Discussion: Blaze: The Niagara Escarpment Race

AdventureScience.ca's next adventure starts tomorrow....

20 runners (including many Attack Point athletes)

894 km trail running relay

June 16-20

Follow the action on http://www.adventurescience.ca/blaze

Check out the CBC interview about the science and goals of Blaze by clicking on the updates tab.

Follow live at a link here:
http://adventurescience.ca/blaze/follow-the-team.h...

good luck to both teams.. look like a (very) tough / ( very) fun race

is there a list of places where you will have exchanges? We would like to see you go by.

This just popped up from a Google News Alert for "orienteering":

winnipegs-goeres-runs-the-gamut-48144352.html

Nice Picture! This just confirms that Patrick is, in fact, from Mars.

GHOSlow, they'll be here on Thursday. I'll see if I can get details, since I know that list exists. We'd like to see them too.

Leg 1: Simon (Muscles) leads by 5 minutes over Paul (Mito)
Leg 2: Patrick (Mito) catches Scott and leads by 7min.
Leg 3: Al (Muscles) stretch lead to 25min over Kate.
Leg 4: in progress...

The Spot is on and off, but should be working soon. Blue = Mito, Orange = Muscles
http://adventurescience.ca/blaze/follow-the-team.h...

Thanks Patrick for the update -- Sounds like you had a stellar run earlier today.

GHO slow, etoille and I are all trying to figure out your schedule through the Golden Horseshoe. Do you know the tentative schedule. We would love to come out and see you guys!

...same question re Hilton Falls section/area?

Leg 7: Runners just in, leg 8 headed out at 430am to end the dark zone. Lots of changes in the night, sounds like there was some trouble finding the trail. Hans (Muscles) headed out at 430am sharp, Paul (Mito) at 510am. 40minute lead to Muscles!

Approx times.
Hilton Falls 12-1400 Friday.
1815 Guelph Line P
2045 Top of Sydenham
0000 Chedoke
0-230 Jones Rd, Access Stony Creek P

Bird and I hammered through the trail leading to HopeBay around midnight last night. The trail was very gnarly with few places to open up. A boulder beach, 2x up the escarpment and lots of slippery rocks. We bettered our predicted time by 20 seconds but still were 6 minutes slower than Zoolander and Derek. My new Night Lightning light was essential in the thick forest and overgrown trail. Rain is expected today which make for slow running and then humidity when teams make their way into Hamilton on Friday night.

Way to go! This is exciting...even from a laptop!

Keep the reports coming. Figure out SPOT.
See you Friday

Updates are also being posted here.
http://adventurescience.ca/category/blaze

See you guys at Palgrave Base Camp tomorrow morning. Is there any food or drink the runners are craving? With some notice, I could go to town today. (There is no corner store where we live.)

A few cravings...
Al - lasagna or pasta...carbs..
Wes - something that used to walk.

Here in the country, we often find things walking on our lasagna. That should be doable.

Terrain on the first two legs (yes there is a trail there).

Travellinga calls the rocks running on 'baby heads' but 'chicken heads' would have been preferable. 'nuff said.



Leg#2 runners (Hansel and MrPither)

How are you and your knee holding up?

Wed 1700 UPDATE

Leg 8: Hans (Muscles) and Paul. Jeff (Muscles) rolled into the CP before the end of the dark zone, so Hans waited 13 minutes until 430 to head out. Hans arrives 48 minutes before Paul, the 53 minute lead cut to 48.

Leg 9: Patrick (Mito) and Jack out of Wiarton for the first day leg of Day 2. Another 7 minutes taken back by Mito to cut the lead to 41min.

Leg 10: Martin (Mito) and Kate on a 21.2km leg with nearly 8km road. Martin makes a slim margin over Kate to cut the lead to only 34 minutes.

Leg 11: Mark (Mito) and Scott on the trail. Scott takes 4 minutes back, and stretches the lead to 38min.

Leg 12: David (Mito) and Wes out for 19.5km and Muscles takes another 8 minutes out of Mito - 46min lead!

Leg 13: Robyn and Charlotte on a 23.3k leg with 6.6k road. Mito takes a chunk of time out of Muscles to shrink the lead to only 15minutes! We have a race again!

