07 16 1998 To 07 18 1998 Hi Tec Badwater/whitney

07 16 1998 to 07 18 1998 HI TEC BADWATER/WHITNEY RACE XI 1998  HELL AT BOTH ENDS THIS YEAR "I WON'T EVER COME BACK TO THIS PLACE I CALL TERRIBLE WATER" - SAYS GABRIEL FLORES      The race was no easier this year than any years in the past. El Nino kept things cooler several months longer but then seemed to make up for it in the remaining few days before the start of the race. The pre race clinics were disappointingly too "cool" over Memorial Day weekend when it barely got to over 100 degrees. It warmed up to 113 degrees on the 4th of July weekend. I used a Kestrel 2000 wind/temperature gauge for many readings. It was 92 degrees at the start at Badwater, 282 feet below sea level, at 0600 on Thursday 07 16 1998. By mid afternoon the same day, it was 127 degrees (official). The next day, Friday, there was an all time record of 129 degrees (official) for that same day as far back as records goes for Death Valley National Park (formerly Death Valley National Monument). By Saturday the temperature rose to 131 degrees, according to ABC Network, while the race was still in progress. The DVNP west boundary is at about the 87 mile mark. So there was hell at the beginning and it continued and existed at the end. Air temperatures at Whitney Portals at 8 300 feet elevation were unusually warm and on a test hike to Trail Camp at 12 000 feet on Sunday 07 12 1998 it was 75 degrees in spite of the overwhelming amount of snow coverage above 11 300 feet.       This was the eleventh running of Hi Tec's race. It used to start at 6:00 P.M. and for the last two years the start has been at 6:00 A.M. The extreme runners and adventurers wanted to test themselves in more rigorous conditions thereby exposing themselves to more heat in Death Valley. This is patterned after Richard Benyo and Tom Crawford of the "Death Valley 300" fame. They went from "fire to ice and back to fire" doing the double crossing. These adventure seekers had originally wanted to create a run (not a race) from Badwater to Whitney and got 150 runners interested. They backed off because of liability when the athletes began wondering where the day care centers, ATM booths and hitching posts were. About that time Hi Tec and Adrian Crane got together to test the course using a shoe entitled the "Badwater 146" representing the mileage from Badwater to the top of Mt. Whitney at 14 496 feet elevation. In those days Adrian Crane and Tom Possert had some challenging duels. More runners were invited in later years.      Denise Jones, who is also a cosmetologist, gave several foot care clinics before the race and personally treated most of those with significant blisters. Her efforts contributed significantly to the success of many who buckled and finished.          The average age of the 29 runners was 47.2 years. There was no appreciable wind this year and there were no clouds and no precipitation from Death Valley to the Sierra

during the event. My motto is that "the course is always ready" and "get out of the Valley." Eric Clifton did some wind sprints back and forth at the start line. The others shuffled around getting their pictures taken and some formed a prayer circle. In less than a minute from taking the obligatory group picture at the Badwater sign, the 29 starters lined up on the highway and a ten second count down was done by Matt Frederick, Hi Tec Sports Race Director. Then he said "go." Eric Clifton responded the most vigorously and built a 2.5 mile lead at one point over Marshall Ulrich, veteran of seven previous Badwaters. Marshall has the P.M. start course record of 26:18. Dehydration took its toll on Eric and the gap decreased until Marshall finally overtook Eric in Panamint Valley about 70 miles and 12 hours later. A German journalist who was following Helmut Linzbichler, from Austria, witnessed a friendly exchange of leads. Eric called it quits at 72 miles at Panamint Springs Resort. He made it 93 miles last year. Both years he had run at Western States a few weeks earlier, however, the previous year he was also getting over a motorcycle accident and leg injuries.             Behind them were Gabriel Flores and Carlos Banderas, who are more familiar with the trail ultras in Southern California. Neither one had ever been even close to Death Valley nor had Gabriel never been in temperatures hotter than 105 degrees. Actually, they seemed to show up "cold" as far as knowledge of the course and environment is concerned. Either that or they were "sandbagging it.” My wife, Denise, First Lady of Badwater, spent at least an hour with them the day before the race briefing them on race technique and strategy. Their coach had them drink Pedialyte and Ensure and eat bananas and peanut butter sandwiches during the race. In the race, they both changed leads several times after they passed Marshall at around 85 95 miles. Marshall wondered to himself "who are these guys" and finally told his crew to "cut them loose." Neither one knew that the last 13 miles up the Whitney Portal Road involved a 4 600 foot climb. Gabriel informed the media and by standers "I am not ever coming back to this place!" I call Badwater "Terrible Water! " He collapsed shortly after crossing the finish line in a day time start record time of 28:09. A mile from the finish, Carlos Banderas's crew vehicle, a Suburban, caught on fire and burned to the ground. The trailer behind it fused to the hitch and almost went out of control when it was released. Dramatically, Carlos had to pass this burning wreckage in order to finish in 28:27, which also broke the previous course record. The fire was related a faulty electrical connection and to the unusual heat wave. It represented hell at the finish. There were many heat related incidents with vehicles and Millers Towing made a lot of calls.           Marshall arrived at the finish line adding machine tape in 30:06. This was an upgrade from using toilet paper in previous years as the tape. His accomplishments on the course over the last eight years are truly remarkable and greatly appreciated.          Lisa Smith was here for the third time and has won the women's division twice. Last year she set a course record for the A.M. start of 37:01. Lisa Smith's sister, Julie Gross, is a massage therapist who worked Marshall over both before and

