Ice Age 50 Mile - The Men

Remember I am not an expert on who the studs of this race are, but it's my blog so I will entertain myself taking about my favorites for the Ice Age 50 on May 14th.

I found the men difficult to work through.  There are racers like Tim Long (http://footfeathers.blogspot.com/) who are coming in from elevation. It's hard to predict what a sea level - fairly tame trail will allow him to run.  Many others, I do not recognize and decided not to spend a night on Ultra sign up investigate.

I think the men have to have the ability to break 6:30 at Ice Age to be in the 1st Tier.  There are many strong men at Ice Age that I think are in the 2nd tier - >6:30 but <7:15.

One of my favorite regional runners - Zach Gingerich (31 yo) definitely has all the tools to win at Ice Age.  A tough runner that does a little better on less technical courses.  Zach seems to like to take it out hard and if all goes well is hard to beat.  He is not afraid to blow up and loves to compete.  He is coming off a 134 mile performance at Corn Belt 24 hour race - I am not sure how recovered he will be in the 2 weeks.

Chris Gardner is a is a 33 year old from Duluth, MN.  I do not know a lot about Chris, but his battle with Chris Lundstrom at the Voyageur 50M last year was epic.  In the end Gardner had the win and the course record.  Ice Age will seem like a speed track compared to the Superior Hiking Trail Chris usually runs.

Glen Redpath (45 yo) has run some really fast races in the last year or 2 years and many great races through the years.  I would not overlook Glen in discussion of the favorites.

Shaun Pope (22 yo) is my wild card runner.  He has won his last 5 ultras - but most are small and 4 at the 50k distance.  But he has also done well @ the 100 mile distance.  I think to compete in tier one Shaun would need a break through race.

Lon Freeman caught my eye for his 2008 result at American River - A third OA with 5:58.  2nd that year was Erik Skaden 5:57 and winning was Anton Krupicka 5:42.  So I think he has the ability to compete.

We all know past results are not a perfect predictor of future results.  At different times in our training year or different periods of our lives cause fluctuations of our fitness level.

I am going with Chris Gardner my favorite.  Zach will compete and be in the mix, but there is a 50/50 shot the 134 @ cornbelt will still weigh on his legs.  Glen will round out my top 3.

Who do you like?

Next week Wednesday I will blog about what this big horse has for goals and my race strategy.