Aspen Fila Skymarathon

When Runners Speak of a “Runner’s High,” This Could Be What They’re Thinking Of.

ASE: COLORADO—The 45 tan, chiseled “Skymarathoners,” all of whom qualified for today’s Skymarathon based on FSA (Federation for Sport at Altitude) performance criteria, seem more focused on their prerace pasta dinner at the popular Inn at Aspen (the host hotel for the race) than on listening to the race’s safety and logistics § director, Jim Conway, explain course markings and high-altitude race features.

These athletes have accepted the challenge of “Skyrunning,” and they seem plenty confident that they have what the race entry form says it takes to be a Skyrunner:

“Tt’s running a marathon, but at high altitude. It’s adventure. It’s racing up and down a fourteener. [“Fourteener” is Coloradoan for the 54 peaks in the state that are 14,000+ feet.] It’s about being with nature and being one with your body and soul. Above all, it’s about performance—the ultimate running challenge where only the sky is the limit.”

Whew! The ultimate runner’s high.

Perhaps for athletes who have accepted such a demanding, liberating, cutting-edge challenge, practicalities such as mountaineering safety are less important—or perhaps these runners have accepted the challenge many times before and basic mountaineering safety is second nature to them.

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Aspen Fila Skymarathon P.O. Box 9175 Colorado Springs, CO 80932 PHONE: 719/570-9795 FAX: 719/570-9729 E-MAIL: trlrunner@aol.com WEB SITE: www.fsa-sky.com RACE DIRECTOR: Nancy Hobbs YEAR RACE ESTABLISHED: 1994 SANCTION: Federation for Sport at Altitude CERTIFIED: Measured with topographical maps and GPS (Global Positioning System). It is not possible to certify a course on the terrain that is typical of a Skymarathon course. START TIME: 8:00 a.m. COURSE RECORD HOLDERS Open men: Matt Carpenter, USA, 1999, 3:17:19 Open women: _ Corrine Favre, France, 1999, 4:15:58 Masters men: David Eckley, USA, 1999, 4:10:41 Masters women: Terrie Archer, USA, 1998, 5:10:41 PRIZEIMMONEY Forthe Skymarathon, $2,500, $750, and $250 is awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place open men and women finishers; top U.S. men’s and women’s finishers receive a $500 FSA circuit prize. For the Half-Skymarathon, $500, $300, and $200 is awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place open men and women finishers. TIE-IN EVENTS: Half-Skymarathon

NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS: 15 on the course, including runners from the Aspen High School cross-country team and additional volunteers at registration and start and finish areas.

MARATHON FINISHERS IN

PROPORTION OF MALE/FEMALE FINISHERS: 23 males, 6 females COURSE MARKINGS: Survey flags mark the course.

NUMBER OF MEDICAL

STATIONS: Three, plus race medical personnel roving the course and an ambulance at the finish line.

NUMBER OF AID

FUTURE RACE DATES: ENTRY COST FOR 2000: $25

AREA HOTELS: Contact Aspen Central Reservations at 888/649-5982 if you want lodging other than the race hotel, which is identified on each

year’s race entry form.

ASPEN INFORMATION: | Visit www.aspen.com for current information on every aspect of visitor and community information for Aspen.

GETTING THERE: Aspen is 41 miles south of Glenwood Springs, an historic hot springs tourist destination located on Interstate 70, 159 miles

west of Denver.

Nevertheless, Conway, the articulate, mountain safety-obsessed “body Nazi,” proceeds to describe a course that climbs to 13,000 feet twice. As he runs down the litany of race rules quite matter-of-factly, Conway’s speaking style suits the quiet, understated tone of the race headquarters hotel. (The hotel, incidentally, is itself perfectly suited to the radiant green Aspen hillside at the base of Buttermilk Ski Area.)

Although Conway mightnot have the full attention of the grizzled Skymarathoners, he definitely has the attention of the 64 half-marathoners, who seem much less nonchalant about the matters of altitude, snowfields, scree (a field of ankle-turning rocks), and the 12-foot vertical “Fila Skywall.” Conway mentions that the course has recently been marked in an attempt to alert runners to the most recent changing temperatures and current snow conditions they’ll encounter during the race. He addressed the technique for breaking through thawing snow crust into torrential

snow melt underneath, stating almost as an afterthought that he had implemented the technique, but that it is “no fun.”