Thanks for the updates!

Patrick refers to the various legs of the race.
To see these legs go to
http://adventurescience.ca/blaze/images/race_cours...

Into the night of Day 2: 300 UPDATE

Leg 14: Mito Al takes 2 minutes out of Gary, 13 minutes lead.
Leg 15: Bob and Hans on the last day leg, Hans taking back some time for a 25min total lead
Leg 16: Mito Mike/Joany lose time to Jeff/Kate. 51 minutes lead!
Leg 17: Scott and Simon back for Muscles. Waiting on the Mito heavyweights....

More updates at
http://adventurescience.ca/category/blaze/

Leg 17: Martin and Paul just in and claw back 2 minutes. --48min

The course is foggy, wet and hilly.

Leg 18: Dave and Robyn of Mito, muscles Jack/Derek now on the course...
Leg 19: Charlotte and Patrick on a hilly leg.

very inspiring. good luck and keep injuries away

I've procured some lasagna. See you in a few hours!

Leg 18: The last leg of the long night. Jack and Derek have a good leg and stretch the Muscles lead to 58. Still a strong run by Dave and Robyn and looking strong when they came in.
Leg 19: 20km leg, Mito Patrick takes back time over Charlotte to cut the gap to 7 minutes.
Leg 20: Al warming up with some strides and pulls back some time on Gary - 3 minutes back, 2 out of transition...
Leg 21: SuperWes (Muscles) and Bob on the trail in Kolopore Highlands!

MrPither
Thanks for the updates.
Patrick, we want to see the runners as they go through Hamilton. Are you still near the planned schedule?

Zoolander tells me they'll be at Blue Mountain at lunchtime and will do the Devil's Glen section from 4-6 p.m. Not sure how that compares to the plan, although based on the distances, it seems to fit with their projected Hamilton schedule.

What's their ETA at Palgrave THQ?

Not sure yet 'Bent, travellinga is working it out.

At dawn the lead team (Muscles) was 1 minute ahead of the projected schedule but the hills of Beaver Valley and Kolopore Highlands have dropped the pace to about an hour behind schedule. SuperWes ran another strong leg and moved Muscles back out in front by 20-30 minutes and pulled the team in only 20 minutes behind schedule.

Leg 22: Loree Forest to the top of Blue will be next with Jeff (Muscles) against Joany (Mito).

Leg 23: Blue Mtn to Pretty River with Jack (Muscles) and Tarno (Mito)

Leg 24: Pretty River to Devil's Glen with Hans (Muscles) and Patrick (Mito). The trash talking has started.

Yes, Wes had a killer run and pulled out a big lead for Muscles.

Leg 21: Wes and Bob, overall 42' lead to Muscles.
Leg 22: Muscles' Jeff is back with a blazing 65' over 12.7km, we are waiting on Joany...

Zoo wrote me this morning and said that athletes should start arriving here in the late afternoon/early evening.

Glad to hear that Hans is back in the game! And although I am cheering for the older team for obvious reasons, I am proud of SuperWes!

To be within a few ninutes of your projected time after 2 days of running is remarkable. What went into the calculation?

>What went into the calculation?

I examined several running race results on similar terrain. Determined the amount of trail, tough trail and ordinary trail, built in a night aspect, personalized it for a few of the runners and then added in some time for injury and getting lost.

The trail gets a lot better as we continue to move south but that will be balanced by injuries and tired legs. I will post where we expect to be on different stages shortly.

(I am sitting today out to let my knee recover but then I have 50K of running in a 26 hour period on the final day and a bit).

Here is the schedule for Team Mitochondria. Note that Mito is running over an hour behind schedule now.

