AdventureCORPS Presents the
2002 Badwater Ultramarathon

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Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon
8th Update, 07:07, July 26, 2002

All runners are off the course and final results are pasted below and on the web. Slideshows of the final finishers and the Post-Race Get-Together are also now online.

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon, Overnight Finishers and Lone Pine Update
7th Update, 2002 live webcast 00:01, July 25, 2002

With a red (due to the fires in the Sequioa) full moon out, the webcast staff, Bruce (we have adopted Bruce as a web cast staff), Matt and Anurang visted the finish line around 1 AM while Scott manned the HQ with Mary. There were a dozen riders on the Portal Road going up and down - a series of blinking runners. We particiapted in finish line ceremonies and medeal presentations of four runners between 1 and 2 AM this morning. Coming down the hill again a stream of runners make the final push up the hill.

Back down here in Lone Pine, there was a constant stream of runners coming in overnight passing on through towards the Portals and the finish.

This morning we recieved a report from the finish line of finishes of the runners that made it to the portals and the timesplits/results pages have been updated.

Here are some stats as of now:

We also uploaded a bunch of pictures from last night at the finish line so be sure to check them out.

Scott, Matt and Anurang

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon, First Ten Finishers
6th Update, 2002 live webcast 00:01, July 25, 2002

As of this update we have 10 finishers at the Portal. Here is a breakdown of the finishers and times.

Womens Top Finishers

  1. Pam Reed 27:56:47
  2. Linda McFadden 36:50:17
  3. Monica Scholz 38:33:30
  4. Lisa Smith 40:28:22

Mens Top Finishers

  1. Darren Worts 32:38:57
  2. Dave Hannaford 33:16:46
  3. Peter Mueller 34:52:15
  4. Mark Johnson 36:32:00
  5. Jan Ryerse 40:45:18
  6. Marshall Ulrich 40:48:48

Overall Top Finishers

  1. Pam Reed 27:56:47
  2. Darren Worts 32:38:57
  3. Dave Hannaford 33:16:46

For more details, please check the timesplits on the web site. We also have more slide shows of the finishies for your viewing pleasure.

Graveyard Shift

Web Cast Central

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon, Female and anticipated Overall Winner
5th Update, 2002 live webcast 11:09 HRS, July 24, 2002

Records are meant to be broken but this one was shattered! Pam Reed, of Tuson, AZ, finishing at 9:56:47 AM in 27:56:47 hours, 1:52:00 faster than the last womens record holder Irina Reutovich of Russia. This was Pam's rookie attempt to the Badwater Ultramarathon. Pam is 41 years old.

According to the the mellow and happy crew chief Chuck Giles, a former Badwater official, she never once sat down or changed shoes during the race. She did not even discover she was in the overall lead until 19 miles from the finish this morning near Lone Pine. At the finish she held a lead of 2:45 over the lead man.

With tears in her eyes Pam sat down for the first time since she started and humbly stated "She never imagined she could do something like this". I don't think anyone watching the race did either. She credited her crew for her consistent performance. What an amazing feat!

Congratulations Pam and the wonderful crew!

Please checkout couple of new slide shows of the first finish!

The race is not over yet by any means and there are still more than 70 racers out there. Darren Worts is over an hour head of Dave Hannaford and Peter Mueller as of the Darwin time station, expected.

So stay tuned!

Anurang Revri

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon
4th Update 2002 live webcast 5:25 HRS, July 24, 2002

Exciting, historic news! The fastest overall mean, John Quinn and Achim Heukemes of the 10am group, have both dropped out of the race on their way into Panamint. Thus, Pam Reed, the lead woman (and, like all the women, a 6am starter) is in THE OVERALL LEAD! Reed reached Panamint, at mile 71, with an elapsed time of 13:28, followed by Lisa Smith in 15:46. Read on for a summary of the top seven overall, as of Panamint:

The Race Director, Chris Kostman, continued up the course beyond Panamint after the top ten passed through, to deliver the exciting and perhaps unpredictable news to the frontrunners. Along the way, he learned that Lisa Smith went down for a 90 minute sleep, while Linda McFadden charged on up the course behind her and then passed Smith, thus moving into second place among the women. Further up the course, Pam Reed was absolutely flying down the course, bearing down on the vague outline of the Sierra Nevada in the not so distant distance. Kostman caught her only six miles outside of Lone Pine around 0430, thus putting her 30 or more miles ahead of Mark Johnson of the 6am group. She seems almost assured of winning overall and breaking the women's course record of 29:48:27, set by Irina Reutovich of Russia during the 2000 Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon. Of course, the 13 mile climb up Whitney Portal Road, plus a thick soup of smoke from nearby forest fires, will be among the many challenges between her and her potential bright spot in the history books. We now await Pam's arrival through Lone Pine. Stay tuned!

