Nephew Bags 9th Win at 30k Escarpment Trail Race

Ben Nephew kept up his winning ways on the mountainous 30k Escarpment Trail Run with nearly 10k of elevation change from Windham to North Lake in Haines Falls, NY . That is a ton of climb for a 30k distance. Read Ben's report below.

ESCARPMENT 30k 2009


I returned to the U.S. about a week before this year’s Escarpment race, which is usually my main focus for the summer. I would like to think that this race would be my favorite in spite of the fact that I’ve won it 8 times, as it is a spectacular trail, but I’m sure winning has some effect on my perception of the trail. Although this was my 10th year on the course, it was a surprisingly unique race.

I tried to convince Steph that I didn’t care if I won, but she wasn’t buying my story. While she had a point, I wasn’t really sure how recovered I was from my 42 mile race in France, and all the hiking we did after the race. If I lost the race, I surely would not regret going to France; it was a tremendous opportunity, and an incredible vacation.

As we lined up for the race, only three people stepped forward when the race director asked for runners who were shooting for a sub 3 hour time. One of them was Dave Vona, who reminded me of the hellish duel we had at the one and only HERC open, the hardest short trail race I’ve ever done. As soon as we were all off, into the water we went. It had been an extremely wet spring (the most ran in 60 years), and I had never seen the trail so muddy. My shoes were instantly soaked as I led up the first climb to Windham. About 15 minutes into the first climb, Mike Dixon blew by me. I was climbing pretty well, but my stomach still felt full from breakfast, and I couldn’t manage to match his pace. He soon disappeared into the trees, and I was left to test my dedication running my own race.

I definitely thought there was a possibility that the race was over due to how strong Mike was on that first climb, and that made me a bit sad. Although my streak was dead, the 2009 race was my opportunity to finally earn the most Escarpment wins, beating Rich Fargo’s 8. My attitude didn’t improve much when a hiker informed me that I was 1:30 behind Mike about 30 minutes into the race! I new Mike wasn’t as strong on the downhills, so I decided that I was going to have to take some risks after the first summit. Despite the slippery conditions, my trusty 280’s let me attack the first downhill. It was too early in the race to be going all out, but I was trying my best to gain some time back, safely, kind of.

I was surprised to spot Mike not long after the first steep downhill. He definitely picked up the pace when I pulled in back, and I waited for a technical section to pass him. I was not surprised to see that Greg Hammett had also caught up with us, as he can run down with just about anybody. At this point in the race, the top three were all wearing 280’s! Mike stayed with us for a while over some difficult sections of trail, and then Greg and I pulled away heading to the big climb up Blackhead.

While my race plan was to try and focus more on the last third of the course and avoid the sufferfest that I usually put myself through, I was concerned that I would have difficultly pulling away from Greg over the faster downhills towards the end. Part of me thought it might be a good idea to try and drop him on Blackhead after all my recent hiking in the similarly-steep Alps. I ended up compromising by hiking up hard enough to make sure Greg was working, but not trying to decide the race right there. We spent most of the climb going up a small stream cascading off the mountain.

After I missed a turn at the top of the descent, Greg led the rest of the way down the mountain. I focused on running as efficiently as possible until the last climb up to Stoppel point. Since I typically train alone and have run by myself at the previous last 9 Escarpments, it was nice to actually run with someone else. Greg and I actually spent much of the descents talking. Strangely, there wasn’t much conversation going on as we climbed Blackhead.

As we passed Dutcher’s Notch to begin the grind up to Stoppel, I passed Greg and soon started to pull away, despite shoes so full of water they felt like trainers. I held a solid pace all they way to the top, and felt ready to push the last 4.5 miles to the finish. I noticed that I was about 11 minutes behind my course record pace at this point, but it was not going to be fast day with all the water.

With my healthy fear of Greg’s downhill ability as motivation, I hammered my way down to the finish. I took a good fall at top speed, avoiding most of the sharper rocks, and quickly got back on pace. Despite the greasy rock ledges that necessitated much more caution than usual, I completed this last section as fast as I did when I set the course record on a perfect cool, dry day. The final results are not posted, but I ran a 2:56 to get my 9th win in ten years. Greg ran a strong second and just missed breaking three hours with a 3:01, and Dave Vona was close behind in 3rd. Mike Dixon backed off after a couple of ankle rolls, but still managed to hold on to 4th.

It’s becoming a tradition for most of Steph’s family to meet me at finish for a picnic at North Lake, which is always a great way to end a race. I don’t know if Gavin really cared that his Dad won or not, but my new Escarpment goal is to keep winning until he is old enough to run it. With the way he ran up the French Alps, he’ll probably be faster than me by the time he is 12!