Leg Start Finish Date Mito Runners
21 9.15 11.15 R Bob
22 11.15 12.45 R Joany
23 12.45 15.00 R Mark
24 15.00 16.30 R Patrick
25 16.30 18.45 R Martin
26 18.45 20.30 R Paul
27 20.30 22.15 R Al Mark
28 22.15 1:00 R Bob David
29 1:00 4:00 F Robyn Joany
30 4:00 6.30 F Martin
31 6.30 8.15 F Patrick
32 8.15 10.15 F Paul
33 10.15 12.15 F Mike
34 12.15 14.15 F Mark
35 14.15 16.3 F Al
36 16.30 18.3 F Martin
37 18.30 21.00 F David
38 21.00 0.15 F Joany Bob
39 0.15 2.45 F Paul Mark
40 2.45 5.30 S Robyn Mike
41 5.30 7 S Patrick
42 7.00 8 S Martin
43 8 10 S Al
44 10 11.3 S David
45 11.3 12.3 S All Runners

Dr. Leanimal is sharpening her thumbs in case any runners need chiro treatments at Palgrave HQ this evening.

You mean she's cracking coconuts with her bare hands for practice.

First Blaze runners arrived here about an hour ago - Kate, Gary and Jeff.

Ah! So jealous! Wish I could have been there. Say hi to all the runners for me Bash!

Slice
You should be there

Leg 23: Tarno and Jack (Muscles) with a fast leg. Jack in 1:34, Tarno 1:46. Stretching the lead to over 1h and Mito gets lapped...

Leg 24: Hans and Patrick on a 15.5k leg, Mito pulls back 15min.

Leg 25: Martin and Simon, both with strong running. Martin cut another 8 minutes out of the lead!

Leg 26: Derek is back in 1:52 minutes for Muscles. Mito is running hard to make the 830 dark zone. David, the kiwi is raring to go, aiming to hit 1.5h for a 20k run! If he makes it, Al or Tarno will head out solo to save an important set of legs!

Leg 27: David got in at 8:35, so Al & Tarno had to go out together on Leg 27. Charlotte had started at 8 p.m. and finished at 10:21, 29 minutes ahead of Tarno and Al.

Leg 28: Wes and Scott are currently running for Muscles. Paul and Bob are running for Mito.

I am trying to combine MrPither's comments with Mike's estimated exchange times. Does this mean that Mito is right on schedule and Muscles is ahead of time?
Is there anything that we can bring that you need?

1) Muscles is exactly on time, and Mito is about 1/2 hr behind Mike's projections.
2) Joany & Mark assure me they are completely set up at Chez Verschinga! Come visit anytime after late afternoon.

Leg assignments have changed a fair bit.

According to Mike's projections, the Blaze runners should take 60 hrs to get to the end of Leg 28. Wes and Scott of Team Muscles just got there at 60 hrs and 1 minute. Clearly, something is wrong with Mike's formula.

Photos from Thursday evening are here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/BarbJCampbell/Blaze?au...#

Friday 530AM UPDATE

Leg 29: Muscles Simon/Jeff put more time into Mito Robyn/Martin. Lead goes from 23 to 48 minutes. Mito arrived at 415, so Mike waited 15min to head out alone. Should be able to make up some time on leg 30.

Leg 30: Mito Mike is on the course, left at 430, Jack/Hans about to finish.

Leg 31: Gary is heading out for Muscles and Patrick waiting for Mike...

This is fun to follow!

7:15 a.m. mini-update
Mike had a great run, passing off to Patrick who just called to say he thinks he'll be done in half an hour (very early), so there is a mad dash to try to get Paul over to CP32 in time!

Derek is running Leg 32 for Muscles now, and Scott will be taking over at CP33 around 9:45.

Mike wasn't able to get Paul to CP32 in time to take over from Patrick, so Patrick just kept going! He didn't find the map that Jack had masking taped to a tree for the next runner, but he just kept running anyway. Mike and Paul are driving to other places where the trail crosses the road in hopes of catching Patrick. If they don't, he'll be running a full marathon - but only carrying food and water for half that distance!

Leg 31: Gary was 1:38 for 19.7 km. We don't have a time for Patrick for Leg 31 because he's still running, but it looks like he was sub 1:30.

Keep those updates coming!!

Best guess of the current time difference is around 1/2 hr, with Muscles leading Mito after 67 hrs of racing.

UPDATE (from frankenjack on Bash's computer) - Patrick just returned and reports that he finished leg 31 in 1:25, did not find the map, but had good verbal instructions from Mike that got him up the Devil's Pulpit. Mike and Paul met him at the top to relieve him.
Paul is now running Leg 32 to Terra Cotta.

