Netters:
GVot word of a recent workout participated in by most, not all, of
the Colorado U. team which will be defending their NCAA title this fall.
(Steve Slattery was safely back home on vacation in NJ at the time)
Mount Elbert is the highest pead in Colotado, second only to
California's Mt. Whitney in the lower 48. It is just short of 14,500 feet.
The way I heard it, the Buffanloes establshed "camp" at the 10,500
foot mark and then took off for the top, ame 5.5 miles away, including the
4,000-foot climb. Jorge Torres and Dathan Ritzenheim reached it in
approximately 72 minutes, then took 55 minutes for the return, Never one to
ask hsi runners to do something he wouldn't do himself, coach Mark Wetmore
also made the journey, no time available.
It is reminiscent to me, on a far grander scale, of a workout that
was regularly engaged in at Bernards HS. There is a ridge there along a
brook that is virtually straight up. I never saw the actual workouts, but
once covered a marathon run which at one point ran along the other side of
the brook. Even without this climb, the course was so tough that, with some
fair runners in the field, the winner barely beat 3:00. Much of it, I
imagine was traversed regularly by the Bernards team in their road workouts.
Ed Grant
PS: I can't recall who won that marathon, except that it was someone
from princeton U. I seem to remember that among his close followers was the
estimable Hugh (Chip) Sweeny.
