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Bad Water Ultramarathon

PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:53 am
by BallaratBob
Running on the Sun :sun:
This is a documentary about the run from Bad Water to Whitney Portal. Actually at one time the event continued to the top of Mount Whitney, but that is no longer the case since the Park Service had some issues with that. I'm no admirer of people who engage in this type of event, but it is interesting that such an event even exists. On YouTube this video can be watched in segments beginning with the segment embedded below.
LINK: http://youtu.be/wO8brbHpJUY
ALT LINK: http://youtu.be/aiaWhJrMROo
Forty runners compete in the most grueling race on earth, the Badwater. The film documents the trials and tribulations of these athletes as they run 135 miles through Death Valley in July and explores the motivations behind this seemingly masochistic contest. A celebration of the perseverance of the human will beyond the limits of the human body.


Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:14 pm
by CoolChick
1999 Badwater Ultramarathon: Running on the Sun Trailer :roll2:
Not sure what the point is. After a certain point you're not doing your body any good. It's probably even the case that if you overdo it that you are doing yourself harm. These people aren't impressing me even a little bit and what they are doing is self-destructive, but as long as they aren't hurting anyone else then so be it. As for people who participate in well-planned fitness programs, I have nothing but the utmost respect for them!

Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:11 pm
by tronagirl
Death Valley puts brakes on running, bike races :sun:
It looks like this "running on the sun" stuff is about to come to an end. No big loss as far as I'm concerned. I drove through to Beatty one year while the event was going on and I had to slow way down a few times because of people jogging on either side of Townes Pass. The support vehicles were pretty annoying too. Some of those jerks have real attitudes too. It's like they're entitled to the road just because they want to run all day and all night. I can put up with fitness freaks, but extremists can go to hell as far as I'm concerned!
:roll2:
Next year, for the first time in 27 years, runners won’t be able to tackle the Badwater 135. Death Valley National Park recently put a moratorium on foot and cycling races through the desert hot spot 200 miles east of Los Angeles while they study ways to make the events safer.

LINK: http://seattletimes.com/html/outdoors/2022520189_deathvalleyracexml.html

Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:31 am
by mrfish
More info here:
http://www.nps.gov/deva/parkmgmt/upload/Public-Response-for-Sporting-Events-Dec-2013.pdf
Other people are discussing this topic in the Death Valley News thread in the Trona and Death Valley section of this forum.
:angel:
I have mixed feelings on this issue. I won't miss any of these big events, but it seems unnecessary at this point to start eliminating events for no apparent reason. Park officials claim that they are concerned about safety, but this doesn't quite square with reality. I think there's an agenda and that safety is just an excuse. That's how public officials do things. They always use public safety as an excuse to do whatever it is they really want to do. It's a stupid game and it's already gotten really old!!!!
:curse:

Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 9:27 am
by pcslim
The Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley in the USA :cool2:
They say Bad Water is the closest thing to hell on Earth! The heat even breaks a thermometer in this video. Lots of bits of Radiohead songs included for some reason in this video.

Re: Bad Water Ultramarathon

PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:13 am
by dustdevil
If they permanently eliminate the Bad Water event from the yearly calendar of events in Death Valley, I won't miss it. Then again I've only actually observed someone participating in the event a couple times over the years and so I'm not likely to notice it one way or the other. Just don't give a crap pretty much sums up the way I feel!

Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:40 am
by desertrat
Ultra runners frustrated by Badwater race's move away from Death Valley :roll2:
More info on the moratorium placed on race events within DVNP.
They called it "the toughest foot race in the world." And not too many people argued. But this summer, the race from the depths of Death Valley to the shoulders of Mt. Whitney has been moved, while the National Park Service conducts a "safety assessment" of the run and other athletic events.

The alternate race course actually sounds more challenging than the original!
With a permit for the July 21 race impossible to obtain this year, Kostman's new version of the race will still cover 135 miles, but now starting in Lone Pine, finishing at Whitney Portal and requiring long jaunts to the west (Horseshoe Meadows, elevation 9,900 feet) and east (Cerro Gordo ghost town, elevation 8,153.)

The race also gets centralized in Lone Pine which is probably a good idea from a logistics standpoint.
LINK: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-badwater-20140202,0,7299540.story#axzz2sBQ4Tm00

Re: Free the Internet

PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:42 am
by cactuspete
desertrat: Wow! That's an amazing course. I think you're correct in saying that it's likely to be harder than the original course. Not only is there considerable elevation gain, but the altitude could be an issue too. It'll be a great event for Lone Pine!

Re: Running on the Sun

PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 9:31 am
by panamint_patty
desertrat & cactuspete: That is a tough course! I'd say that except for the heat that it's tougher than the original course. The roads up to Cerro Gordo and Horseshoe Meadows are pretty steep. Probably hard going up or down. I bet fewer people finish this course than would finish the regular course.

Re: Bad Water Ultramarathon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:46 pm
by BallaratBob
As the originator of this thread I went ahead and changed the name of this thread from Running on the Sun to Bad Water Ultramarathon since it seems like that makes more sense. Of course, it now looks like it should be renamed again to Lone Pine Ultramarathon, but that might be confusing.
:shrug:
It's kind of neat the way you can change the name of a thread if you're the person who started the thread!
:thumb: