07 16 1998 to07 18 1998HI TEC BADWATER/WHITNEY RACE XI 1998 HELL AT BOTH ENDS THIS YEAR"I WON'T EVER COME BACK TO THIS PLACE I CALLTERRIBLE WATER"- SAYS GABRIEL FLORES     The race was noeasier this year than any years in the past. El Nino kept things coolerseveral months longer but then seemed to make up for it in the remaining fewdays before the start of the race. The pre race clinics were disappointinglytoo "cool" over Memorial Day weekend when it barely got to over100 degrees.It warmed up to 113 degrees on the 4th of July weekend. I used a Kestrel2000 wind/temperature gauge for many readings. It was 92 degrees at thestart at Badwater, 282 feet below sea level, at 0600 on Thursday 07 16 1998.By mid afternoon the same day, it was 127 degrees (official). The next day,Friday, there was an all time record of 129 degrees (official) for that sameday as far back as records goes for Death Valley National Park (formerlyDeath Valley National Monument). By Saturday the temperature rose to 131degrees, according to ABC Network, while the race was still in progress. TheDVNP west boundary is at about the 87 mile mark. So there was hell at thebeginning and it continued and existed at the end. Air temperatures atWhitney Portals at 8 300 feet elevation were unusually warm and on a testhike to Trail Camp at 12 000 feet on Sunday 07 12 1998 it was 75 degrees inspite of the overwhelming amount of snow coverage above 11 300 feet.      This was theeleventh running of Hi Tec's race. It used to start at 6:00 P.M. and for thelast two years the start has been at 6:00 A.M. The extreme runners andadventurers wanted to test themselves in more rigorous conditions therebyexposing themselves to more heat in Death Valley. This is patterned afterRichard Benyo and Tom Crawford of the "Death Valley 300" fame.They wentfrom "fire to ice and back to fire" doing the double crossing.Theseadventure seekers had originally wanted to create a run (not a race) fromBadwater to Whitney and got 150 runners interested. They backed off becauseof liability when the athletes began wondering where the day care centers,ATM booths and hitching posts were. About that time Hi Tec and Adrian Cranegot together to test the course using a shoe entitled the "Badwater146"representing the mileage from Badwater to the top of Mt. Whitney at 14 496feet elevation. In those days Adrian Crane and Tom Possert had somechallenging duels. More runners were invited in later years.     Denise Jones, who isalso a cosmetologist, gave several foot care clinics before the race andpersonally treated most of those with significant blisters. Her effortscontributed significantly to the success of many who buckled andfinished.         The average age ofthe 29 runners was 47.2 years. There was no appreciable wind this year andthere were no clouds and no precipitation from Death Valley to the Sierra

during the event. My motto is that "the course is always ready"and "get outof the Valley." Eric Clifton did some wind sprints back and forth atthestart line. The others shuffled around getting their pictures taken and someformed a prayer circle. In less than a minute from taking the obligatorygroup picture at the Badwater sign, the 29 starters lined up on the highwayand a ten second count down was done by Matt Frederick, Hi Tec Sports RaceDirector. Then he said "go." Eric Clifton responded the mostvigorously andbuilt a 2.5 mile lead at one point over Marshall Ulrich, veteran of sevenprevious Badwaters. Marshall has the P.M. start course record of 26:18.Dehydration took its toll on Eric and the gap decreased until Marshallfinally overtook Eric in Panamint Valley about 70 miles and 12 hours later.A German journalist who was following Helmut Linzbichler, from Austria,witnessed a friendly exchange of leads. Eric called it quits at 72 miles atPanamint Springs Resort. He made it 93 miles last year. Both years he hadrun at Western States a few weeks earlier, however, the previous year he wasalso getting over a motorcycle accident and leginjuries.            Behind them wereGabriel Flores and Carlos Banderas, who are more familiar with the trailultras in Southern California. Neither one had ever been even close to DeathValley nor had Gabriel never been in temperatures hotter than 105 degrees.Actually, they seemed to show up "cold" as far as knowledge of thecourseand environment is concerned. Either that or they were "sandbaggingit.” Mywife, Denise, First Lady of Badwater, spent at least an hour with them theday before the race briefing them on race technique and strategy. Theircoach had them drink Pedialyte and Ensure and eat bananas and peanut buttersandwiches during the race. In the race, they both changed leads severaltimes after they passed Marshall at around 85 95 miles. Marshall wondered tohimself "who are