The 2021 Hard Rock 100 Mile Cross Country Race is over, so let's talk about what I know about the Hard Rock Organizing Committee and runners.
Director Garland Dale Garand
In September 2015, Dunhuang Airport, Garland (right)
A high school history teacher born in Silverton, CO, where the competition was held, and a former mountain running and hiking enthusiast, he has traveled to almost every mountain in Colorado and is familiar with the wilderness around the small town of Westford.
However, because of the hip injury and surgery in the accident, he could not continue to run, so he turned his interest to helping those who wanted to run, so he volunteered to participate in the democratic evaluation of the organizing committee, and the more qualified veterans trusted his character and ability very much, so they appointed him as the director of the event; now more than twenty years later, he still lives up to expectations and pushes the international prestige of the competition to an unprecedented height.
Garland and the first 800 quicksand champion Zhao Ziyu and the 800 stream sofa people song to the east (right)
In 2015, the 800 Quicksand Extreme Competition held the first official competition, hoping to invite experienced foreigners to serve as joint event directors, learn from the advanced experience of foreign parties, and promote sino-foreign industry exchanges. I recommended Garland to the organizing committee on the grounds that the two competitions have in common: niche outdoor extreme challenges in diverse and harsh environments.
A week before the race, Garland came to Beijing and immediately rushed to Guazhou with the 800 quicksand operation team to embark on the track for the intense final stage of preparation. This foreign consultant is by no means a formality, but insists on doing everything personally. He is credited with the successful holding of the first and second eight hundred quicksands, and the spread of this competition among the core population of American trail running.
"Two business trips to China are not only for the operation of the competition, but also for the students in the class to accumulate some materials for the history of ancient and modern Asia."
Runner and commissioner
Betsy Kalmeyer
Photographed in September 2015, Capital Airport
One of the early female cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in the 1980s, she retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Among her sisters was the first female fighter pilots in the United States. In the early 1990s, she began competing in mountain and desert trail running and became an elite runner. After completing the Hard Rock 100 for the first time, she decided to participate every year, and has completed 20 times so far, won the championship 5 times, broken the women's record 3 times (the first time was within 30 hours); also served as a member of the organizing committee responsible for track maintenance and material allocation; 100% of the winning and joining the organizing committee is the top honor of hard rock runners.
She lives in the alpine regions of Colorado and, in addition to alpine long-distance runs like the Hard Rock 100, she has also performed well in outdoor team races and alpine skiing competitions.
In 2015, Bessie was invited to participate in the eight hundred quicksand, won the women's championship, the overall ranking is in the upper middle, and can eat and sleep, never treat yourself badly. Before the race, the oldest runner with obvious varicose veins in her legs was not favored by the melon-eating masses – until she used her hard power to explain everything.
In 2017 and 2018, she returned to 800 Quicksand as Co-Event Director to contribute to the success and optimization of the competition. Chinese colleagues praised him for being extremely thoughtful, able to balance the needs of runners with the realities of the operation of the event, and being energetic.
Wear a certain year's hard stone 100 commemorative uniform, dominate the eight hundred quicksand
"I haven't bought sportswear tops for more than a decade because the runners and staff hard rock commemorative suits over the years have been enough to wear for a lifetime."
Runner and Media - Powell Bryon Powell
A professional runner who has changed careers as a legal person. Founder of trail running network media irunfar.com, two sessions of hard rock 100 finishers in different directions (both within 33.5 hours). His website focuses on reporting on mountain and desert trail running competitions and character stories around the world, and introducing interesting and practical experiences. Before the epidemic, the annual UTMB extreme trail run around Mont Blanc in France, the UTMF around Mt. Fuji in Japan, and the 100 miles in the western part of the United States and 100 miles in hard rock would invite him and his wife, the elite runner Meghan Hicks, to report.
Powell has been invited to China many times, and the one that impressed him the most was in 2015, when he was invited to participate in the 800 Quicksand Extreme Competition as a media player, and he won the third place in the whole field, spending more than ten happy days in Beijing and Gansu. The long story he wrote based on this competition broke through 10,000 hits in just one week. Subsequently, he participated in The Hong Kong 100km, Siguniang Mountain Cross Country Race, Aden Sky Run and other Chinese races.
He and his wife lived in a desert town in Utah, which was conveniently located, and the environment there was somewhat similar to that of Guazhou, Gansu Province, where the eight hundred quicksand were held, and it was a good place to practice desert running. However, as a media brick mover, he admits that training time is very precious, and before participating in a competition like Hard Rock 100, he must spend at least 2 months, push off most of his work affairs, and train wholeheartedly to run into 33 hours.
Complete 800 quicksand and display the "Dragon and Tiger Fight"
Hicks, who has participated in hard rock 100 three times, finished third this year, ran 34 hours, and is the highest ranked and fastest one.
As a typical American, he always did his best to help the Chinese media who wanted to cover the American cross-country race, providing first-hand graphic materials.
"Eight hundred quicksand is the hardest race I've ever run, and I hope to have the opportunity to try more Chinese races."
Past champion Kilian Jornet
In 2018, I had the privilege of meeting the strongest mountain runner on the planet.
**Eight hundred quicksand in 2015, the invitation letter sent to Bessie and Powell, which I drafted, followed by travel email communication and reception, as well as on-site reporting in Gansu, I was also fortunate to participate. Thank you for the trust and love of the 800 Quicksand Organizing Committee, and thank you to your old friend Su Ziling and Yan Yi for matchmaking.
About the author: Zhao Xiaozhao, the main manager of the running self-media "Running Boundary Mudslide".