Conway consoles potential future Skyrunners that they will not be as heavy as he was when he was reconning and marking the course with his mountain bike and backpack filled with camera, course marking flags, maps, and a day’s worth of mountain clothing, food, and water. He further explains that runners need not concern themselves with carrying fluids, as the course has many aid stations with mountain safety people to supply various fluids. Aid stations are at the start, mile 3, mile 5, mile 7.4, mile 10.5, mile 14.5, mile 16.3, mile 17.3, mile 20.5, and the finish; along with water, some offer Gatorade and sports nutrition products. However, Conway warns, runners should not expect the kinds of aid station they find at traditional road marathons. The only way his mountain crew can get fluids and supplies to the higher aid stations is to carry them up on their backs.

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SOME SKYMARATHON RULES

Conway explains that the Skymarathoners and half-marathoners both begin at 8:00 am. While the halfmarathoners take off on the second part of the marathon course, the Skymarathoners begin with a fivemile climb up through Montezuma Basin toward Castle Peak, from where they quickly descend back to the start before embarking on the rest of the course. Wilderness restrictions prevent Skymarathoners from summiting Castle Peak; the demands of racing to 12,870 feet, however, is close enough to satisfy most runners. Most of the questions Conway fields involve the cutoff. He explains that the marathon’s first leg must be completed within 2:20. This cutoff seems inconsistent with the previous year’s FSA Skymarathon cutoff criteria—then, runners had to run a time within 20 percent of the first runner’s time to the 10-mile mark. To help resolve the questions and concerns about the cutoff time, U.S. Skyrunning Coordinator, Nancy Hobbs, explains that although the cutoff is not quite as generous as in previous years, the absolute clock-time of 2:20 is much less confusing. Her explanation satisfied most of the initial questions. Another controversial Skyrunning tradition—“open course running” — was nixed at the race meeting. Although it’s inspirational to see the frontrunners fly over mountain terrain and snowfields that could trip up a

mountain goat, open course running was controversial among those competing for prize money and those running on the marked course trying to make the cutoff times. Additionally, open course running was an environmental concern, since Skymarathon courses are generally situated in the delicate high-alpine and tundra ecosystems where a single footstep can be disturbing. Because environmental concerns are paramount in planning Skymarathon courses, runners are warned to stay on the marked course, although “glissades” (a mountaineering term for sliding down steep snowfields on your ass) are okay.

Skymarathon rules require runners to leave the start with a jacket, tights, sunglasses, and gloves. The Aspen event strongly suggests that runners carry this equipment, although it is not mandatory. This year, runners were cautioned to prepare for the extremes at altitude—extremes with which they are familiar since they qualified under similar conditions to enter the race. They were reminded of how long it can take rescuers to reach a runner immobilized by an injury in the backcountry. Conway assured them that a high-altitude helicopter was available for rescues.

Since the Skymarathon was first runat Aspen, Conway has marked the Aspen Fila Skymarathon course to conform to the FSA rules. These rules require that FSA Skymarathon courses include

¢ an elevation gain of more than 6,600 feet,

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° an incline not exceeding 40 percent or a mountaineering grade of 2 in technical difficulty, and

terrain that between the halfmarathon point and the marathon finish line cannot feature a pass above an altitude of 12,300 feet.

The Aspen Fila Skymarathon is the oldest U.S. FSA Skymarathon, and the race course offers no exceptions to these rules.

The Aspen Skymarathon is actually 24.5 miles. The course starts at an altitude of 9,768 feet, near Ashcroft, a Nordic ski area nine miles outside of Aspen on Castle Creek Road. The marathon course offers over 7,500 feet of elevation change, while the halfmarathon (actually 14.4 miles) has more than 4,000 feet of elevation change.

There are strict rules for qualifying for a Skymarathon:

e Runners must be at least 18.

e Runners are encouraged to be members in good standing of the track and field, cycling, Nordic skiing, duathlon, tri-

athlon federations, or an equivalent federation. Runners must have completed a marathon within the last 24 months or a Skyrace within the last 12 months.

Runner’s must have experience at altitudes over 12,300 feet; men must have a recent marathon time of under 3:00, whereas women must have completed a marathon in under 3:30.

Clearly, a sufficient pool of runners exists who meet these criteria and who have accepted the FSA challenge, believing that the sky is their only limit: over the FSA’s six-year history, more than 40 races between 14,000 and 17,000 feet have been run on five continents. The Aspen Fila Skymarathon drew 109 runners, primarily from Colorado, although runners from five other states and five countries outside the United States also entered.

