Mount Falcon 6/16/01

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Spills and Laughs at Mount Falcon
A first-person race summary by women's winner, Brooke Lindquist
Mount Falcon 8M Trail Run - June 16, 2001
By BROOKE LINDQUIST

Those folks up in Evergreen sure do know how to put on a good race! Saturday’s Mt. Falcon trail race was one of the most fun, laid-back, and delightful races I’ve ever run. That’s not to say that I wasn’t gasping for air or sweating buckets; I was a mess! But the organizers and participants shared lots of laughs and had a great time together.

The race started at the Open Space Park off Highway 8 near Morrison. An eight-mile out-and-back course, the “out” was just about all uphill. There were around ninety of us who started out together at 9:00am. To say it was sweltering feels like it’s an understatement, but maybe that’s just me. We wound our way up, up, up the trail, past the castle ruins, to the upper parking lot/turn-around/water-station/it’s-all-downhill-from-here, thank-God mark.

If the “out” was all uphill, it follows that the “back” was all downhill. And what a downhill it was--steep and curvy and rocky and fun! There were a few long stretches where we could really fly. A number of people did fly--right into the ground--and there was plenty of blood at the end of the race to show for it. Fortunately, the race directors had planned ahead for this, and they were quick to pass out maxi-pads to anyone who had encountered the rocky terrain.

All in all, the Mt. Falcon race was a blast. People were light-hearted and open, the course was well-marked and challenging, and the story-swapping at the end left everyone laughing.