K-100

[MichaelMc]

Anybody running the Kananaskis K-100?

For those who don't know, it is a 100 mile relay race straight up the highest paved road in Canada, the Highwood pass on Highway 40. Not spectacularly high, but very pretty nonetheless. What it does bring out is every "ringer" in Alberta (and beyond) to load up a relay team: the winning squads are incredible. If you want to have the experience of (briefly) running with some incredibly fast runners, you can take one of the early starts and get passed like you are standing still.

For most of us it is simply a fun way to run a very competitive race with a team of friends in the Rockies, with beer and burgers after. This year I have the "glory leg", leg 5, which is the all uphill one to the peak of the pass. If I finish in the top 30 I will consider it a moral victory!

[orleansrunner1962]

Sounds like a beautiful race -- enjoy!!!

[turd ferguson]

I've done it a bunch of times - usually leg 1 (because I love the early start) or 3. Its the only race where I've seen someone die.

A very competitive friend tried to get me to do leg 5 this year to replace a sick member - I said no for now because I'm not in the kind of shape his team would expect. But it still might come to that.

[Robinandamelia]

Sounds like fun! Good luck.

[barebuns1]

I have not run any of the legs, yet. But I usually volunteer because I am a big supporter of Hostelling International.

[Tisha]

I have friends running it again this year. They've bugged me a couple times to do a leg but I'm with Turd, not in shape enough to feel like I'd contribute. Seems their team has had members dropping like flies though. I will do it one year! The pictures taken have been amazing!

[MichaelMc]

While the front end teams are very, very fast the rest of the teams are all speeds so I wouldn't worry about your speed. One consolation is the front few teams take WINNING out of the equation. There are teams that pride themselves on being last, there are all family team (1st and 2nd generation now)...

Putting together a 10 person team with everyone's busy schedule these days is a challenge, so "joiners" are usually welcome. I think we just go back up to 10 last weekend.

[Tisha]

While the front end teams are very, very fast the rest of the teams are all speeds so I wouldn't worry about your speed. One consolation is the front few teams take WINNING out of the equation. There are teams that pride themselves on being last, there are all family team (1st and 2nd generation now)...

Putting together a 10 person team with everyone's busy schedule these days is a challenge, so "joiners" are usually welcome. I think we just go back up to 10 last weekend.

It does sound like everyone had fun a couple years ago. Being in the support vehicle would be as much fun as running (or at least I think so). Bugging/cheering runners on from a car window is fun. I did The Fallen 4 Relay and had a really good time hanging out the window. As a runner I appreciated other teams cheering for me. Definitely will do this in the future! Listen for me ...

[bunsontherun]

I have always enjoyed the team spirit of this run. Alas, no team this year, it kinda skipped my radar.

[VDoT]

Never done done any of it but would like to!

[bunsontherun]

Never done done any of it but would like to!

Do you think we would be able to get a team of 10 together for next year to represent runningmania?
You can have leg 5 Dan.

[Tisha]

Never done done any of it but would like to!

Do you think we would be able to get a team of 10 together for next year to represent runningmania?
You can have leg 5 Dan.

So generous of you, Mike!

[MichaelMc]

In spite of the monsoon I drove through to GET to the race, it ended up being a lot of fun. There are three start times to try and even up the finish times of the fastest and slowest teams. The first start is 6am, 2nd start 7am, and the super-fast folk start at 8am. There are 'forced starts' on the final few legs to make sure the course gets cleared before night sets in. They don't pull runners off the course, they simply start the later runners so a team can have a couple of runners running simultaneously (the times get added later).

How much of a range is there? Leg 1 is 18.6km, the fastest time was 1:01:34 (3:16min/km), the slowest leg 1 team last year was 2:30. Fastest team this year finished in 8:54 (average 5:44 per MILE), there are a number of teams that take twice as long.

My team finished very well, I THINK we were 11th of 115 teams and fourth in the "Open" class at 11 hours 13 minutes. I had a good day, (1:20:15) finishing 16th on leg 5 averaging 4:38/km for 17.6km (450m climb). That was sub-par for my team, I guess, but 10 minutes faster than I predicted. Perfect running weather for my leg, so no complaints there. The race finishes with a burger and beer, so you have to like that. The scenery is 2nd to none, too.

[Habs4ever]

Sounds fun!

[Tisha]

Nicely done, Michael! From the pictures I've seen from this year it was cloudy and a bit on the gloomy side. Last year was bright and sunny. There was quite a bit of snow at the higher elevations as well this year. Sounds like my friends all had a great time as well. They were the ones in the Scion (I know I spelled that incorrectly).

[MichaelMc]

Nicely done, Michael! From the pictures I've seen from this year it was cloudy and a bit on the gloomy side. Last year was bright and sunny. There was quite a bit of snow at the higher elevations as well this year. Sounds like my friends all had a great time as well. They were the ones in the Scion (I know I spelled that incorrectly).

The one behind me here?



Drat! Can't get the picture to show.

[Tisha]

ARGH, can't get the picture link to work. It was the Scion with the very large decal on each side. Don't think you could have missed it! Even the back had a decal. Blue with the white Scion symbol. Jackie didn't run this year. She was support only as she is coming back from injury. Sounded like she still had fun!