FSA—A COMPREHENSIVE PHILOSOPHY

Worldwide, some 40 events are sanctioned by FSA, but Colorado is the

Must See/Must Av

your credit card beaten to death.

SPEN IS an international ski resort, attracting professional skiers, celebrities, and well-heeled tourists for decades. There is little that money can’t buy in this town. Manmade indulgences are as prolific as the natural beauty. Whatever your luxury or alpine interests are, they can likely be met in Aspen—for a price. On the Must Avoid side: beware of having

ASPEN FILA SKYMARATHON

only site with two sanctioned Skymarathons: the Fila U.S. Skymarathon in Aspen and the Get High Skymarathon in Telluride in July. Other Skymarathons include these three:

© The Fila Everest Skymarathon in Tibet run at 14,685 feet— yaks are as abundant as spectators.

France’s Dome des Ecrins, the newest Skymarathon, provides 13,250 feet of altitude for runners obsessed with trail and glacier running.

The original Skymarathon, first held in 1992, is run on Monte Rosa, a mountain in the Swiss/ Italian Alps that straddles both countries (though both start and finish are in Italy).

Peru and Iztaccihuatl, Mexico, are also Skymarathon sites.

An international Skyrunner team of approximately 20 members hails from Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Mexico, and the United States. (United States team members Matt Carpenter and Danelle Ballengee, both of Colorado, have each won a Skymarathon event.)

BEYOND COMPETITION

Besides the purely competitive side of Skyrunning, there’s also a psychophysiological and technical research side—part of FSA’s Peak Performance Project, which gives new

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meaning to the word “peak.” The project collects and measures psychophysiological and technical data from volunteer skyrunners. Italian Marino Giacometti, Skyrunning’s founder, explains, “The formation of the FSA represents an important step in quantifying sport at altitude, laying down regulations for events, promoting them, and conserving the environment where the sport is practiced.”

The Peak Performance Project collects data to answer several questions: To what extremes can the athlete run? How high can the athlete climb in an hour? Whatis the athlete’s peak performance at altitude?

For the first time in the development of the new high-altitude sport, a World SkyGames 2000 is scheduled. This event is open to athletes who qualify within 20 percent of the record time in each specialty of the FSAsanctioned races. The event will showcase the Skyrunning philosophy: “True sport means looking beyond the confining restrictions of individual disciplines, beyond self-limiting boundaries.” In establishing the World SkyGames, Giacometti is transforming the ancient race for survival into modern competitive sport.

OVER 1,400 SOLD

In 1999, FSA started issuing membership cards to a total of 1,442 effective and honorary members and to Skymarathon finishers in 16 countries. FSA membership of $10 per year (included in the race entry fee) pro

vides a series of benefits, including third-person insurance coverage in races directly organized by FSA. The glossy four-color, high-finish, annual FSA News is in itself worth the price of membership.

SKY PRIZES

Skyrunners are well rewarded for their winning efforts—and not just with spectacular views and the feeling of accomplishing what most human beings can’t even imagine (and can’t achieve without a four-day backpacking trip and 50 pounds of high-tech gear).

The Aspen Fila Skymarathon offers $2,000, $750, and $250 to the first-, second-, and third-placed male and female. In addition to prize money, the top U.S. male and female national Skymarathon champions receive a $500 FSA circuit prize. Halfskymarathon first-, second-, and thirdplace finishes are worth $500, $300, and $200, respectively. All finishers receive Gatorade towels and Fila Skymarathon lapel pins. All entrants receive a Fila T-shirt.

THE RACE COURSE

Environmental concerns extend to cars. Runners are urged to carpool, when possible, to reach the start of the race at Ashcroft. Their other option, if they don’t happen to have nonrunning companions along to drive to both the start and finish, is to

park at the finish area and run two miles to the start as a warm-up.

By mountain standards, the start temperature is “warm’”—in the high 40s. The sky is crystal-clear blue, the valley picturesque green.

Skymarathoners wear their Fila singlets, which display unique bib numbers, worn over their longsleeved polypro shirts. Anticipating warm conditions throughout the day, almost no one wears tights. The singlets have back pockets, similar to cycling jerseys, into which runners can cram a jacket, racesupplied Clif bars, and gloves. Halfskymarathoners are distinguished by their traditional Tyvek race bib numbers.

