SATISFY

Race Report: Kodiak 100

SATISFY Pro Athlete @woah_max took third overall at the Kodiak 100 this weekend in 18:15:45. The race loops the whole of Big Bear Valley in California’s San Bernardino Mountains: nearly 16,000 feet of climbing, with much of the distance above 7,000 feet.

Kodiak started at 1 p.m. Friday, and with more than twelve hours between sunset and sunrise, the sharp end of the field raced most of it by headlamp. The route picked up the Pacific Crest Trail through Holcomb Valley, then dropped into high desert, where pines give way to Joshua trees. Sugarloaf came late, and Max crested the roof of the course, almost 10,000 feet up, in the middle of the night.

His wife crewed, and for the first time in his career, so did his sister. At Kodiak, that meant hitching shuttles out to a few remote stations and a half-mile hike each way into Sugarloaf, in the dark, after the aid station moved to protect a sensitive species.

Max hustled up the final climb to Snow Summit, then down Going Green to the Village a little after seven on Saturday morning. Big Bear, big heart: he crossed the line already celebrating the two runners ahead of him. “I’m so happy for Cody and Alex.”

The podium doesn’t show how far Max’s race strayed from the plan. Whole stretches went to damage control and plain discomfort, hauling burdens through the night. Yet more proof of perseverance found in the unglamorous truths of a hundred miles.

Third place punches his ticket to next year’s UTMB, so it seems the family business is headed the long way around Mont Blanc. Congratulations, and see you in Chamonix, Max!