Cactus Rose 100 mile

by Joe Prusaitis (R.D.) Bandera, TX 3-Nov-2007 Cactus Rose is a beauty with a bite. It was planned that way. Its older brother Rocky Raccoon and this make for quite a Texas Jekyll-Hyde. The Texas Hill Country is a precious jewel, filled with short steep hills and seasoned with rocks. Armadillos, tarantulas, and even one crusty old dinosaur wander the hills. We started 50 runners at 5am on a sultry windless 53 degrees for 2 and half hours of dark before sunrise. The lead pack went out faster than expected and spread the group out quickly. Lucky Peak gave a sneak peek at what was to come, but a good bit of easy running followed before Ice Cream Hill. But then the Sisters, Sky Island, Boyles Bump, and Cairns Climb began to rip the field apart. The entire pack managed to complete 25mi, but then the sun started a mild roast and took 9 out before reaching 50 miles. By 2pm, it had reached a high of 78 degrees. Standing on the side watching, it seemed such a nice day, but the runners where all soaking wet with sweat. The race format was throwback style where all runners were required to write their names & times in a notebook at each station. They also stocked their own rations at each station. I put up the aid station tents, provided water & ice, made sure they had light at night, and a propane stove to cook. I constantly rolled from station to station, checking times and keeping track. In the notebooks, besides the time records, the runners left comments for their crews, for me, or whoever would read it. By the end of the day, they made for a nice record of an emotional roller-coaster. The 2nd 25mi loop reversed direction from the first, allowing everybody to have a look at each other. The leaders took inventory, but the rest of the field took some joy in seeing their friends. 41 runners survived 50 miles, Sunset finally cooled it down and brought a fresh bit of confusion: Daylight Savings Time ended at 2am and suddenly it was 1am again. The race clock didn’t care but it sure played hell with all the time junkies. Dark and the 3rd loop took 17 more, leaving a lean and very determined 24 through 75 miles. Only 21 of them started the final loop, with one missing the first cut. Mike Dobies continued to roll, moving up through the field, and then putting a lot of time on the others, including the early leaders who fell out. Barbara Hitzfeld and husband George started late and ran consistently, while the others slowed, they picked through the pack, moving up rapidly on the final loop. Barbara finished strong, winning her 2nd 100 miler in a month. All in all, the old style 100 mile race was a great success. Everybody loved it. People bonded and rallied around each other for support. The belt buckles are very nice. The shirts were Patagonia tech-Ts. The awards were unique, but more than anything else… it was a lot of fun. joe prusaitis : RD 100mi 1 24:50:52.70 Mike Dobies M 46 Lake Orion MI 2 27:10:58.25 Lynn Ballard M 50 McKinney TX 3 28:09:37.45 George Hitzfeld M 47 Ft Worth TX 4 28:55:19.10 Barbara Hitzfeld F 46 Ft Worth TX 5 29:14:46.55 Bill Patience M 53 Georgetown TX 6 29:25:04.50 Buddy Teaster M 43 Madrid Spain 7 29:26:29.90 Matthew Crownover M 35 Garland TX 8 29:37:57.80 Allen Wrinkle M 43 Spring TX 9 32:18:11.20 Melissa Heggen F 31 Denver CO 10 32:37:36.20 Diana Heynen F 53 Austin TX 11 33:00:17.55 Henry Hobbs M 52 Austin TX 12 33:24:00.20 Tony Mathison M 49 Bangs TX 13 33:37:50.70 Michael Wood M 48 Kingwood TX 14 33:58:37.75 Jasper Mueller M 39 Salt Lake City UT 15 34:03:45.05 Santhosh Padmanabhan M 28 Austin TX 16 34:03:45.05 Gaurav Agarwal M 27 Austin TX 17 34:03:45.05 Vinod Viswanath M 32 Austin TX 18 34:28:21.85 Adam Greene M 25 El Paso TX 19 34:31:40.75 Axel Reissnecker M 54 Austin TX 20 35:37:36.55 Robert Heynen M 58 Austin TX 75mi 26:11:23.70 Bob Klapthor M 56 El Paso TX 26:17:51.05 Nick Papafote M 43 Katy TX 28:31:59.90 Lee Schmidt M 68 American Canyon CA 28:46:06.50 Ganesh Krishnamoorthy M 26 Austin TX 50mi 11:53:09.80 Larry White M 48 Austin TX 12:38:39.10 Allen Boyce M 57 Portland OR 13:12:08.15 Charles Johnston M 23 Houston TX 13:31:50.00 Richard Fry M 48 Alexandria VA 13:34:12.30 Chris Chandler F 51 Austin TX 13:40:08.10 Bill Niktakis M 47 Town and Country MO 14:05:40.20 David Jackson M 49 Dallas TX 14:47:12.15 Andras Bucsinszky M 40 Tempe AZ 15:01:22.40 Gary Moroney M 41 San Antonio TX 15:24:28.65 Arnold Begay M 44 Broken Arrow OK 15:36:17.30 Chris Horsak M 30 Crosby TX 15:52:10.50 Vance McMurry M 38 Austin TX 16:33:47.20 Steve Williams M 57 Cedar Creek TX 17:19:22.45 Sherry Meador F 42 Harpersville AL 17:23:53.70 Brenda Baker F 43 Pflugerville TX 17:24:06.00 Susan Bell F 44 Kemah TX 18:43:52.00 Eunsup Kim M 54 Dallas TX 25mi 05:04:03.15 Jason Lippman M 35 Austin TX 06:20:32.90 David Berdis M 49 Dripping Springs TX 06:39:19.40 Jim Balthazar M 54 Austin TX 06:45:03.95 Michael Riggs M 47 Austin TX 07:01:24.25 Shawn Fagan M 31 Austin TX 07:03:04.80 Curt Mueller M 37 Portland OR 07:38:00.00 Phil Wright M 63 San Ramon CA 08:14:37.05 Roger Davis M 37 Austin TX 09:15:49.40 Vincent Antunez M 47 Schertz TX 50 starters 20 finishers 40%