these guys" and finally told his crew to"cut them loose."Neither one knew that the last 13 miles up the Whitney Portal Road involveda 4 600 foot climb. Gabriel informed the media and by standers "I amnotever coming back to this place!" I call Badwater "Terrible Water!" Hecollapsed shortly after crossing the finish line in a day time start recordtime of 28:09. A mile from the finish, Carlos Banderas's crew vehicle, aSuburban, caught on fire and burned to the ground. The trailer behind itfused to the hitch and almost went out of control when it was released.Dramatically, Carlos had to pass this burning wreckage in order to finish in28:27, which also broke the previous course record. The fire was related afaulty electrical connection and to the unusual heat wave. It representedhell at the finish. There were many heat related incidents with vehicles andMillers Towing made a lot of calls.          Marshall arrivedat the finish line adding machine tape in 30:06. This was an upgrade fromusing toilet paper in previous years as the tape. His accomplishments on thecourse over the last eight years are truly remarkable and greatlyappreciated.         Lisa Smith washere for the third time and has won the women's division twice. Last yearshe set a course record for the A.M. start of 37:01. Lisa Smith's sister,Julie Gross, is a massage therapist who worked Marshall over both before and

after the race. Each year there are present more and more physicaltherapists and fitness trainers.    There was anoverwhelming amount of media interest this year. Lisa has a terrificportfolio of races which include the Ironman Triathlon, Marathon des Sables(last spring) and all of the Eco Challenges, the Extreme Games and lastyear's Raid Gauloises in Africa. Within the last month she did an over 300mile Four Winds ultra in Montana. She is getting ready to go to Ecuador forthis year's Raid Gauloises, which includes a climb of the volcano Cotopaxi(over 21 000 ft. elevation). The day before this year's Badwater/WhitneyRace the New York Times had a large color picture of her on the front pageand a huge story and more pictures in later pages. There was a film crewfrom Real TV and Brazilian TV and various journalists and photographerscovering certain runners. ABC and NBC arrived hurriedly on the scene withtheir crews and large satellite up link trucks urgently wanting heat relatedcoverage. Apparently things had cooled down with Bill and Monica and theheat of the Valley was a prime subject. Getting back to Lisa, she and hercrew had to get past a NPS Ranger who almost had to use pepper spray tocontrol the traffic and congestion. Lisa was paced by her boy friend, EricSpeck, and Whit Rambach, previous Badwater finisher, and by Cameron Widoff,who is expected to win the Hawaiian Ironman this year. She was wearing anunbroken in pair of Adidas shoes and developed some horrible blisters. Hertime was 32 minutes slower than last year and she finished in 37:33.      The media seems toback off at about this point but the stories go on endlessly and cover allof the finishers as well as the 9 starters who did not finish.     See the timeslisted below for the following finishers. Each one has a unique set ofcredentials and interesting reasons for having been here. Times to the topof Whitney are included.     Cliff Treyens,political and marketing consultant, was looking for a challenge beyondhaving done a 100 miler (Mohican) in less than 20 hours and a 24 hour USATFultra of over 120 miles. He was very quiet during the pre race activitiesand most of us didn't see him thereafter as he was near the front and wasn'table to stick around for the post race meeting.     Duke Bartoo is aproduct of multiple Badwater clinics held in Death Valley including PanamintValley and Owens Valley. He was after the challenge of the extremes intemperature, humidity and altitude. This electrician took time off work tocover the entire course prior to the race. His wife, Esther, was his chiefcrew member, and was in constant attendance.     Bobb Ankeney,probation officer, was after pushing his body to an extreme and wanted thecamaraderie that goes along with the training clinics and the raceactivities. Ultrarunning puts him in contact with friendlier people than theshorter distance runners and he takes time to enjoy the scenery en route.     Mike Zeigle is adesign engineer who says that he is getting too slow for marathons andwanted to go from the lowest to the highest points in the Continental US asdid a few others. Going all the way seemed more popular in earlier years.     Arthur Webb is anelectronics technician for the USPS. Buckling and being around good peopleare his goals now rather than finishing in the top ten. He proved that he is"stubborn, tenacious, self disciplining and persevering." Never