Patrick Goeres is a running machine. yesterday he ran a 15.2K section with a 150m climb in the middle and lots of rock in a amazing 65 minutes. yes 65 minutes

Today he gained 12 minutes on his leg and was running so fast we didn't get Paul to the CP in time. Patrick's reward for running fast was and extra 2K that included climbing the Devil's Pulpit in Forks of the Credit. Stone steps straight up the Escarpment. It is so steep you need a rope to pull yourself up. At the top of the hill he handed off to Paul Turbo who is trying to pull Mito closer again.

Teams are racing to Terra Cotta Conservation area and will be at Hilton Falls in the early afternoon. A night time battle in the Hammer (Hamilton) is expected before the expected Saturday noon finish in Niagara.

Mito has juggled our order to make the final push to overtake Muscles by Queenston.

Leg 32: Paul
33: David
34: Mark
35: Al
36: Martin
37: Patrick
38: Bob and/or Paul
39: Robyn and Mike
40: Mark and Martin
41: Patrick
42: Joany
43: Al
44: David
45: ALL

Ok I have tried to put this all together for possible spectators
Last I heard the teams were within one half hour of each other with the leaders (Muscles) on time. We know the expected runners for Mito but not muscles. So here is the plan.
Leg 32: 8:15 10:15 Paul to Terra Cotta
33: 10.15 12.15 David to Limehouse
34: 12.15 14.15 Mark to 6th line
35: 14.15 16.30 Al to 2nd line
36: 16.30 18.30 Martin to Guelph Line
37: 18.30 21.00 Patrick to top of Sydenham
38: 21.00 00.15 Bob and/or Paul to Chedoke
39: 00.15 2.45 Robyn and Mike to Jones road
40: 2.45 5.30 Mark and Martin to Mountain and McLeod
41: 5.30 7:00 Patrick to Ball's falls
42: 7.00 8:00 Joany to Rockway
43: 8.00 10.00 Al to Glendale and Merrit trail
44: 10:00 11.30 David Warner rd and concession 6
45: ALL to Queenstown

So exciting! I presented the website and attackpoint updates to two grade six classes on Smartboards yesterday! They thought it was amazing (although a few of them guessed the Bruce Trail was only 20km long in total!). A bunch of them said they were going to keep following the race online as well. Thanks so much for the updates!

Bash -- thanks for the photos too. Looks like the teams are in great spirits.

The Hamilton fans are eagerly awaiting your arrival!!

At the end of each leg, there is some discussion about juggling runners, so stay tuned for updates during the day. Joany is at the Verschinga Base Camp now, and people will start arriving there during the day.

There is some discussion of stopping the "race" after Leg 44 and running the final leg as a ceremonial run where the teams aren't competing - although they'd still run at a good pace because they're still aiming for the record. (Like the Tour de France.)

LEG 32
Derek came in at 9:25 and Paul came in at 9:48. Team Muscles has a 23-minute lead after almost 70 hrs of racing.

LEG 33
Scott came in earlier than expected! Jeff started Leg 34 at 11:14 a.m. 10-15 minutes after Scott finished.

great scott!

Travel report, no times yet. Racers are moving to Basecamp 4 in Hamilton as we prepare for the night and tomorrow morning.

Should have times for today's legs soon.

1:15 p.m.
The last three Blazers (Scott, Ally, Robyn C.) are leaving Palgrave Base Camp now. Mark phoned 25 minutes ago to say that he was waiting with Al and Charlotte, ready to start Leg 35 for Mito and Muscles respectively.

"Jeff started Leg 34 at 11:14 a.m."
So that means they are an hour ahead of schedule, right?

Leg 34: Mito Al started 8 minutes after Charlotte, and ahead of schedule!

Mr P. ...any chance the SPOT units could go with the runners? I already know where Bash/Bent' and Travelinga live ;)

Way to go Mito on taking over the lead.

I think Mito Al is on Leg 35, isn't he?

Bender, it's premature to give Mito the lead until Al & Charlotte are in!

hmmm... was just going by the update posted on the AdvSci page.

Ah, you are quite right.

For the first time since the first night Team Mitochondria has taken the lead in Blaze. Al has given Mito a 25 minute lead at the Calcium Pits near Milton. Martin and Wes are now racing through Mount Nemo to Guelph Line to hand off to Patrick and Jack.

