Frozen Looper
Or, why you should learn to like loopy races!
During the pandemic, the running community had to get creative. Do you remember that? In a flash, all organized road races – big, small and in between – were shuttered in the second week of March 2020, almost three years ago now. Like the rest of the world, the running scene was bewildered, confused and a little scared. My small, early-morning running group decided against group runs for about a month. When we returned to each other, it was with trepidation. We wore these newfangled neck gaiters, and we worried about spitting, and we spread out across the road. It was a weird time, for sure.
So yeah. There were no road races. Races went virtual. Social media overflowed with Strava-centric challenges.
--How much vert (vertical climbing) can you accumulate?
--How fast can you run Strava segments?
--My buddy Dave O decided to run 43 kilometers (slightly longer than a marathon) to celebrate his 43rd birthday, in April 2020. Why not, right?
--The FKT (fastest-known time) scene exploded with popularity.
Most of these things were considered fringe, niche pursuits. Then, they came front and center. It was all we had.
Things got really weird when challenges like the Backyard Ultra came into being. Now, runners were seeing how many small loops they could do in hours, sometimes days! As I sat upstairs in my cluttered office, reading about all this on my laptop while stuck at home, I wore a bemused smile. I’ve long been ridiculed for being a fan of “loop” races – fixed-time ultramarathons on short loops. Now, they were a thing. Ha! As I’ve gradually slid into road racing retirement, my one event each year remains the Sweltering Summer 8-Hour Ultra, held on a 0.3535-mile dirt track loop at Clapp Park in Pittsfield, MA. It’s the highlight of my running year; Christmas in August, as race director Benn Griffin calls it. Amen, brother!
This leads me to today’s topic:
A few weeks ago, the awesome Eastern Dutchess Road Runners Club (EDRRC) held its third-annual Frozen Looper race, a fixed-time (four-hour) run on a little more than a half-mile loop. Angela Legg made her debut as a race director, and her outstanding race report follows. Angela was a rock star during the pandemic. She created the Hudson Valley Vertical Challenge. She enthusiastically posted on social media and Strava, encouraging many local runners to get out and get up in the air on local and regional trails. She even organized a point-to-point ultra that spanned the north-to-south length of Dutchess County!
I love her Frozen Looper race report. Her boundless enthusiasm shows through in it. And also, significantly, she pays homage – and even defends! – loop races. Bless her heart!
We’ll write more in the coming weeks and months about the emergence of the EDRRC as a local and regional force in road race organization and events. For today, we’ll focus on something I love – and hopefully we’ll convert you to being a fan of – and that is loop races.
