The RVs have been checked out, the bikes have been checked in, and the vehicles are all getting light bars. The pre-race briefing highlighted the challenges of the route, but what was really striking were the volume of race crew and volunteers associated with this race. By a very thin margin, English is the most commonly spoken language, although I received many queries about, and offers to trade my 300mm f/2.8 lens for someone else's camera in Italian. I've held on to my gear in anticipation of some great racing to come and some great shots to be had.
So far, the race organization are the real heroes of this event. Many haven't slept in the last couple days and drive on until the start tomorrow at noon. Once on course, many of them will take on racer's hours sleeping 2-3 hours each night. They are a surprisingly motivated team of extremely passionate individuals. Even two weeks from now when things start to very wrong for many teams, this team will be hard at work shepherding them safely through the 3000+ mile course.
I had a great opportunity to drive to San Diego with Fred Boethling, the
President of RAAM, on the way to pick up the media vehicles. He was kind enough to share the history of the race and some really interesting anecdotes.
The best factoid to come out of this conversation: fewer people have stood atop Everest than have finished this race as a soloist in all the years it's been held! That's a shocker in this world of Ironman sellouts a year in advance, and record trail run attendance even when the top-count is 100 miles.
We look forward to bringing you insights, videos, and commentary from this experienced race crew over the next two weeeks. This race will be a tight event and we look forward to bringing you the latest.
