Escarpment Addendum II

I just received a very enlightening email from the RD. Enjoy.

Ben


Hi Ben,

I wanted to point out something that you may not be aware of. After reading
your story on the Escarpment you made mention to the small group of enthusiasts
that are even aware of the Escarpment. But I am not sure if you know how many
good runners have run this course and some of the accomplishments of those
who your record now eclipses.... Over the 28 years of the race, some 20 or more
sub 2:20 marathoners (maybe that would be sub 2:22) marathoners have run this
course. Some of them even have excellent trail credentials. For instance, the
record you broke was Matt Cull's. Matt qualified numerous times for the USA
team for the World Trail Championships. He took pretty much 10th in the series
of races he ran one summer (in the worlds) feeling as though the trails were
much smoother that what he excelled at.... On that same team was Dave Dunham.
Dave was an incredible trail runner and at the worlds got 2nd in all of the
races. The one time that he ran the Escarpment (1991) he finished in 3:02:54
(Fargo won that year in 2:47:51). Dave had run 2:16 the year prior to that..... In
the late 70's and early 80's Ed Stable from West Point ran. He had run 2:17
at Boston that year and finished 7th overall... a good trail runner. We didn't
have the support we have now, but he still wasn't going 2:45.....

One of my favorites was David Clark from England. He had run many of the English Fell running races. He was a master (40 plus) the year he ran. That spring he had won the masters division at the London Marathon in 2:18 and that fall he won the
master's division at the NYC Marathon in 2:18... He managed 3:24. I believe he
ran it in 1985.... I got a fabulous letter from him the following week. He was
in Ct. and ran an 11.5 mile race there and was disappointed because he barely
broke 60 minutes and struggled to get 2nd overall. I wrote back reminding him
that nobody else in that race had run the Escarpment that year. I went under
3:20 in that race so ran with David in the early miles. I am here to tell you
that fellow fell numerous times coming off Windham. He was cut up some and when
I asked how he was doing he said, "fine, just a little fall, one of which
will be of many to come".... I liked his spirit.

I know I am digressing here, but let me tell you one of my favorite
stories.... Charlie Trayer came the year after he ran the Olympic Trials. He called me and wanted appearance money. The course record was maybe 3:06 at the time.
Charlie was very confident and told me that I should pay him to come and that
someone should be proud to expense an Olympic Trails Marathoner. I told him I ran
this out of a shoe box and there was no such funds. He told me he was going
to come break the course record. When I asked him why he thought so he said,
"Let's face it, you guys aren't running too fast up there." At that point I
told him he could stay at my house.... He came up and was talking running
2:30's... Anyway, he went out with the defending champion (Pete Crisis). I passed
Charlie coming down Windham (we had little if any water that year and the trail
was grown in a lot).... He wasn't having fun. He ran 3:40...... I saw him that
fall at the Maryland Marathon and he wouldn't talk to me. He did come back
some years later with a new attitude. Told me that he wanted to come back to see
if he hated the trail as much as he remembered. He did, running around 4
hours, but he smiled that year..... Anyway, I don't mean to go on and on. What I am
trying to point out is that your record is not soft. There have been some
very good trail runner who have run this race. Herb Tanzer from California ran
once. Did okay, finished fourth in 3:17 (I was third in 3:08 or something).
Herb won Western States two years later....

Sorry, I am babbling, got carried away, but I be proud of that record,
because there are some damn good runners who haven't come close to it.

Dick