Nolan's 14

“Hi.  I’m Gavin and it’s good to meet you,” he said in a humble manner as he extended his bony hand for a firm handshake.

I just met a legend serving coffee in a quaint little shop.




Nolan’s 14.

Few have heard of it and even fewer have accomplished the underground racing event. It has a 60 hour cut off time and Nolan's season is quickly sandwiched in between last winter's snowmelt and the first snow fall, typically August and September. Colorado's Sawatch rmountain is the only host of the event that is named after mountaineer Jim Nolan and is a trail race without a race director or marked course. Participants, via GPS, are tracked online as they determine their own path of travel that can be run north to south, or south to north.

So, what is Nolan's 14?  It is a race conquering 14 sequential mountains, all of which are over 14,000 feet, in under 60 hours.  And, there's no cars taxiing competitors from trail head to trail head. They do it all with their own two feet with the distance, depending on the route, being around 100 miles with 90,000 feet of vertical feet.

Since 1999, only 7 men can claim victory on the achievement with John Robinson being the record holder finishing the daunting feat in 52 hours and 42 minutes in 2002.

Gavin McKenzie and his equally demented running buddy, Brandon Stapanowich, ironed out the logistics and toed the invisible start line at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend. What they had to have endured following their start is beyond comprehension.  Screaming leg muscles, burning lungs, feet begging for forgiveness and a brain drunk with exhaustion are probalby just a sample of symptoms they experienced. Suffering... There had to be a heaping load of suffering. Simply staying awake for 60 hours straight is difficult to imagine.  Add in the physical beatdown of their pursuit and it becomes unfathomable. 

I guess they napped for 2 hours... slackers.  But they still finished in 56 hours and 21 minutes to claim the second-fastest known time for the grueling event.

I cannot even wrap my mind around it.  The event sounds too far-fetched, too ridiculous, too...impossible.  Why not spritz yourself with steak juice and jump into the Bengal Tiger's cage at the zoo for a challenge?  My poorly planned trip up Mount Elbert was a butt-kicker, and Elbert was just a warm up for them since it was their 2nd peak in the series of 14... 

To everyone who has dared to run Nolan's 14, I tip my hat to you. To Gavin and Brandon and other supernatural freaks who actually finished, WOW!