# Thunderbolt 75th Anniversary Race, 3/13/2010



## billski (Mar 14, 2010)

“Mountain Thunder” was the front page headline in this morning’s Berkshire Eagle paper.

The day began by a 4:30AM awakening in prep for volunteer duties to begin at 6AM. A quick breakfast at the local favorite “Red Carpet” and I was on the hill. Racers began arriving as early at 6:15 for a 10AM start. More than 100 volunteers poured in, around over and atop Mt. Greylock. 

What an incredible effort for a volunteer organization. Blair Mahan, Race Director asked me at the last minute to shift duties and handle parking. With several hundred spectators, racers and staff swarming the place, I ended up never seeing the race, all day working in and around the Roost, up and down mountain roads with a trust golf cart presented to me for the day by the Cheshire VFD. While I had hoped to get up to see some of it, events of the day conspired otherwise. Just as well, the event was so well attended that parking rapidly became a full time job, even with two full sized school bus shuttles every 10 minutes arrived packed with spectators and racers. Given the weather, I was very impressed at the large number of spectators.

I did have the opportunity to talk with a wide spectrum of officials, police, EMS, Cheshire VFD, Patrol, cooks, roost workers and many, many racers, including a direct radio connection with Blair, Race director. I attended the banquet that night, ate dinner with Rich Adamczak and his family, #65, #27 and  #104.  I congratulated many a racer, and later spent time at the Mt Greylock Inn (cozy, convenient and affordable B&B in downtown Adams) kibitzing and drinking with other racers from Nashua, Ithaca and Mass. With that in mind, I believe I can fairly describe the day.

The largest disappointment was that after the March 16th trail prep work, 50-60 somebodies boot-packed it up the center of the race trail, then skied down around the poles, creating hazardous ruts that froze solid and could not be removed after their discovery on Thursday.

The mountain had been inspected on Friday, and the snow depth remained substantial. Numerous rocks protruded here and there, just as they had 75 years ago. The course was to be ungroomed, in its natural state, with only divots being filled in by hand shovel, and poles to mark large dangerous obstructions or as a means to check racer speed. 

At the base, the Saturday 6AM weather was in the high 30s, drizzling and overcast, though the top of Greylock was visible. The place simply buzzed. Everyone had their duty and was in gear. 






By 7AM, patrol had begun skinning up the 3-mile long “Super Highway”. Well these aren't patrol, but you get the idea!















smiles all day





The racers were comprised of boarders, tele and alpine skiers, with awards in each class. Racers competed both on the uphill leg and the downhill leg. Once the patrol was positioned, the racers began their timed ascent. Boarders didn’t have much choice but to snowshoe. Tele skiers had the clear uphill time and effort advantage, with the best uphill time for the 3 mile, 2000 foot ascent of ~60 minutes. Update: The official timings were posted this morning (Mon 3/15) 

"Open Enrollment" meant no entrant qualification; this was an anniversary race, not a high-stakes world-cup event, not in any shape a modern athlete would expect.




The downhill portion began at 10AM. The starter declared, "this is an official race, so I'm dressing like an official" and so put on a shirt and tie. Got several laughs, nice way to start the very wet day! 





















Drizzle remained light. Very quickly reports began arriving that the course was “icy”. It was later characterized that the course was consistently icy from top to bottom. Areas of solid washboard caused many racers to lose control and fall. By 11 AM racer reports indicated that fog/drizzle freezing on goggles was becoming a real issue for several skiers. Some attempted to ski without goggles. Blair suggested that nobody made it down without falling at least once. 






The first ambulance call was for shortness of breath, but did not require medical attention. By noon, the clouds had enveloped the summit, adding yet another challenge. 


About this time, a gentleman beyond the age of 60, who was is top physical shape, and regularly skis the bolt, crossed the finish line and fell causing our first and only evac/ambulance run of the day. According to the EMTs I spoke with, it was a tib-fib 2-place fracture and the gentleman was in a tremendous amount of pain. While those injuries are regretful, there was a surprisingly low incidence of injury given the course difficulty.





The only other issue of significance I am aware of was a board (who I saw personally) who slid off the trail and smacked his face on a tree. His whole left face side was scraped and bruised, but he did not require any attention beyond first aid.

There were a sizeable number of 60+ aged racers on the course. An impressive feat given that you had to get yourself up to the top to begin with.

Smiles and laughter were contagious. The vibe was so good and so positive, you could not help but enjoy the day. Cowbells rang out, and spectators lined the trails. You could envision 50 years ago. Everyone was ready to come back again next year.








Then the winds kicked in. In case any of you get the impression from the pretty pictures that the weather was balmy on top:


Every single racer I spoke to said fear played a part in their choice of lines and speed that day. Most racers throttled their speed down significantly due to the iciness. Perhaps knowing that there is no safety protection along the course, as we all are used to, played a role in that determination as well. 

Committeemen and women I spoke with indicated the trail was entirely different from the trail they skied one week prior. The thaw and re-freeze, combined with no grooming combined to create a greatly more hazardous and challenging course. Kudos to all racers; while most finished, a few did not.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




















Got Freezing Rain? 
Crusty old patrollers:











 Most of the photos above are courtesy of Bob Labrie, Thunderbolt Ski Patrol.