The port-a-potties at the start, though starkly out of place in this pristine mountain setting, are a good idea toward maintaining the environment. Even more incongruous is the portable sound system blaring rock tunes and race announcements into the thin mountain air. A helicopter lands near the start, its rotor-wash providing a preview of potential highaltitude winds on exposed ridges above the timberline.

When the start comes, the Skymarathoners take off up a benign trail leading to Castle Peak, while the half-skymarathoners split off in the opposite direction, heading up to the abandoned silver mines and the summit of Taylor Peak.

The Skymarathoners’ course, although lovely, doesn’t become interesting until it crosses some streams fed

ASPEN FILASKYMARATHON ® 127

by snowmelt out of Montezuma Basin, where the course follows jeep trails until they disappear into the snowfields. Depending on the runners’ pace, they may have the opportunity to see the race leaders descend on the same snow-packed trail they are climbing.

The frontrunners are given generous clearance on their rapid descent by the midpackers and back-of-thepack Skyrunners who do not wish to compromise the opportunity of worldclass runners to cash in on $7,000 in prize money while barreling down a 4,000-foot descent.

The second loop of the Skymarathon begins on a simple but steady climb up a jeep road to Taylor Peak,

passing the 16-mile cutoff and aid station where runners who do not make the cutoff must surrender their Fila singlet. It’s easy to follow the fluorescent survey flags that mark the course in the snowfields on the Castle Peak side of the course, but markers are harder to distinguish on the scree thatruns through the mines and across the alpine tundra. A runner’s focus is on each foot-plant and breath, while the markings are above, for the moment out of sight.

During the climbs on the higher potions of the course, Skyrunners are whistled at—not by admiring crowds of spectators but by the occasional pica, the high-altitude chipmunk

7 Toklat Lodge Course Map === Course | ; Mile Marker Turnaround Mtn (full) @ 2s Peak Gunnison *. National Peak Forest

D 4, Taylor 2» Peak

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Runner’s High/Runner’s Low

Spectacular, beautiful, high-altitude scenery

International mountain running competitors

Rugged, challenging race course

Challenging and varied running surfaces

Views of front-runners on portions of the race course

whose shrill whistles warn runners that they are too close to Picaland. When they’re not too out of breath, many Skyrunners find amusement in these cute creatures playing the role of mountain sentry. The larger highaltitude marmots, though shier than the pica, appear to feel less threatened by the Skyrunners—they scamper from their sunning places on the tops of the rocky ridges as the Skyrunners move past like a colorful herd of alien creatures.

Although it is not overly intimidating, the 12-foot vertical climb, dubbed “The Fila Skywall” by the course directors, appears at 12,000 feet altitude. The skywall, though easy enough to negotiate using hands and feet, comes as a surprise to those runners accustomed only to the glycogendepletion, nonliteral “wall” of lowaltitude marathons.

Oncerunners have scampered over The Fila Skywall, they arrive at the most lung-piercingly steep and simul-

Careful course design and detailed presentation

Quickly published and distributed race results

Videos of foreign Skymarathons

LOWS Complicated rules

Two-mile gap between the start and finish

taneously frighteningly exposed portion of the course. Mountain goats range here. They are familiar with only the occasional hiker or two negotiating these tricky slopes and are in this instance surprised by the pack of Skyrunners. The goats bolt and head for a nearby ridge to be safe from the invaders. Fortunately, this ragged territory lasts only three-quarters of a mile before the gentle slope of the grassy Taylor Peak dogleg appears. This is the half-mile out-and-back portion whererunners can glance up and check out the competition while also receiving aid at both ends of the dogleg. Perhaps the most beautiful scenery on the course that Skyrunners can view without fear of a misplaced foot depositing them on rocky terrain is the cross-country tundra section that leads to the four-mile descent on Express Creek Road through lovely aspen trees. At the bottom of the descent, runners are rewarded with the finish line at the Toklat Lodge Bridge.