after the race. Each year there are present more and more physical therapists and fitness trainers.     There was an overwhelming amount of media interest this year. Lisa has a terrific portfolio of races which include the Ironman Triathlon, Marathon des Sables (last spring) and all of the Eco Challenges, the Extreme Games and last year's Raid Gauloises in Africa. Within the last month she did an over 300 mile Four Winds ultra in Montana. She is getting ready to go to Ecuador for this year's Raid Gauloises, which includes a climb of the volcano Cotopaxi (over 21 000 ft. elevation). The day before this year's Badwater/Whitney Race the New York Times had a large color picture of her on the front page and a huge story and more pictures in later pages. There was a film crew from Real TV and Brazilian TV and various journalists and photographers covering certain runners. ABC and NBC arrived hurriedly on the scene with their crews and large satellite up link trucks urgently wanting heat related coverage. Apparently things had cooled down with Bill and Monica and the heat of the Valley was a prime subject. Getting back to Lisa, she and her crew had to get past a NPS Ranger who almost had to use pepper spray to control the traffic and congestion. Lisa was paced by her boy friend, Eric Speck, and Whit Rambach, previous Badwater finisher, and by Cameron Widoff, who is expected to win the Hawaiian Ironman this year. She was wearing an unbroken in pair of Adidas shoes and developed some horrible blisters. Her time was 32 minutes slower than last year and she finished in 37:33.       The media seems to back off at about this point but the stories go on endlessly and cover all of the finishers as well as the 9 starters who did not finish.      See the times listed below for the following finishers. Each one has a unique set of credentials and interesting reasons for having been here. Times to the top of Whitney are included.      Cliff Treyens, political and marketing consultant, was looking for a challenge beyond having done a 100 miler (Mohican) in less than 20 hours and a 24 hour USATF ultra of over 120 miles. He was very quiet during the pre race activities and most of us didn't see him thereafter as he was near the front and wasn't able to stick around for the post race meeting.      Duke Bartoo is a product of multiple Badwater clinics held in Death Valley including Panamint Valley and Owens Valley. He was after the challenge of the extremes in temperature, humidity and altitude. This electrician took time off work to cover the entire course prior to the race. His wife, Esther, was his chief crew member, and was in constant attendance.      Bobb Ankeney, probation officer, was after pushing his body to an extreme and wanted the camaraderie that goes along with the training clinics and the race activities. Ultrarunning puts him in contact with friendlier people than the shorter distance runners and he takes time to enjoy the scenery en route.      Mike Zeigle is a design engineer who says that he is getting too slow for marathons and wanted to go from the lowest to the highest points in the Continental US as did a few others. Going all the way seemed more popular in earlier years.      Arthur Webb is an electronics technician for the USPS. Buckling and being around good people are his goals now rather than finishing in the top ten. He proved that he is "stubborn, tenacious, self disciplining and persevering." Never

quitting or giving up is not in his mind. He ran for charity to help abused and abandoned children.      Fred Vance is an electronics design engineer. He did his own version of the race in 1991 when he found out too late that he had finally gotten invited by Hi Tec to participate. Last year he was here. This year he warmed up by doing three laps (60 miles) at Barkley and the whole course at Hardrock within the cut off time several days earlier. Catch his story on the Internet on: http://www.badwaterbenjones.com      Julie Teiger, mother of four children, owns and operates a gift basket company. She has crewed Lisa Smith twice before and got the bug. She fulfilled her wish of experiencing the depth of her soul and the spectacle of the night sky. I was able to assist her within the last marathon of the race with encouragement and support along with her amazing crew of Tim Key, four time Ironman finisher, and power lifter/video man David Matti Ace.      Bernard Schoeneck is a retired teacher of deaf and hearing impaired children in Germany. In 1993 he bicycled through Death Valley and last summer he pushed a cart over the same course. Since it is freezing 300 days a year at home, the logical thing to do is to come to Death Valley for the heat. This year he buckled in spite of a 14 hour shut down in the middle of the race.       Jim Hamilton is an aggressive business man and outdoor adventurer. He owns and operates a number of Subway Sandwich Shops in the San Diego area. I am trying to get him interested in opening one here in Lone Pine. Karen, his wife, of Dutch origin, is also an ultrarunner and has a wonderful personality. She and Jim did their research and we communicated a lot via E Mail for months. They attended the pre race clinics and had to fight off those who wanted to volunteer to crew him. That is almost a first for Badwater. Usually one gets (fake) hang ups around the time the invitations go out. His will got updated, which isn't a bad idea. Pre race carbo loading was on sweet potato pie.      Ephraim Romesberg is a 67 year old retired nuclear engineer. (Last year Beacham Toler was the oldest at 70 to finish the race). He says that he is getting too slow to do 10K's so why not do 135 miles? Over $50 000 has been raised for the American Cancer Society by obtaining pledges and running many miles over the last ten years. His very interesting documentary is on the web page: http://www.badwater.com      Scott Weber is another interesting story. His business, Team Ultrasport is based in Littleton, Colorado, where he does Sports Event Marketing and Coaching. He crewed Marshall Ulrich in the past and then became the "Gravel Man" while doing the event and then survived the "Death Valley Quad" in 1994. Later he was "Comfort Man" for his ability to successfully rehabilitate in the motels and hospitality room along the way. We searched for a theme this year. One name was "Media Man" for his popularity with Real TV and Brazilian TV who were contracted to be on the course. NBC and ABC were also entertained.

