Saturday, May 18, 2002 -- Yellow Spring - Capon Valley, WV
Capon Valley 50K Run (iPO Event Id#: 4772)
Photos by Don Parks and Bill Golemon

[Details] [Coverage]
[Overall Results] [Awards]
Pictures: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5] [Set 6] [Set 7] [Set 8] [Set 9]
[Set 10] [Set 11] [Set 12] [Set 13] [Set 14] [Set 15] [Set 16] [Set 17] [Set 18]
(Bill's pics start in Set 16)
[1999 Coverage/Results] [2000 Coverage/Results] [2001 Coverage/Results]

Lending a helping hand in the high water

Two inches of rain the night before the fourth running of the Capon Valley 50K couldn't keep the crowds from tackling the challenging and scenic course. A few drops still fell as the race began, but most of the day was just cool and cloudy. While the stream crossings got treacherous, and the trails were rather muddy in spots, overall the participants were thankful for the mild temperatures.

While you're checking the results, and sorting through hundreds of pics (extra pics thanks to the race director Lynn Goleman's husband Bill), we'll work on getting you more of the story from the day's events. Stay tuned...

Wet and wild, just the way Steve likes it

Old leather boots with nails driven down through the soles are what were needed at this year's Capon Valley 50K trail run over in Capon Springs, West Virginia..., and a pair of swimming goggles and a snorkel would have helped as well as the rain from the night before swelled the many many small creek crossings into wide deep chasms of whitewater. For inclement weather lovers, like I, it was a dream run in the kind of mud that burps and belches when one pulls a foot out of the hole it has quickly been thrown into. My shoes were gone most of the day, buried in mud or water or muddy water that at times was knee high or higher on my 6 foot 2 inch frame, and cold, cold like beer cooler water on my twitching heated muscles. It was not hard to enjoy the beauty of this eastern part of the State, the steep green hills wet with a light mist as the race went on across powerlines that snapped at the runners as they ran underneath, seams of water that bit at the bare legs, rocky slips to test the vertigo system and the groin muscles, inclines, declines, thoughts of delicious barbeque chicken waiting at the finish line. 179* runners is the last number I heard that started the run through the mud leaving sanity in the warmness of the Ruritan building.

Runners peaked ridges with open fields of hayweed and green grass and then ran through dark hollows thick with oak, maple and mock orange, moving ahead on the smiles of the support teams at the stocked aid stations. Aid station #4 had a reading of 47 degrees at noon on a recreational vehicle thermometer, so the support people were probably wishing for warmth also. This was the kind of race that builds character and kinship amongst participants and race support, the kind of race where men and women become mud and water on their way to terrific tasting chicken, the kind of race that makes one want to hug the race director Lynn Goleman because she knows how to make a 31 mile run safe and fun.

You bet I will be back next year, hollarin' and hootin', hoping it is mud and water again. Congratulations to all who competed this year in weather that makes this hillbilly writer/ultrarunner happy to be in the mountains.

* There were 179 registered runners, but only 161 starters.