ASPEN FILASKYMARATHON M

MOUNTAIN RUNNER CELEBRITIES

Skyrunning is not without its celebrities, and they are present in plenty at the Aspen Fila Skymarathon. World record-holders and former champions Matt Carpenter and Danelle Ballengee (see photo below), both Americans, Mexican Ricardo Mejia, and Frenchwoman Corrine Favre are present. This year, Carpenter, a 34-year-old who lives at the base of Pikes Peak in Manitou Springs, Colorado (and during some periods of the summer

DALE NELSON

130 MH MARATHON & BEYOND

actually lives on the mountain), wins again with nearly three minutes over 36-year-old Mejia after they ran neckand-neck for most of the course. Carpenter, who some suspect to be a genetic mutant able to endure gruesome workouts in thin mountainous air, gained time on Mejia on the descent from Castle Peak and finished in 3:17:19. To comprehend a sense of this accomplishment, compare his time to a flat paved road marathon at sea level. Also imagine racing Mejia, the guy who holds the world record (2:56) for a Skymarathon on a 17,449foot volcano!

On the women’s side, returning champion Ballengee led during the Castle Peak portion, but 28-year-old world Skyrunning champion Favre prevailed at the finish with a 4:15:58, winning by more than six minutes. Although Favre resides in France, she won and set a course record at the mild-terrain trail ultra in Texas in late 1998 and had been racing at altitude in Colorado most of the 1999 season. Ballengee, 27 years old, lives in Dillon, Colorado, and when she is not racing on the Skyrunner circuit somewhere in the world, she is directing high-altitude races in Colorado under her company banner “I’m Crazy Events.” The events she coordinates are generally multisport races, one of her first loves.

After the challenge and incredible beauty of races held along the roofs of the world, it is a literal and a figurative letdown to come back Pig: to sea level to train and race. i

The Bottom Line

We have weighed various aspects of a marathon within a 1,000-point scoring grid. Besides the author of the article, a dozen runners at the race were randomly chosen to score the race for us. (AFS = Aspen Fila Skymarathon.) The results follow:

1. HISTORY/TRADITION Evaluate the race’s sense of history and tradition. [Possible points: 30 AFS score: 25]

2. ENTRY FORM Isthe race entry form clear, concise, attractive, complete, and easy to fill out? [Possible points: 20 AFS score: 15]

3. ENTRY COST

For most races, the entry fee covers between 30 and 50 percent of the cost of putting on the event. Rate the value of your dollar relative to this race. [Possible points: 30 AFS score: 30]

Is the race held in an area that is easy to get to and scenic, and offers adequate food and housing services and nonrace activities for family and friends?

[Possible points: 50 AFS score: 50]

5. REGISTRATION Is registration well organized and efficient? Does it bog down unnecessarily? [Possible points: 20 AFS score: 20]

6. PRERACE ACTIVITIES

Evaluate activities such as pasta feeds, parties, and so on, during the days before the race.

[Possible points: 50 AFS score: 45]

7. EXPO

Does the expo offer a fair number and variety of booths relative to the race’s size? Are there quality exhibitors and good guest speakers?

[Possible points: 50 AFS score: NA (no expo at this event)]

8. COURSE

Take into consideration the following: degree of difficulty, certified, sanctioned, quality of road or trail surface, adequate mileage and directional markers, aid stations, medical coverage, race communications, accessibility to course for friends and family, typical weather, and so on.

[Possible points: 400 AFS score: 363]

The Rest of the Pack

Below, listed alphabetically, are the other marathons profiled in Marathon

& Beyond, the volume and issue number in which each race’s profile ap

peared, and the overall score each race received. Calgary Marathon (vol. 3, issue 2): 876 points Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon (vol. 3, issue 6) 901 points Edmonton Marathon (vol. 2, issue 2): 814 points Fox Cities Marathon (vol. 3, issue 4): 865 points Governor’s Cup Ghost Town Marathon (vol. 2, issue 1): 795 points Grandma’s Marathon (vol. 3, issue 1): 968 points Honolulu Marathon (vol. 2, issue 4): 906 points Humboldt Redwoods Marathon (vol. 2, issue 3): 809 points Las Vegas International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 5): 789 points Philadelphia Marathon (vol. 1, issue 4): 838 points Pittsburgh Marathon (vol. 1, issue 6): 904 points Portland Marathon (vol. 3, issue 3): 943 points San Francisco Marathon (vol. 1, issue 2): 804 points Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon (vol. 2, issue 6): 866 points Steamtown Marathon (vol. 3, issue 5): 892 points Sutter Home Napa Valley Marathon (vol. 2, issue 5): 913 points Vancouver International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 1): 823 points Wineglass Marathon (vol. 1, issue 3): 839 points

a 132. m MARATHON & BEYOND January/February 2000