End of an era.
It didn't attract the masses in its heyday and all the marketing and name changes won't make it more popular in today's day and age.

Btw, Short Course was unofficially renamed the Canadian Women's Division. That did make it more appealing to me ;)
I'm glad to have participated in it 4 times, even taking 2nd place in my AG in 2012. Granted, there were only 5 people in my AG. It's still one of the most satisfying results I've ever had. Anyone who has ever competed there, at any distance, knows what it takes out of you. Kudos to all past participants.

If this is indeed the end AmZof, I'd like to take one last time to thank the originator, John McGovern, the marketing savant, Murphy's Law and finally one more RIP to Chris Gleason.

Well said, Mark.

I hope this isn’t the end, but no matter what happens moving forward, I’m so very appreciative to all who made it happen, and competed in it over all these years since 2005.

I did 12 or 13 (I’m getting old, so I can’t recall exactly anymore), with 4 LC finishes, 4, GCG F1 middle distance finishes, and 4 (or 5 - this is the part I need to clarify) CWD finishes.

Here’s a note from my neighbor, whom I got to sign up for CWD this year:

And cancellation was probably for the best for many reasons.
Not the least of which is county route 6 from towpath to Mohonk Rd got ripped up like springtown the other day.
Totally unrideable.

So - it looks like AmZof just wasn’t in the cards for this year, for many reasons.

I’m hopeful that with proper early planning, it can be revived in the future.

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float , hammer , and jog

My buddy Devin & I did a bandit AmZof CWD this am. Weather & conditions were perfect!
Cool, sunny, dry, and calm.

Run course was spectacular.
As dry as I’ve ever seen it, but not dusty, so it was a ‘pleasant’ running experience.

Bike course - we had to add an extra ~5 miles to it, to bypass Rt 6 with the Item 4.
The chipseal part on Towpath is totally fine now, been driven in by 2 weeks of car traffic.

I bailed halfway thru 2nd run, since I:
hadn’t run at all in 2 weeks
biked an extra 5m
Hadn’t run more than 5m in a day since SOS.

Felt surprisingly not bad, but wanted to finish the run that way, so cutting out the final BIG climb and back around the Pavillion did that.

Then RecoverWrongs in the lot, because AmZof always needs beers after.

I’m confident that we will get AmZof back rocking next year.
A lot of us locals will work w Colin to make sure it happens, and is done well.

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float , hammer , and jog

I hope you do get it restarted. I'll have a whole year to talk myself into it!

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Amen brother.

I don't run much these days (read; at all) but if I ever come out of "retirement" it would only be for AmZof.
That's doubtful, so sign me up as your first volunteer.
I'm happy to provide the Jagermeister again to anyone willing as they pass through the pavilion (running or walking!). Urban myths live on.

btw, nice work up there and have fun at Epicman.

Looks like you've got a solid Du CV - you should absolutely come take on the AmZof course next year!!
Can't have old decrepit gimps like me winning by default anymore.

I'm open to considering some tweaks to the distance names...



But FWIW - the course records are a LOT faster than those you listed above.

Justin Harris (who went on to be a Pro for a while) set the SC record in '08 at a mind-bending 2:32:58.
Ran a 32 and a 33 with a 1:26 bike in between.
There have been several other 2:3x times thrown down over the years.

(speaking of '08, we had 45 LC finishers that year (plus 9 DNF's)

Mendy Taylor alllllmost chicked our boy Tri Yoda (Matt Mallet) in 2010, when she set the womens SC record of 2:54:57


Middle Distance GCG F1 record was set by Rich Burke in '12, with the first and only sub-5 hour finish - 4:55
(yours truly was a distant 2nd in 5:03)

Womens Middle Distance record (I think) is Jana Richtrova with a 5:51 in 2011.

Long Course record was set in 2010, when multi-time AmZof LC winner Josh Beck dueled Christopher Martin all day, and won with a 6:42 !!! time.
CM was 6:46.

Womens LC - woulda bet BIG money on this being held by multi-time LC champ Mimi Boyle, but her fastest was 9 flat in '09.
(some total poser won Men's LC that year)

Turns out the 2014 LC Womens race was a drag race from start to finish!
Tara Kupersmith crossed in 8:53, with 2nd place Anne Marie Prewitt just minutes behind in 8:58.




@ Mark D - consider yourself volunteered, if not participating!!

I've only run a total of 66m ytd, and managed to fake my way thru most of the CWD ("Canadian Womens Division") short course yesterday.
Had I been wearing a timing chip I woulda finished the 2nd run, but since I wasn't, I didn't.

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float , hammer , and jog

I'll du my best to make it happen!

---

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Couldn't get there this year I went looking for results, so sad to hear it fell through. Really hope it gets back in the calendar. Hardest Du course I've ever done and I've only done the "short" CW Division. Techy trail run and climby road bike are a true test and the most scenic Transition/Rehydration spot you'll find.

2x LC finisher. Those times are insane for that course. 2015 in the heat and humidity i was DFL and 2016 I think I won my age group and was under 10 hours. Great race, hope it can carry on next year.

I would love another AmZof, I don't know how I could help but am very willing to! I have 4 LC's to my name and would welcome the chance to make it 5. Don't know that my legs agree with my heart ............

That is really encouraging, Murphy's Law. I walk about 66 meters every night between the couch and the fridge. Sounds like I am ready to race AmZof :-)

LOL. Nah, this is Murican Zofingen, we don't use none of that there woke Metric nonsense here!!


I've had discussions w/ Colin, and we're trying to lock in a date for 2024 NOW.

I have also reached out to the Preserve to schedule a call, to discuss available dates for next year.
We are considering moving it back to the Fall (like it was back in the OG days), if that works for all parties involved.

Not sure what is/will be available, yet.
But we are optimistic we can get it on the calendar, and make it happen.

A lot of us locals want the race to go on.
And we're not going to try to reinvent the wheel, so we'll attempt to keep as much of all the traditional parts as possible.
But we're also open to constructive changes, so the race is manageable to pull off, and doesn't lose $.
(nobody wants or needs to make a dime, we just don't want it to cost us an arm and a leg to run it.)

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float , hammer , and jog

Triple Kudos for you guys trying to resurrect it. While it will be difficult to build the race back up to "large" participant numbers, I would certainly try to be there ... as long as the date is clear many months prior to the actual race ... no matter whether it's in the Spring or Fall. Cheers!

Is this going down this year?

Hope it happens this year. Keep us posted

great course and really fun race. i did LC in 08 and SC in 09. i wonder if part of the downfall was the dilution effect. so many races these days have like 8 separate races happening at once. olympic, olympic du, oly aquathlon, sprint tri , sprint du, sprint aqua etc. basically the same 200 competitors spread across these multiple races just dilutes the field. i get the idea to increase the options so more are involved, but i think it is only bringing a few more in at the expense of spreading the races too thin. amzof short course is enough of a challenge to satisfy almost everybody. make it draft legal, then talk some smack between local trail run clubs/forums and bike clubs etc and bring some new blood in.

haha i just realized i posted almost the exact same thing a year ago....felt like deja vu but i guess thats just my opinion!

Like Baliman I would absolutely make it happen in 2024 if at all possible, spring or fall. I’ve only got one official finish (2019) and one bandit (2017 I think; it was a cancellation year) , and would love to add a dozen more :) long live AmZof!