2016 Escarpment Trail Run-Rain and the Test of Manitou
Kehr Davis at North Point.
For forty years trail runners have been suiting up to test themselves against the Wall of Manitou along the northern escarpment in the Catskills.
Rain has become as much a part of the challenge as the rocks, roots, ups, downs and other runners. It rarely rained in the first thirty years, according to race director and conductor of this yearly ritual, Dick Vincent. But for the past decade the question has not been if it will rain but how much and what about lightening?
This annual rite of self-inflicted suffering corresponds with the Celtic Festival of Lughnasadh, the celebration of the god Lugh. The festival traditionally involved great gatherings that included religious ceremonies and ritual athletic contests. Seems fitting.
2016’s King of the Mountain, Matt Lipsey, climbed Windham Mountain in 32:47, Blackhead’s 1,000 feet in about a mile in 15:51 and the seemingly never ending Stoppel Mountian in 23:37. In total an hour and 12 minutes Lipsey climbing the nearly 10,000 feet of elevation gain that's spread out over just 18.6 miles. David Vona got up Blackhead in 15:42.
Jan Wellford, first place male, spent just a few minutes longer climbing: 35:33 Windham,17:47 Blackhead, and Stoppel 26:39 for a total of 1:20:01(Stats are thanks to the Albany Runny Exchange).
But climbing is only half the game, the other half is descending.
Lispey came through the last aid station at North Point, 2.5 miles from the finish, a few minutes ahead of Wellford, Ben Nephew and Shaun Donegan. And Lispey knew it. He wasn’t slowing down for anything.
“How much further?” he shouted on the way by. “Not far”. “Yeah, how far?”. “Two and a half miles”. Maybe he heard, maybe he didn’t. He was really moving.
As Wellingford came through North point he was gunning for Lipsey. “How far ahead is Matt?” he called to the volunteers. “A couple of minutes”.
Nephew quickly followed, as did Donegan. What sort of jockeying happened over the next two and a half miles only those four runners and Manitou know but the finish looked like this-
Jan Wellingford 3:01:12, Ben Nephew 3:01:54, Matt Lipsey 3:02:28, and Shaun Donegan 3:03:10.
It’s been a lot of years since the winning time was over three hours. The rain and slick, muddy conditions slowed the men down a bit, but not the lead females.
Kehr Davis came in at 3:34:13, the 2014 female quick time was 3:37:31.
Blood and bruises are a matter of course for the day. One runner came in and proudly stated, through a bloody lip, that she only fell eight times.
Even with the rain there was a runner with a bee sting.
After four decades there is a lot of history around this race. Runners who have finished 20 or 30 times are not unusual. Mike Rank got his 500-mile shirt on Sunday. That’s 27 passages over the trail. Rich Fargo won the race eight times. Sunday he completed his 31st Escarpment Trail run and at 57 years old ran the 18.6 miles in 3:48.
Damon Greenleaf Douglass ran the Escarpment 24 times. He started the race archives and kept the results. In the years since Douglass passed his son Dave has run the races six times and his family has been working the aid station at North Point. Damon’s wife, sister, children, niece, grandkids were out in the rain the year helping other runners finish.
Even with this year’s rainy, slick conditions runners were finishing with smiles on their faces, Vincent observed.
It’s that trail magic that builds families and history and joy. Joy from running through the mountains in the rain.
Complete Results HERE
“What is it like when a day of running ends and I come down out of the mountains? Though my thighs are not always able to lift the foot high enough to avoid stubbing that right big toe, I am strong... With my limbs caked with mud and torn from brambles and from poking Balsam fir, I am whole. And as to living longer? My birth certificate shows that I’ve been around for 46 years, but the mountains and I are eternal. We will visit together as often as I can manage. And one peaceful day, I will return home forever”. Damon Greenleaf Douglas.
Rain has become as much a part of the challenge as the rocks, roots, ups, downs and other runners. It rarely rained in the first thirty years, according to race director and conductor of this yearly ritual, Dick Vincent. But for the past decade the question has not been if it will rain but how much and what about lightening?
This annual rite of self-inflicted suffering corresponds with the Celtic Festival of Lughnasadh, the celebration of the god Lugh. The festival traditionally involved great gatherings that included religious ceremonies and ritual athletic contests. Seems fitting.
2016’s King of the Mountain, Matt Lipsey, climbed Windham Mountain in 32:47, Blackhead’s 1,000 feet in about a mile in 15:51 and the seemingly never ending Stoppel Mountian in 23:37. In total an hour and 12 minutes Lipsey climbing the nearly 10,000 feet of elevation gain that's spread out over just 18.6 miles. David Vona got up Blackhead in 15:42.
Jan Wellford, first place male, spent just a few minutes longer climbing: 35:33 Windham,17:47 Blackhead, and Stoppel 26:39 for a total of 1:20:01(Stats are thanks to the Albany Runny Exchange).
But climbing is only half the game, the other half is descending.
Lispey came through the last aid station at North Point, 2.5 miles from the finish, a few minutes ahead of Wellford, Ben Nephew and Shaun Donegan. And Lispey knew it. He wasn’t slowing down for anything.
“How much further?” he shouted on the way by. “Not far”. “Yeah, how far?”. “Two and a half miles”. Maybe he heard, maybe he didn’t. He was really moving.
As Wellingford came through North point he was gunning for Lipsey. “How far ahead is Matt?” he called to the volunteers. “A couple of minutes”.
Nephew quickly followed, as did Donegan. What sort of jockeying happened over the next two and a half miles only those four runners and Manitou know but the finish looked like this-
Jan Wellingford 3:01:12, Ben Nephew 3:01:54, Matt Lipsey 3:02:28, and Shaun Donegan 3:03:10.
It’s been a lot of years since the winning time was over three hours. The rain and slick, muddy conditions slowed the men down a bit, but not the lead females.
Kehr Davis came in at 3:34:13, the 2014 female quick time was 3:37:31.
Blood and bruises are a matter of course for the day. One runner came in and proudly stated, through a bloody lip, that she only fell eight times.
Even with the rain there was a runner with a bee sting.
After four decades there is a lot of history around this race. Runners who have finished 20 or 30 times are not unusual. Mike Rank got his 500-mile shirt on Sunday. That’s 27 passages over the trail. Rich Fargo won the race eight times. Sunday he completed his 31st Escarpment Trail run and at 57 years old ran the 18.6 miles in 3:48.
Damon Greenleaf Douglass ran the Escarpment 24 times. He started the race archives and kept the results. In the years since Douglass passed his son Dave has run the races six times and his family has been working the aid station at North Point. Damon’s wife, sister, children, niece, grandkids were out in the rain the year helping other runners finish.
Even with this year’s rainy, slick conditions runners were finishing with smiles on their faces, Vincent observed.
It’s that trail magic that builds families and history and joy. Joy from running through the mountains in the rain.
Complete Results HERE
“What is it like when a day of running ends and I come down out of the mountains? Though my thighs are not always able to lift the foot high enough to avoid stubbing that right big toe, I am strong... With my limbs caked with mud and torn from brambles and from poking Balsam fir, I am whole. And as to living longer? My birth certificate shows that I’ve been around for 46 years, but the mountains and I are eternal. We will visit together as often as I can manage. And one peaceful day, I will return home forever”. Damon Greenleaf Douglas.
Runners in the 2016 Escarpment Trail Run Coming Through North Point.
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