It certainly has been nice to hear all of the wonderful comments about this ride.? I FINALLY got to cross the finish line on a horse thanks to Ellen Tully who did a super job as day manager.? Although I put in a lot of hours putting this eveny together, it would be impossible without the continued support of the volunteers.? The hold managers set up and tear down their holds without any input from me.? Some of the new volunteers contact me by phone or e-mail and I never even meet them until the day of the ride and sometimes not even that.? I am always impressed at the number of people who contact me in order to help with this ride.? Even my vets ask to be part of it and Doug Shearer comes up early to help put out with water.? This year he took two of Rojeks huge round troughs to runner stations and filled them with water so the runners could cool off in them!? I suppose what I love the most about this event is having two groups of athletes compete together and help each other and truely enjoy the experience.? I am including a runners comments which speaks for all.
Just a comment on all of the volunteers at Vermont - they were absolutely=
terrific!
It's one thing to run a 100-miler, pick up your finisher award, and feel =
a good sense of accomplishment afterwards.? However, in so many cases, the =
volunteers spend far more time preparing for and working during the race =
than the runners.? And they don't even get a buckle for all their hard =
work.? How selfless is that?? I sincerely appreciate the help, encouragement, and countless hours they spent so that I could run.
Just a note on the Vermont 100.? The run coincides with the VT 100 horse =
race - same time and on the same course, so you spend a good part of time=
passing and/or being passed by horses (and their riders hopefully).? At =
first, I thought this would be a pain.? Turns out, it's nothing short of =
magical, and the riders never failed to cheer you on as they passed.
It's a beautiful course, well organized, well marked, well stocked, and =
