2016 Hellgate 100+km

As I mentioned in my intro post, I'll be posting old race reports to get this blog up to date. As I was working on one of my other blog posts, I came across this race report I wrote for the Hellgate 100+km race I ran in December 2016.

At the time, I was new to ultra running and this was only my third race longer than a 50km. This race really upped the challenge level from the Umstead 100mi and the Pilot Mountain to Hanging Rock 50mi races I'd run. The night time start, the bone chilling weather, the rugged terrain and running alongside so many accomplished runners combined for a pretty epic experience.

Given my limited ultra running resume I was a lightly regarded runner by the "race committee" aka Dr. David Horton. By virtue of my entry the race committee believed I had the ability to finish the race , however, my bib number was number 77, reflecting that he thought I would be the 77th male to finish. Despite the preconceptions I managed to finish 30th overall and 26th male in my first 100km ever.

As a result of the grand challenge I had set before myself and because other people were doing it, I wrote my very first race report ever. This was more than 7 years after I had started racing. I had probably finished over 180 races of varying distances between 5km up to 50km including many multisport races without ever having the urge to write about it. I think I just felt like this was a story I wanted to tell. So I hope you enjoy it.

2016 Hellgate 100+KM Race Report (pdf)

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