Unofficial times suggest that Mito has extended their lead to over 35 minutes at Guelph Line.

Teams are starting to pull ahead of the projected pace (a Bruce Trail re-route in Dundas will shave off abourt another 30 minutes of running).

From the adventure science web site.....


Mitochondria maintains a lead

Patrick has handed off to Turbo who will be running the Sydenham leg. Advantage is 40 - 50 minutes over Muscles. Both teams are running the athletes hard to the finish, and trying to beat the pending rain.

Home territory boys. Keep pushing on!

Paul of Mito passed by basecamp on the Bruce a while ago and we are now waiting for Hans to run by. Paul was flying, but did he make the dark zone time at Chedoke??

We have a pair of La Sportiva shoes here that don't belong to us. Superwes?

Good push to Chedoke Turbo!

Mito about 45 minutes ahead at Chedoke.
Robyn and Mike left Jones road at 11:45. Now 3 hours ahead of schedule.

Just got in from cheering on the BLAZE runners! Paul and Hans flew through their home ground...making this all look very easy! Mito had a 50 minute lead at Chedoke. Tarno and partner (sorry..didn't get his name) handed off to Mike and Robin at 11:45 in humid and slippery conditions. Truly amazing!

Simon and Scott take 10-15 minutes off of Tarno and Dave.

Mito's lead then cut to 13 minutes as Wes and Derek outlast Mike and Robyn on a very treacherous (jagged and moss covered rocks, slippery trails) and hilly section into Niagara. My knee is done for the race and I'll sit out the final leg.

Over 3.5 days of racing and the teams are separated by only 13 minutes. Amazing.

There is an article in today's Hamilton's Spectator along with picture of transition at top of Sydenham hill yesterday.
Paul running after transfer from Patrick (in background) with Betty Phillips as a spectator.
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/586581

Who is running these last legs?

Anyone know what's going on now? Are they done by now?

Quick update: Muscles took the lead in the early morning 20+ minutes then lead dropped to 15 then mito got stuck for a 'significant amount of time' 30+ mins at a lift bridge so it appears as though muscles won.

All non injured runners are together running the final 9.5k

60+ minutes at the Allenburg lift bridge

Congrats to everyone....you guys are so inspirational that I went for a 20km trail run yesterday and now I am tired!!

Great fun. Congrats. Too bad about the bridge.

"Congrats to everyone....you guys are so inspirational that I went for a 20km trail run yesterday and now I am tired!!"

If you'd been really inspired you'd have run a 200 km trail run :)

Awesome work all. Inspirational indeed. Cannot wait to see the pictures and hear all the stories. How's the hot tub now, Hammer?!

Here are some more pics
http://picasaweb.google.ca/GHOSLOW/Blaze?feat=dire...

Congratulations, all! What time did the teams finish at Queenston?

The day finished at 1230 in Queenston with a ceremonial group run of the last 10k. Many friends, family and media were there to welcome us to the finish.

More updates, photos, newspaper articles on the way.

Great job ladies and gents! Pretty epic!

3 days, 23 hours and 16 minutes.

previous team relay record: 8 days.

Was the previous team record held by the Highlands Nordic club?

Congrats to everyone involved with the race. It was very exciting to follow.

Sigh... what are we going to do for excitement *this* week?

It was an amazing event I am proud of all the athletes, volunteers, and hosts who made this such a memorable event.
The runners showed courage and perserverance and the last 30 hours of the event were absolutely astounding, as both teams drove hard to maintain the lead, or regain the lead. I consider myself lukcy to have run with and against everyone. Everyone won this race!

exactly. Should have had them play Ally's house.

Check out the movie trailer from last month's Blaze: The Niagara Escarpment Race!

http://adventurescience.ca/category/blaze/

Does that mean there is going to be a movie? :)

The trailer has got me excited!

Coverage of the race and the science behind the race will air on Daily Planet on Discovery Channel at 7pm and 11pm eastern time this evening (Canadian coverage only I believe).

Good little piece! Check it out at 11pm if you didn't catch it. Runs for about 5 min, fairly early in the show.