dsmallwood wrote:
looks entertaining. the swim sounds like the sleeper. river swims are tough. much more "big water" than lakes and ponds. especially if its not a down-current route. what's the bike route like? probably pretty punchy in that area? and i assume people have tried to 'run' the Mt Washington trail. what's the record for that? versus the average hike time. that will probably help with predicting results. paging tri_yoda. he may know. The Mt. Washington Road race is longer and less steep (7.6 miles on the road).
The Tuckerman's trail is about 4.5 miles long with 4600' gain, so it is really steep.
I have actually never hiked Tuckerman's, as it is not a good winter route (I have
been on Lion's head and various routes in Huntington), but it is just
going to be a steep hike. Thousands of people do it every year, it is not that big a deal.
(as long as the weather is good)
Although this race is hard, I think it is being a little over hyped. It is way easier than an IM.
Fast "hiking" will get you up Tuckerman's in about 2.5 hrs in good conditions and. I would think
running up it in about 90 minutes is very doable.
The record for the 7.6 mile road race is 56:00 and typical times are a little faster than your HM time.
The road race is just on the edge of what you can "run" faster than powerwalk (unless you are a
true elite). With Tuckerman's being even steeper, and off the bike, it is just going to be a
powerwalk. Mentally, even though it is up, this seems way easier than trying to run on
a flat when you are tired. Maybe that is a hikers mentality, but that's how I see it.
If I wasn't in OR I would definitely do this race. Sounds fun and it is definitely different and
nice to have an offering that is put on by a local RD, not some corporate franchise.