We headed up to the Catskills of New York for our last adventure of the year with some members from the MPF Adventure club to check out part of the WTF 100 course which is a new race for 2018 and includes a bit of off trail navigation.

A few weeks ago, Scott won the Barkley Fall Classic 50k in Tennessee and was awarded a highly coveted slot into the Barkley Marathons next spring.  Scott reached out to me to get some bushwhacking experience...

The trail and atmospheric conditions this year at Manitou's Revenge were challenging to say the least, with hot, humid air, and slick rocks giving us runners an even greater challenge than usual. Instead of a race report this time, I decided to try a gear report. I figure if those conditions were not tough enough to test some gear, I don’t know what would be.

The plan from the start was to run most/all of it with Philip Vondra, and we had a very loose plan to shoot for 24 hours, or at least to beat sunset on Saturday. Neither of those goals were met but here's the gist of what happened.

There are 35 high peaks in the Catskill Mountains that are above 3,500ft elevation. People that summit all 35, plus 4 of them in winter, can become “Catskill 35ers“. For most people that is enough. I am not one of those people.

After the Hardrock 100, we made our way back to Boulder Colorado to meet up with a few friends before we took our flight back to New York. Phil Germakian guided us on an awesome run through the Indian Peaks Wilderness.

Manitou’s Revenge is the best race in the world for me. Tough terrain, tons of climbing (+/- 16,000 ft) and a long enough distance (54 miles) to be able to go slow and steady. In other words, very little running. After last years time of 13:14, I was excited to see what I could do with very dry trails and the forecasted low humidity.

Video by Joe Azze of the inaugural running of the Cats Tail Marathon. Race takes place in the rugged Catskills of New York. Date: October 3rd, 2015.