Also, we've just finished uploading four more slideshows from Tuesday afternoon and evening. Check them out!

NOTE: Pam Reed just passed through the Lone Pine time station at 0622, Wednesday, July 25!

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon
3rd Update 2002 live webcast 1:20 HRS, July 24, 2002

Good Morning from the Eastern Sierras:

The live webcast is now set up in Lone Pine and has posted the latest time splits and web pics for your viewing pleasure.

Temperatures were reported to be around 125 degrees at the Devil's Golf Course and had dropped to around 100 degrees by 8pm last night at Panamint. To add to the heat and wind we were greeted by heavy smoke that has filled the air from Keeler to the top of Mount Whitney.

From Matt: It's after midnight here and we're into our second day. Tuesday was an extremely busy day with three packed starts and runners making progress from the start at Badwater past Panamint Springs. Be sure to visit the webcast and check out our growing collection of over 500 images. The race is off to a tremendous start and it's been wonderful to see Chris put on another successful event. We'll be up pretty much all night long uploading images and additional information. Please bear with us while we endure our dial-up connection, we're keeping the phone line busy, baby!

Mental Notes On the Road by Anurang: I rode from Furnace Creek to Stove Pipe Wells and the temps were around 121. Around 3-4 PM there were over two dozen runners on the road and the heat was visible but most runners looked comfortable. There was a large gathering of support vehicles at Stove Pipe, more heat that seemed to get less as I drove up Townes Pass. The runners spread out to the top of the pass. There was only one runner—Pam Reed on the other side of the Pass. Dinner with Al, Chris and other staff at Panamint Spring with a beautiful moon rise of the Panamint range. At this point we saw headlights coming down Townes. When I left Panamint for Lone Pine around 10:30 PM, there were three runners that had come through: Pam Reed, Lisa Smith and Mark Johnson. I saw Pam again in the dark near Father Crowley's point. Stopped briefly to say hi to the Darwin crew and enjoyed the view of the full moon through a telescope they had set up. It was a hazy, smoky drive to Lone Pine from there due to some fires in Sequoia in the Western Sierras.

Thanks for watching everyone!

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon
2nd Update 2002 live webcast 15:50 HRS, July 23, 2002

Dear Web Cast Viewers:

As of this webcast, all runners have passed through Furnace Creek. Here are the unofficial elapsed times:

Fastest 3 male times are

Fastest 3 female times are

Please check out more slide shows of your loved ones from the 6, 8, and 10am starts and runners toughing it between Badwater and Furnace Creek.

Check this out!! New Badwater desktop background image created by Matt Frederick can be downloaded for free at

http://www.badwaterultra.com/2002webcast/media/badwater_desktop001.jpg

PLEASE NOTE: Webcast central headquarters is moving to next location in Lone Pine and will be collecting more stories, pictures and race split times along the way. We will be updating the web site late tonight.

Scott, Matt and Anurang and the entire Badwater Staff

Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon
1st Update 2002 live webcast, Tuesday, July 23, 10:16am

Greetings from sunny, mildly warm Death Valley everybody:

The pre race festivities kicked off yesterday in Furnace Creek. The highlight of the event being the induction of Al Arnold, the first person to do the course in 1977, into the Sun Precautions Badwater Ultra Marathon Hall of Fame. It was a moving ceremony brining a few tears (behind his cool shades of course). You can read more about Al on the Badwater website. The event was well attended by an audience of 79 racers, a few hundred crew members, press and the support staff.

Nearly 20 riders have now passed through Furnace Creek and it's heating up...

Coming up in the next couple of hours, we will be updating the time splits, adding more pictures and some videos by Matt.

Stay Tuned!

Anurang Revri