Hot! Hot! Hot! - The 10:00am Start

By Greg Minter

For those familiar with the start of Badwater, the Funeral Mountains offer shade for both the 6:00 am and 8:00 am starters, but not for the final wave. In addition, the earlier cloud cover has almost completely dissipated, replaced by a painful, white sun.

Starting temps for the third group were 110f+. Among the 10:00 starters were last year's overall winner Pam Reed, veteran Jay Birmingham, Curt Maples, Eberhard Frixe, Luis Escobar, Rudy Afanador, and many of the other "fleet of feet" took off precisely at 10:00 for Furnace Creek.

At this point all racers are on the course, and many of the first runners have passed through Furnace Creek.