Baldy Marathons 100 Mile Challenge #13, RD Race Report.

LunaBelle and I arrived late Friday night, and began the hike to the start around 8AM with Aaron and his pack. The weather was fairly perfect at that point, foggy and cool. 3 contestants arrived for the 9AM safety brief. They left the Start at exactly 10AM, and the rain began around 11. Weather forecast had initially called for some sporadic rain over the weekend, which turned to constant rain, hail, thick fog, and even snow on parts of the course. The contestants pushed through the unexpectedly difficult conditions for 11 hours, completing the first half in 4.5-5 hours, and the second in about 6, before all 3 called it at a single lap at 9pm. With the extremely low visibility and rain/snow, I felt this was the right choice on their part, and was considering stopping the event regardless. With the consensus being that they had had enough, we packed up and headed back down to the parking lot. Bringing up the rear in the fog, I somehow missed a turn and ended up scrambling a bit with 100 lbs of gear, but everyone made it back to the cars safely.

Congrats to Gus, Loreto, and Mark for pushing as far as they did. I appreciate you all showing up and giving it your best despite the weather. Thanks to the original mastermind behind the event, Aaron Sorensen for coming out with the doggos and hanging out at the start until the weather got too severe. See you next year, under (hopefully) better conditions!
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