This weekend is the 2010 Furnace Creek 508. As in 508 miles from Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles), across the Mojave Desert, through Death Valley National Park and Mojave National Preserve, to Twentynine Palms.
Solo racers are off at 7:00 AM and teams start at 9:00 AM on Saturday. Top finishers complete the course in under 30 hours.
It looks like there are 11 Washingtonians in this year’s event, including defending champion Chris Ragsdale.
There are a number of riders from Washington on 2 and 4-man teams, including Seattleite Mick Walsh who is on a 4-man team with Race Across the West (RAW) teammate George Thomas.
As mentioned in a previous post, George will be giving a presentation at REI about the Race Across America (RAAM) on October 12.
Other racers from Washington include:
Karen Armstrong of Spokane who is riding solo
Christopher Pumroy of Kennewick who is riding solo
Jim Ryan of Sammamish, who is also riding solo
John McAllister of Redmond and Joseph Rossano of Arlington who are riding in a 4-man team
Brad Atencio of Richland and Kern Kostenko of Kennewick riding in a 2-man team
David Fischer of Kennewick riding in a 2-person mixed team
Follow the race updates this weekend in support our local racers as they battle the elements, gravity, and their bodies and minds in this extraordinarily challenging race.