For the community this event transcended the race itself. Banners announcing the race spanned the length of the downtown commercial district. VIPs, four gentlemen that raced this course in the 40s and some who served in the 10th Mountain Division were brought up to the course by snow machines. The selectmen were there. Attended by the young, the old, kids, teachers, students, from near and afar. Every demographic was represented. At the banquet, the VIPs handed out the medals.

For the town of Adams, it was the re-awakening of a skiing spirit that long ago passed by this village. 






Awards went to Boarders, Tele and Alpine skiers for best downhill time. Best downhill time, was 3:01 on alpine (contrasted to the 2:08 set by set by Per Klippgen in the 1948 Eastern Downhill Championship Race.) Best boarder times were a minute and a quarter slower at 4:17, and Tele Dave Childs coming in with an impressive 3:30. Best uphill time was approximately 1 hour, set by a telemarker, who also got the "Kind of the Mountain" grand award was for the best combined time of 1:05:36. No synchronized electronic timing systems in use - the same method used 75 years ago - synchronized watches and a lot of afterwards math. Made it quite a scramble to get calcs done before the awards ceremony five hours later!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxZVnX4MImA

Bob Labrie took some really nice photos of racers on the ascent, the shelter, the start line and on the way down. What was so delightful was to see the look of satisfaction on the eyes of each racer. Those smiles were really, comprised of relief, satisfaction and victory – medal or no medal. 
http://picasaweb.google.com/goshenmafire/20100313ThunderboltRace?feat=directlink

The local cable access channel, along with students from the high school manned several cameras for the entire race. The videos ran continuously during the banquet, the footage is pretty impressive. I’d expect to see more of that film as the week’s progress.

The only disappointment, if I can call it that, was that only two women competed in the race, both on boards. There was an award category for women as well. 

At the banquet, there was already talk about a “next year”. Blair suggested that if done, it will be scaled quite a bit from this year. As of Monday, the talk of a next "year" is even stronger. 

I'm still drying out my things. No regrets; met a lot of great people - racers, locals, officials, just so much good vibe. I wish for all the best next year.

http://www.thunderboltskirun.com/trail.html
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_14671424
http://www.thetranscript.com/ci_14673381

More Berkshire Eagle press photos.


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## snowmonster (Mar 14, 2010)

Thanks for the report, billski. I'm glad this finally happened. The Thunderbolt Race is back! Hope to race in it someday.


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## Johnskiismore (Mar 14, 2010)

Awesome, glad the race went well even with the comditions.  Hope the that racer recovers fast!


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## billski (Mar 15, 2010)

Quick update.

Times have been posted.


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## Mildcat (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks for the report Bill! I like that pic of the guy on tele's. He's in focus but the background is blurry, it makes it look like he's really flying.


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## jarrodski (Mar 15, 2010)

I see nigel!


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## Jisch (Mar 15, 2010)

Nice report Bill, thanks for posting it up. Even though I've only been to Greylock once two weeks ago, I can't imagine getting up that in 1 hour. While making it down in 3 or 4 minutes seems stupid fast, it seems more reasonable than the 1 hour up time. When I was there I saw a ton of people bootpacking up, but I thought they were mostly off to the side of the trail, outside the gates - I didn't see anyone climbing straight up the trail. 

John


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## billski (Mar 15, 2010)

Jisch said:


> Nice report Bill, thanks for posting it up. Even though I've only been to Greylock once two weeks ago, I can't imagine getting up that in 1 hour. While making it down in 3 or 4 minutes seems stupid fast, it seems more reasonable than the 1 hour up time. When I was there I saw a ton of people bootpacking up, but I thought they were mostly off to the side of the trail, outside the gates - I didn't see anyone climbing straight up the trail.
> 
> John



Nobody climbs straight up the trail except stupid people like me in the summer time    and a few people who do not know better.

It is hugely discouraged and generally a BC no-no.  Don't trash the trail you're about to ski down.

 Instead, the racers went up the "super highway" trail.  You'd be surprised how fast a Tele with skins can move uphill.  For starters, he doesn't have to haul extra equipment on his back!


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## Jisch (Mar 15, 2010)

*yep*



billski said:


> Nobody climbs straight up the trail except stupid people like me in the summer time    and a few people who do not know better.
> 
> It is hugely discouraged and generally a BC no-no.  Don't trash the trail you're about to ski down.
> 
> Instead, the racers went up the "super highway" trail.  You'd be surprised how fast a Tele with skins can move uphill.  For starters, he doesn't have to haul extra equipment on his back!



I skied up on tele's last week - its surprising how hard that was, but I have seen "good" people absolutely cranking up the hills on tele's. 

My comment about going up the trail was in reference to your comment that the trail was trashed from people going up the middle. 

John


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## billski (Mar 15, 2010)

More reportage.
North Adams Transcript


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## catsup948 (Mar 16, 2010)

Thunderbolt race was a blast.  I wish conditions were a bit softer and the weather was nicer but it was still a ton of fun.  My legs were cooked halfway down from all the chatter and I couldn't see a thing.  Crowds were awesome, tons of noise and support.  This was truely a great event.


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## Glenn (Mar 16, 2010)

Nice TR Bill! Great work!


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## billski (Mar 16, 2010)

Did you guys notice on all the old photos how sunny it was?  Speaks for itself.


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