Monique Merrill rocking at at Loveland a few years ago

The ski mountaineering world championships started in Andorra on Monday.  A strong team of racers representing the United States are competing with 22 other nations.  As of today, two of the four races are complete with the US making a strong showing.

My adventure racing and Pierra Menta teammate, Monique Merrill, is especially proving that the US has a presence in ski mountaineering.  Mona has placed in the top 10 for both the vertical and the individual races.  Awesome job Mona – keep it up!

The team race is Friday and the relay will take place on Saturday.  Travis Scheefer and Nina Silitch are updating their websites with race recaps and photos.  Also, results can be found at the ISMF site.

I wish we had this explained to us before the race and wish the racers also had a better explanation.  Not sure if anything would have changed in the overall outcome but it would have made it a much more even playing field.

AR World Championships 2010 in Spain!

UPDATE:  I apologize to Grant that wrote the very informative article explaining the Portugal race format and want to make clear that he does not direct or have anything to do with the event.  He was present at the race this year and thought it would be very helpful to all of us to get a good explanation out there.  Thanks Grant!

Chris Forne at the finish of the 2009 Adventure Race World Championships

After a long tough race, Nike Beaver Creek finished in a very respectable second place at the 2009 Adventure Race World Championships.  I have not spoken to anyone from the team so haven’t gotten the story from the source, but it sounds like the final outcome had to do with some confusion on cutoffs.  The latest post on SleepMonsters has a quote from Chris stating that they thought they had to be through a bike leg by 2 o’clock when in reality they just had to start by then.  Due to this, they missed three checkpoints in the trekking leg causing them to no longer have the most received checkpoints.

This race had a difficult format to follow (and race and support) throughout and I’m unsure how I personally feel about optional checkpoints and sections.  From the results, it appears that some teams skipped entire sections of the race while still finishing ahead of other teams that completed all portions.  Maybe I just needed to be there to understand better, but this doesn’t seem right especially for a world championships.

No matter what happened, the new world champions, Helly Hansen Prunesco of England, raced extremely well and strong to win in such a strong field.  Helly Hansen Prunesco received the most checkpoints and came on very strong towards the end proving they have what it takes.  Congrats to HHP!  Lundhags Adventure, Orion Health (last year’s world champs) and Navigator RaidLight rounded out the podium.

Congrats to Mike Kloser, Monique Merrill, Chris Forne and George Christison and everyone that competed in the race as it sounded grueling.  As much as I enjoy being the Monday morning quarterback, I miss being out there to experience it myself.

Mike Kloser coming in from a cold paddle.

From reading the latest reports from SleepMonsters and the ARWC site, it appears that Nike Beaver continues to lead the race.  The team came into the last few time cutoffs with very little time to spare (just about giving Mike’s wife a nervous breakdown) but continues to pick up most (if not all) checkpoints.  There is just under another full day of racing before we will know anything official.  Hopefully the weather gets a little nicer and Nike continues to race well and super strong.  The latest two reports are here and here.

Chris Forne coming off the paddle

Nike & Orion head out together. I hope Chris puts on some shoes.

Mike Kloser, Monique Merrill & Chris Forne charging in Portugal

The Adventure Race Worlds Championships have been very difficult to follow.  I honestly have no idea how Team Nike Beaver Creek is doing as far as the race lead is concerned.  The format of the race is very different from other races especially expedition races.  Most checkpoints are optional and if a team actually gets the checkpoint then it will be used as a time bonus at the end of the race.  For the first few days it was being reported that Nike was the only team to have received all the checkpoints (even Orion Health had skipped one or two) but at this point I’m not sure if Nike has gone to all of them.

Coverage and tracking is very confusing because most teams are in the same vicinity even though many have skipped most checkpoints.  I’m not sure how I would feel racing in an expedition race not knowing how the team is doing due to many variables.  Strategy is usually based on position of your team and judging whether you have time to rest or have to continue racing all out.  I know this is difficult for Mike Kloser, Monique Merrill, Chris Forne and George Christensen as they are unaccustomed to this race format.  They have a day or so more of racing so we will continue to cheer for them from afar and then wait while all time, penalties and bonuses are tallied up to determine the 2009 Adventure Race World Champions.

In the mean time, continue to check out the race site, SleepMonsters, Cris’s blog (Nike’s support crew) and Twitter for as many updates as possible.

Congratulations to Mike, Gretchen, Jay and George!  Way to stay strong and pull through!

From a quick note from Mike Kloser it sounds like the prologue was ridiculously fast just like last year and Day 1 involved lots of muddy mountain biking causing mechanical issues for many of the teams.  Nike-Beaver Creek had a good day despite Mike feeling ill and only one flat on the bike to finish the day in the leaders jersey.  Day 2 proved a little more difficult for the team with a mechanical setting them back from the beginning and Mike continuing to be sick.  It sounds like he cannot keep any food down but is at least able to stay hydrated.  Thankfully it sounds like he has recovered very well from a big crash earlier this summer and that the rest of the team is feeling well and racing strong as usual.  That is one of the great things about adventure racing – everyone goes through bad spots and the rest of the team is there to help that person out and get them through it.  And since I know how strong Mike is, I’m sure he’s not slowing the team down one bit.