Another name was "Luge Man" for his desire to do the down hills on a street luge and, in the Sierra from Trail Crest to Trail Camp, on a snow luge.          Bob Lapanja is a plant operator likes the challenge of testing the limits of the course and to meet interesting people. These wishes were fulfilled at the pre race clinics and the activities associated with the race itself. Via the clinics,  E Mail and strong family support, he was able to focus on the course successfully.      Adam Bookspan plays the trumpet and teaches music when he is not race walking around a loop near his home in Florida. Thanks to E Mail, he was able to make meticulous preparations for the race. Foot care was provided before and during the race by Denise Jones. The media photographer took numerous photos of the operation in the hospitality room at Panamint Springs Resort. By the way, Jerry Graham, owner and operator, and his staff provided exceptional service during this event as he does with all the tourists. He took photos for the media and rushed them 71 miles to the Daily Independent in Ridgecrest.      Jack Denness, driver for Lloyds of London, has completed the course five of six starts including one out and back. The Marie Curie Foundation is the charity he ran for this year. Fog and rain are not he best training conditions for this race.            Lloyd Scott is from the UK and is a charity worker for the Leukemia Society. There is "Life after Leukemia" as attested by the fact that a bone marrow transplant from a non relative nine years ago saved his life. Because of previous chemotherapy for the chronic myelogenous leukemia, he had to use an abundant amount of skin cream for sun protection which made awesome looking pictures. He was the focus of media attention. Scott always finishes!      Helmut Linzbichler is from Kapfenberg, Austria. He started off being a mountaineer and extreme climber and has been on the top of Mt. Blanc, Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and Mt. McKinley and was forced off Nanga Parbat by a storm. He was in the first Foot Race Across America and has run many marathons in the States including Las Vegas, Rock and Roll in San Diego this year and four days before this race he did the San Francisco Marathon. The last one he finished in 3 1/2 hours because he didn't want to miss the World Soccer Game final. A trip to South Africa was to do Comrades. Norm Klein let him into Western States 100 to pace a 61 year old non English speaking German and they made it 57 miles. The pre race clinics included a climb to the top of Mt. Whitney one week before the race. Now he is off to do the Deseret News, Crater Lake, Pikes Peak and Silver State Marathons as well as Leadville and Wasatch 100's! As a house guest for several weeks, we really enjoyed each other's company. We'll get even if we can ever make it to Austria. RACE RESULTS:         Name                         Sex  & nbsp; State  Time to Portals  Time to top 01 Flores, Gabriel            &nb

sp;    M      CA      28:09 02 Banderas, Carlos            &nbs p; M      CA      28:27 03 Ulrich, Marshall            &n bsp;  M      CO      30:06              ;    55:16 (1st) 04 Smith, Lisa                       F        NJ       37:33 05 Treyens, Cliff              ;     M       OH      38:45 06 Bartoo, Duke                   M       CA      41:38              ;    78:40 (4th) 07 Ankeney, Bob             & nbsp;   M       CA      42:58 08 Zeigle, Mike                     M      WI       43:47              ;  103:45 (5th) 09 Webb, Arthur            &nbs p;     M       CA      44:44 10 Vance, Fred                      M      CA       46:34              ;    58:48 (2nd)  11 Teiger, Julie              ;        F        UT      47:04 12 Schoeneck, Bernard         M      GER     47:45 13 Hamilton, Jim             & nbsp;    M       CA       51:51

14 Romesberg, Ephraim       M       CA       53:31 15 Weber, Scott              ;      M       CO       54:13              ;    78:36:55 (3rd) 16 Lapanja, Bob             & nbsp;     M       CA       54:39              ;  17 Bookspan, Adam             M       FL        55:30 18 Denness, Jack                   M       UK       57:39 19 Scott, Lloyd              ;       M       UK        57:54 20 Linzbichler, Helmut         M       AUT      58:57 29 starters (15 new and 5 repeaters) Average age of finishers 47.2 Badwater Mayor Ben Jones