Nobel Canyon 50K Endurance Run

The 2008 Nobel Canyon 50+K Winners

Eric Clifton and Jennifer Henderson w/Rat Mascot

2009 NOBLE CANYON 50 K

September 26, 2009

REGISTRATION ANNOUNCEMENT:

Applications for the 3rd Annual Noble Canyon 50K will be accepted beginning July 15, 2009. Entries with a postmark before July 15, 2009 will be returned to sender. We will accept the first 175 applications. After that we will maintain a waiting list.

OVERVIEW:

The San Diego Bad Rats Running Club will host the third annual Noble Canyon 50K trail ultra on September 26, 2009 starting promptly at 7:00 am. The course includes 20 miles of single track trail climbing and descending Noble Canyon, including 10 miles of trail over sections of the Pacific Coast and Big Laguna Lake Trails.

Runners will be treated to beautiful vistas, very challenging and technical trails, and five well stocked aid stations manned by veteran ultra runners. We hope you will join us for what we promise will be a tough yet rewarding event.

Race Headquarters is located at the Pine Valley Bible Conference Center (PVBC) near Pine Valley, CA. The race will start (7:00 am) and finish at the gymnasium at PVBC. Packet pick-up will begin at 5:30 am on race morning. Please arrive early as parking is at a premium. There will be light refreshments provided during pre-race check in.

Registration will open July 15, 2009 with entries limited to the first 175 applicants. Applications post marked before 7/15/09 will be returned. A waiting list will be maintained if we reach our US Forest Service permit limit. We expect to fill to limit in minimal time, as such, there will be no race day registration.

All entrants will receive a quality technical shirt with the infamous Noble Rat logo from Race Ready. Participants will also receive Noble Rat logo socks from DeFeet Sock Company. We will also have a drawing for additional gift certificates and other giveaways during the awards ceremony.

Thanks goes out to our support sponsors who are donating product and other goodies: Clif, Nathan, and Gatorade. All finishers will receive a commemorative Rat coffee mug and division and overall winners will receive a $50 gift certificate towards Race Ready product.

Runners and crews will be treated to post race refreshments which will include a sandwich bar and desserts at 2:00 pm. The awards ceremony will commence at 3:00 pm and with numerous sponsor handouts at that time.

All participants and crews are reminded that alcohol is not permitted on the PVPBC premises. Also, please no pets in and around the finish area.....thank you !

Noble Canyon 50K is also proud to be a part of the Southern California Ultra Runner's Grand Prix Series and will be donating a free membership for the Series to one of our San Diego participants.

All applicable information for the event is located at the above links. Questions not answered on the website should be directed to: scottemills@aol.com . The race director will be at the race venue for set up beginning 9/25/08 and will thus be out of contact starting that day up until race morning.

2008 Noble Rat Race Report:

The Second Annual Noble Canyon 50K was characterized by hotter than normal temps which presented all participants with extra difficult conditions throughout the day. Of the 136 starters, we had 125 finishers for a 92% finishing rate......rather phenomenal considering the heat. The high number of finishers was strongly influenced by an extremely adept, experienced , and conscientious cadre of aid station volunteers who helped, prodded and encouraged everyone onward to the finish line. Each aid station went through about 120 lbs of ice.>Leading the men and women were two very experienced and tough competitors. Eric "Jester" Clifton defended his overall title from last year and Jennifer Henderson bested a strong women's field. Eric was challenged over the last ten miles by a hard charging Fabrice Hardel who caught him a couple of times but couldn't stay with Eric over some of the last few climbs. Fabrice made it an exciting race and gave it his all finishing just behind Eric for second place overall and first in the men's 30-39 division.

Third place went to a young newcomer to the sport, 24 year old Mike Towel, who learned the importance of carrying a water bottle. He started out "hands free" and realized shortly after the sun rose, that he needed to carry water....fortunately, an aid station volunteer was able to accommodate him. His performance was especially impressive considering he had just finished thru-hiking the PCT three weeks early. He actually got to run on a five mile PCT section he had traversed 3 months earlier....this time he covered it a tad faster !

Forty nine year old Jennifer Henderson is no rookie when it comes to ultras and she used all her experience and grit to win the women's overall title. She looked terrific all day and made it look easy....which it was not ! Second place woman was Nicole Conrad who won the Women's 30-39 Division. And local San Diego Bad Rat, Renee Roberts came in third for the women and superbly represented the Bad Rats along with Keith Kirby.

Other age group winners were: Men's 40-49 t0 Noble veteran Iso Yucra-Rivera, Men's 60+ to Paul Akiyama, Women's 20-29 to Lora Liu, Women's 50-59 to Jeri Ginsburg, and Women's 60+ to Rat Race veteran Judy Richwine.

In addition the the stellar efforts of the volunteers, it is again important to thank our incredible hosts at the Pine Valley Bible Camp. Their management, staff, facilities, pre and post race food, and enthusiasm to support this event are huge factors in the success of this race. We could never pull it off without their support.....we are now expecting and hoping that one of their staff will run the event next year and we hear that is a distinct possibility.... we hope so.

Official results are now posted at the above link.

I want to close the report by again thanking our volunteers. They give up a great deal of personal time to help each and every runner. I feel privileged to know and call them all friends. On behalf of them, I extend our congratulations to all participants and we hope to see many of you back for RAT RACE III, tentatively scheduled for September 26,2009.

Pictures:

We expect to add more pictures from volunteers and participants. If anyone has a link to race pictures you'd like to share, please email me the link and I will add it below. My apologies for not getting a picture of everyone "kissing the Rat".

NEW: Stacy Moore took pictures of virtually every runner passing Penny Pines devoting nearly 4 hours of her time......THANKS STACY !

Stacy's Pictures at Penny Pines

Set 2 of Pictures from the 2008 Rat Race

Set 3 from Deborah Acosta:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20252712@N07 /sets/72157607594907969

Video from Mike Welch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVZDqcWBhBo

NOBLE Canyon 50K

September 26, 2009

2009 NOBLE CANYON 50 K

September 26, 2009

REGISTRATION ANNOUNCEMENT:

OVERVIEW:

2008 Noble Rat Race Report:

Pictures:

NEW: Stacy Moore took pictures of virtually every runner passing Penny Pines devoting nearly 4 hours of her time......THANKS STACY !