Foothill Flyers Running Club Race Review 3rd Sunday in October at Corriganville Park in Simi Valley. Replaced the Bandit Ultra in Feb. 50K starts at 7AM and 30K at 8:00AM. Cut off times on 50K only. See the Robert and Maria Vangilders photos from the 2013 30K course.
|
Bob Spears 30K experience: At mile 5, the Chumash Aid Station, the 15K runners turn around and the 30 and 50K runners take the Chumash Trail down a long, beautiful single track for about three miles that ends on the streets of a subdivision adjacent to the wilderness area. After four quick (flat!) blocks on the street, the course turns right and you are back in the Marr Ranch Open Space. At this point the 50K runners go left and make a long out and back up into the hills while the 30K runners begin a long climb back up to the ridge line that takes them back up to Rocky Peak. There are bathrooms and a well-stocked aid station with lots of volunteers at the Marr Land intersection. The climb up the hill is on a well used fire road with lots of shade. The views on this course are excellent, but the long climbs are challenging. Eventually you get back on a ridge line overlooking the Simi and San Fernando Valleys that connects you to the Chumash Aid Station where you originally made the turn on to the single track. Because of the terrain, you have to constantly watch your footing, especially now that you have only 4 miles left. From the Chumash Aid Station you now go down the steep, technical trail you came up to finish back in the park. There is free Pizza and Soda for runners at the park and there was someone selling grilled hamburgers for one dollar. The course record for the 6K is held by our own Simon Cooper and a number of the Foothill Flyers placed in their age groups in all the races. The awards are a black bandanna (Bandit-get it!) The races are run a little different than most; there are no earphones or ear buds allowed. This is probably a reasonable rule because the course is so technical; any distraction could easily precipitate a fall. There are no poles allowed on the course and this is also probably reasonable because the single track sections are narrow. The race uses the old, non-chip, timing and analog (manual) finishing. The best news is that there is no cut off in the 30K. Two of the seven aid stations are water only, but the others have a good variety of supplies, including Coke. |
|
In short, a well run race on a very challenging course through some beautiful scenery. The race has an excellent web site and their results are posted onUltraSignup. This web site is very cool because it also has a list of all your ultra finish times for the last 12 years. Just click on the "results" link next to your name. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The domain of this page is Foothillflyers.org Copyright ©2018 Tom O'Hara. All rights reserved. Webmeister contact: tomsmb at aol dot com |