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VOTE for ME PLEEEEASE

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Marcus Barton

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Whelp, I’ve gone and done it.  I’ve made the short list for the 2017 Blogger Awards at RunUltra.  However, I need YOUR help to make it to the finals.  Will you PLEASE vote for me?  Of course, you could use the 2.21 minutes it would take you to vote for me in some sort of other valuable way like pondering why you’re coffee smells funny, acting like you’re actually working like your boss thinks you are or, better yet, picking your nose.  Aww, come on.  Help a fellow runner out and vote.  Please?

 

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Filed under: Fun Stuff | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

XTERRA Charlottesville but not XTERRA Charlottesville

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Marcus Barton

The other day a race popped up on the XTERRA race calendar for 2017 that may look familiar to some, called XTERRA Charlottesville, but the race on the 2017 calendar is NOT the race you may know from years past.  For those that know it and may have had an opportunity to race it would recall it’s technical bike and run course, strewn with rock gardens, creek crossings and steep, heart pounding climbs.  However, that’s not the race coming up in 2017.  The only thing in common between the two is the name.

XTERRA Charlottesville 2017 will be at a completely new venue: The Miller School of Albermarle.

Back in November of last year, I was in contact with Kate Lucas and as part of the conversation, I mentioned traveling for work to places like Virgina Tech and Richmond.  She mentioned that there was interest in having an XTERRA at the Miller School.  One thing led to another and next thing I know I’m pulling up in front of the school for a pre-ride.  She explained that when I got there, I’d know it because I’d swear I was at Hogwarts.  She wasn’t kidding.

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This place looked like something straight out of a wizards movie, but instead, it’s one of the nations top-ranked boarding schools.  I hooked up with Andy Guptill, Team Director and Head Coach of the Endurance Team and he gave me a quick overview of the trails and sent me on my way.

Not long after entering the trailhead I still felt like I was in some movie and riding through the spooky forest, but on fast flowy trails.  I had a blast and the whole time I was thinking that this would make a great XTERRA course.

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After my pre ride of the trails, I met back up with Andy Guptill and he gave me a tour of the school bike shop while Continue reading →

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SwimRun in North Cackylacky USA

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Marcus Barton

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this..” was the only quote that came to mind going into the SwimRun NC race.  Despite my best efforts to be prepared, with previewing the course, training pretty consistent and everything else I could do, it only took a sprinkling of real life to get in the way and attempt to derail things.  Life can be funny that way, throwing you curve balls and all.  Heck, sometimes it can be downright cruel.

Right after the SwimRun VA race in Richmond, VA, I headed home to be with Mom as she went into surgery.  I won’t go into too much detail, but I HAD to be there, because it’s family.  You know how that goes.  Even though sleeping in a hospital chair off and on over the next 10 days (not to mention all the driving) and the stress of worry put up a huge brick wall approaching the final days before the race, I don’t regret it for a millisecond.  Quality time was spent with all of my family, and frankly, sometimes that has to take a precedence over everything else.

So, as we all gathered at the Green Heron Ale House for the race briefing, the butterflies began to start.  There was nothing I could do now but give it my best shot.

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SwimRunNC, if you read their website, was the brainchild of Jan Kriska and Jeff Beckelhimer.  Although this is true, Herbert Krabel had his paws in on it, too.  With those three minds together

Continue reading →

Filed under: Race Reports, Racing, SwimRun | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

SwimRun Connects Nature to the Concrete Jungle

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Marcus Barton

One of the primary premises behind the sport of swimrun is connecting the athletes with nature.  If you ask Michael Lemmel, race director of OtillO, he’ll be quick to tell you that it’s about the athletes moving through nature and becoming one with it.  I’d have to agree with him.

So, when it comes to having a swimrun race, most folks wouldn’t think of having one right in the middle of a large city like Richmond and if I hadn’t raced XTERRAs in Richmond before, I would probably have thought the same thing.  When I stumbled across that there would be the SwimRunVA race held on some of the same trails of the XTERRA, it took me all of about 2 seconds to make a decision.  I had to do this race.

I reached out to Jim Fisher, local Richmond athlete and an XTERRA friend of mine to see if he was interested in teaming up for the race.  Being an avid racer and lover of adventure, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.  As the race approached, I received bad news that Jim tore some of those important tendons around his knee and would need surgery.  Of course, this knocked him out of the race, for sure.  After some further searching and pleading with folks on social media for someone as crazy as us, Keith Schumann, another XTERRA athlete stepped up.  With zero time training together we found ourselves at the start line before you knew it.

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The race course looks a little something like this:

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I’ll spare you the turn-by-turn details, but it was 6 separate swims and 7 runs totaling 3.37 miles of swimming and 15 miles of running.  We started the race at Continue reading →

Filed under: Race Reports, Racing | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

I’ll Tumble For Ya in the Woods–XTERRA Whitewater

Posted on July 14, 2016 by Marcus Barton

It was slated to be a hot one and with the torrential downpour the night before, it was also a slick one.  Hot.  Steamy.  Slippery.  Take those ingredients and mix it with a hard course and you have yourself one tough-as-nails race.

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Photo by Deb Dandro

Showing up race morning, not only had it rained, but the winds had blown everything out of whack.  Cones were strewn, transition had taken a beating and pop-up tents were completely missing.  The folks at the Whitewater Center had their work cut out for them.  They quickly got things squared away and before you knew it, transition was beginning to fill up.

prerace
Photo by Deb Dandro

I knew that Caleb and Dwayne would give me a run for my money to get on top of the podium, with Dwayne being favored for the win.  My only chance was my intimate knowledge of the trails, knowing just about every root and rock out there.  With that said, we saw Continue reading →

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Adapt and Overcome – USAT OffRoad National Championships

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Marcus Barton

One of the beauties of racing an XTERRA race is the fact that anything can change on a moments notice.  The majority of XTERRA racers just go with the flow and make the most of it while citing it as a fun aspect of this sport.  The same goes for the majority of XTERRA race directors.  Case in point:

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I couldn’t have put it better myself.  More about the course changes in a bit.

Before the rains, the course was in beautiful shape.  Racers began showing up about mid-week in order to get some time on the course.  I had the opportunity and managed to snap a few photos in the process.

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As you can see it’s a fairly rocky course with loose pea-sized gravel over Continue reading →

Filed under: Race Reports, Racing, Triathlon | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Adapt and Overcome – USAT OffRoad National Championships

Hulk Got Some Upgrades XTERRA Myrtle Beach

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Marcus Barton

One of the beauties that makes XTERRA so much fun is the change.  How boring would it be to go do that same road triathlon, with the same boring course, that never, ever changed? Again.  And again. And again.  One thing that keeps me coming back to XTERRA, year after year, is the fact that some races are constantly evolving.  Take XTERRA Myrtle Beach for example.  The first year it was held, the swim course was a rectangular course in the intercostal waterway.  This meant that if the tide was on the move, you’d be fighting it on one of the sides of that rectangle.

RMM
Rear from left: Danny Pagan, Pete Dizon, Ornela Vazquez Rivera, Jim Dandro
Front from left: Caleb Baity, Marcus Barton

The next year it was a one-way swim.  Last year, I raced Myrtle Beach for the first time and I thought the trails were a blast.  I wrote about them last year, so I won’t rehash that over again, but the run was Continue reading →

Filed under: Race Reports, Racing, Triathlon | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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