With the time change to China, the racers should be back up at the hotel and resting for Day 3.  I hope Mike does not have what I had last year as I can’t imagine racing again while feeling like that.  Hopefully after some rest and hydration, Nike-Beaver Creek will be able to have a great day again tomorrow and move back into the lead.  Visit the Wulong Mountain Quest site for more reports and overall standings.

Orion Health come across the line first!

After almost an entire week of non-stop racing, the top teams have finally crossed the finish line at Primal Quest Badlands.  Final results are still unofficial but it appears that OrionHealth has taken the top podium spot by racing out front the entire race.  Salomon/Crested Butte came across the line second several hours back and should hold onto that spot once time credits and penalties have been awarded.  Merrell/Zanfel Adventure came across the line third but it is unclear if they will hold the last podium spot due to an interesting take on the rules of the swim.

Many more teams will continue to finish up racing today and tomorrow.  Six hundred miles of continuous racing is super tough and all of these teams should be proud of themselves.  I think it’s a good thing I’ve been home enjoying short trail runs and road rides with Juniper.

Check out these sites for more reports and lots of photos:

Primal Quest

Orion Health

Salomon/Crested Butte

Primal Quest’s Flickr Photostream

Len Zanni leading Lance Armstrong & Jay Henry up the first climb in Snowmass a few weeks ago.

Primal Quest is about 600 miles and will go on for at least 3 or 4 more days so I have been more obsessed with the Leadville 100.  Of course the big thing with Leadville this year is Lance vs. Wiens and breaking the 6-hour mark.  Lance has become somewhat of a local in the Roaring Fork Valley and Wiens has been a friend for several years after adventure racing together.  So who  have I been cheering for this morning?  Len Zanni of course.  Len from Honey Stinger and Big Agnes is my dark horse to either be on the podium or take a surprise win.  Although Len works full time and has two young kids, he is strong, has been training with Lance and has been having an amazing season.   Of course I’m cheering for Dave and Lance and everyone else, but really we are just hoping Len can keep up the pace he is racing at currently and that he has no mechanicals or crashes.

My new shoes! Imogene, Wildcat & Fireblade

L to R: Imogene, Wilcat, Fireblade

What I really should be doing is deciding which of my new La Sportiva trail shoes I should put on and try out on the trail.  All three shoes look great and I’m having a hard time deciding which pair to try first:  Fireblade, Imogene, or Wildcat.  I guess it will depend on how much more rain falls this morning and how long I get to run for.  Tough decisions.  Although I’m no longer racing in the TransRockies (more on that another day), I’m looking forward to putting lots of miles on these new shoes.

As I finally finish up writing this, it looks like Lance is going to win the Leadville 100 this year despite flatting and riding with 5 – 10 miles left.  Although he won’t break the 6-hour mark, it looks like he’ll easily break the record Dave Wiens set last year.  Wiensy should be claiming the second spot on the podium and third is still up for grabs.  I hope Len can pull it off but either way it has been fun to watch.  Salomon Crested Butte is still on the heels of OrionHealth in Primal Quest with about 450 miles of racing remaining.

Here are top 10 from Leadville: 1. Lance Armstrong, 2. Dave Wiens, 3. Matt Schriver, 4. Alex Grant, 5. LEN ZANNI, 6. MAX TAAM, 7. Travis Brown, 8. Manuel Prado, 9. Mike Hogan, 10. Jason Tullous.  Huge congratulations to Len and Max and the Honey Stinger team!

Ian leading up the first climb.

We had a weekend of racing and training.  In the typical Anderson style, we packed as many miles and fun in as possible.  Ian was able to race in the Mountain States Cup at Snowmass on Saturday.  Having not raced much this season, Ian had to race in Cat 2 since he did not have a US Cycling license.  I had lots of confidence that Ian could win his age group as he has been very strong this year.

As I predicted, Ian won his category and received a Colorado State Champions jersey but the big news of the day was Lance Armstrong.  Lance has been in town often this summer training for both the Tour de France and the Leadville 100.  This was one last hard effort before racing Leadville next weekend.

Juniper and I had fun snapping photos of Lance while passing 3rd place finisher Len Zanni Honey Stinger gels in his attempt to close the gap.  Although Len didn’t catch Jay Henry (2nd) or Lance, he had an amazing race and represented the valley very well.

Len Zani leading Lance Armstrong & Jay Henry up the first climb.

The crowd surrounding Lance was impressive and it was amazing to watch the people follow and hound him.  Ian was lucky enough to warm up with him for a few minutes so we moved on so I could get out on the trail.  I ran the Golden Leaf half-marathon course along the Government Trail for some great training for the TransRockies.

Jay Henry, Lance Armstrong & Len Zanni

This morning I ran a great 25 or 26 mile loop out of Carbondale below Mt. Sopris.  It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful for the first half as most people must have been still relaxing.  Ian and Juniper met me towards the end of the run with some fresh water.  Very sweet of them!  Not sure if all the miles I’ve put in have worked or if I just had a good day, but I finished a lot faster than I thought I would in 3 hour 15 minutes.

I have a few more days to put in some big miles and then it’s already time to taper.  I hope I have a few days in the TransRockies where I feel as good as I did today.