David Roche? I bet Kevin Beck is hate-watching the live updates right now.
Now that’s funny. Roche was 26 up on Carpenter’s splits at Winfield & 18 up at HP inbound. The course changed a bit in 2012 in that section, but a Carpenter had an outstanding second half in 2005. Even though he’s ahead of it now, safe bet is that the course record survives.
I heard today's course is harder than the one matt Carpenter set the course record on, so if that's true it balances it out.
Maybe/kinda/sorta. At the bottom of Hope pass on the S side the course used to run the dirt/jeep road (390) about 3 miles out to the Winfield aid station/halfway turnaround point. In more recent years the Colorado Trail was re-routed avoiding 390, and by all accounts it's slower resulting in about 6 miles of slower course.
However, several years back I discussed with a LT100 longtimer who explained in fact the year after Carpenter ran a "Blackhawk down" incident occurred basically right on a section of trail closer to Leadville they used to use for the race. The military closed the down the adjacent area during the cleanup (re: national security) and about 3 miles of trail that used to be the course was re-routed over to a nearby dirt/jeep road, making that section faster than when Carpenter ran it. Being an out/back course, that's also 6 miles.
So although the courses are slightly different, in the big picture it might be closer to a wash.
I would also point out most 💯 courses have changed slightly/evolved over the years due to such circumstances - rebuilt trails, re-routes to avoid land use/property owner issues, and the like. It is what it is and nobody really cares, at least not to those actually competing. If you want to break the course record you have to do it - or go home devastated.
David Roche? I bet Kevin Beck is hate-watching the live updates right now.
Now that’s funny. Roche was 26 up on Carpenter’s splits at Winfield & 18 up at HP inbound. The course changed a bit in 2012 in that section, but a Carpenter had an outstanding second half in 2005. Even though he’s ahead of it now, safe bet is that the course record survives.
^^^This. Quite a few have been up on the record halfway and/or a little farther over the years, but obviously none have carried it all the way to the finish. Roche is pretty solid but we'll see how things play out.
I heard today's course is harder than the one matt Carpenter set the course record on, so if that's true it balances it out.
I’ve been on both. And if I had to choose between racing the marginally harder course in ultraflys or Tecton 2.5s vs. running the marginally easier course in a pair of 2005 clodhoppers, I’m running the extra half mile in ultraflys.
Now that’s funny. Roche was 26 up on Carpenter’s splits at Winfield & 18 up at HP inbound. The course changed a bit in 2012 in that section, but a Carpenter had an outstanding second half in 2005. Even though he’s ahead of it now, safe bet is that the course record survives.
^^^This. Quite a few have been up on the record halfway and/or a little farther over the years, but obviously none have carried it all the way to the finish. Roche is pretty solid but we'll see how things play out.
David Roche? I bet Kevin Beck is hate-watching the live updates right now.
Now that’s funny. Roche was 26 up on Carpenter’s splits at Winfield & 18 up at HP inbound. The course changed a bit in 2012 in that section, but a Carpenter had an outstanding second half in 2005. Even though he’s ahead of it now, safe bet is that the course record survives.
Be interesting to see how this turns out. I find Roche to be rather annoying as a coach/cheerleader, but he's obviously a very talented runner. On the other hand, I've always thought of Matt Carpenter as a superlative mountain runner, and not just talented. Intriguing second half coming up.
^^^This. Quite a few have been up on the record halfway and/or a little farther over the years, but obviously none have carried it all the way to the finish. Roche is pretty solid but we'll see how things play out.
He’s behind pace at the last 56m split.
He is still 12 minutes up on Carpenter at TL in. But he was 26 up on Carpenter at Winfield. He lost about a minute a mile on Carpenter in that stretch.