badly by ATV's until tow years ago, when off-road vehicles were banned from the Savoy trails. The damage still shows, in the form of deep mudholes, heavily eroded up-and-downhill stretches, and "detour" trails cut around some of the trickiest spots. This was also the hardest section so far, between starting with a long uphill hike and dodging around or wading through frequent mudholes (who'd have thought there'd be so much mud after such a dry summer?!!) Once the trail leveled off it was slightly easier going, followed by a tricky eroded downhill and then a nicely runnable downhill out to Adams Road and the 2nd water stop.
The next stretch took us past a relatively new-looking home and up into the woods on some more muddy trails. It was along here that the first runner heading back passed me - something that would happen frequently over the next hour and a quarter. This section was nicely runnable, and took us past an old car graveyard (half a dozen rusty, ancient cars and trucks abandoned in the woods) and out onto a dirt road which was fairly easy going, other than going uphill. Half a mile later the road condition deteriorated significantly, initially due to damage from heavy logging equipment and then the usual erosion and washouts. Still, this was one of the easier sections to run, and one I was looking forward to as something of a break on the way back. For the last half mile or so we left the road had a very runnable doubletrack through the woods over to paved Center Road, the next water stop (an unmanned cluster of water bottles) and the last stretch up to the fire tower on Borden Mountain.
The last mile and a half to the fire tower started out as a torn-up multi-abuse trail, and then the real fun began as we were diverted off onto singletrack that looked like it had been bushwhacked through the woods. The path wound through the trees, down to and across streams, and generally up, up, and up. In other words, lots of hiking. Passed the last few runners heading back as I hiked up this part, and finally came out at the turnaround and water station near the fire tower.
After a brief break to refill my water bottles and change into a dry shirt, I headed back down the hill, passing the other three folks at the back of the pack as they hiked up to the halfway mark. Fortunately, it was much easier to run down the singletrack than it was to hike up it, and I made reasonably good time back to Center Road. It definitely felt good to be running again! Crossed the road and continued running, with occasional breaks to walk the worst hills. It was slower going than I'd expected along the logging road, partly because of the road conditions and partly because my legs were starting to feel the effects of the terrain and the distance. Came out at what would have been the next-to-last water stop at just over 4 hours, with 5 miles to go... and no hope for a 5 hour finish, but 5 1/2 hours still seemed possible. (And it would have been the next-to-last water stop, except it had closed down by the time I got there... making me very pleased that I had topped off my water bottles at the unmanned stop 3 1/2 miles back, but leaving me with uncertainty whether there would be water available at the last stop, about 2 1/2 miles from the finish...)
From there, it was back onto multi-abuse trails, and they were just as tough as they'd been coming out. I went through a number of muddy areas I'd skirted around on the way out, and walked a lot of eroded sections, but ran when I could, was which quite frequently... not very quickly, and generally not for very long before I hit another spot where either a hill or bad footing would force me to walk, but it was running, all the same. I have to admit, I didn't think that trail was ever going to end... but finally I came out on old Florida Road, and after hiking to the top of the hill did my best to run down the other side without breaking my neck (or at least blowing out a knee) to find the water stop closed... but they'd left jugs of water for us! As I refilled my bottles for the last time, I checked my watch and saw that 5 hours had passed, making a 5 1/2 hour finish unlikely (it had taken me 31 minutes to run the last section on the way out, when I was fresh.)
Ended up doing a lot of hiking on that last stretch, up the long hill and over root-covered muddy sections where I just didn't want to risk a blown knee. Past a number of places that I'm pretty sure I vaguely recognized from the snowshoe race 18 months ago, though it was hard to be sure (things were a lot greener and more overgrown today...) Finally crossed the last bridge and slogged through some mud to the relatively easy path around the pond, and a few minutes later I was running (slowly) down the open stretch to the finish, crossing the line in just under 5 3/4 hours... the nice lady at the finish commented that I was done, unless I was feeling the urge to go back and do some more, and I replied I thought I was not only done, but overdone. Another volunteer asked how I felt and the best answer I could give was "tired."
Changed into dry clothes, limped back to the finish line area, and enjoyed just sitting there while the few remaining volunteers relaxed, worked on picking things up, tried to get me to eat as much food as possible (so they wouldn't have to take it home) and waited for the last three folks to finish. After a while, I thanked the RD for all his work, and then limped back to the car, pausing to take a picture of this fairly brave little bird who was hanging around the edge of the picnic area. (I'll have a multitude of pictures from the race itself sometime in the next week or so... I decided to take two disposable cameras with me rather than deal with the extra complication of my new digital, given that I'd never been on this course before.)
I sometimes forget to say this, but the RD and all the volunteers (both before, during, and after the race) deserve a huge thank you. Putting on a race of this length has got to be an incredible amount of work, and waiting around for hours for the slow folks like me to finish can't be terribly interesting. Yet, at no point did anyone make me feel like they minded that... I have always been impressed by the welcoming nature of the WMAC group, and today was no different.
So, a tough run, but one I'm glad I did, especially if it turns out to be the last one... hopefully the RD can be convinced to keep it going, or someone else will take it over (I want to run it again!) If not - at least I know I ran it once! And if I'm feeling especially masochistic, I can always head over to Savoy for a training run on its hilly, muddy, eroded trails and roads.
Next up: The Adirondack Marathon. I've signed up for it twice before... the first time I didn't go due to lack of sleep and lack of preparation, and last year I missed it because of the Crash. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the third time will be the charm...
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 175.7 mi, 42 hr 7 min
Cycling 26.2 mi, 1 hr 55 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, VT
