Photos: 2015 Cats Tail Trail Marathon by Joe Azze
The inaugural Cat’s Tail Trail Marathon took place Saturday October 3, 2015. It begins at the Fox Hollow trail head off rte 28 in Shandaken, NY. Runners go south over Panther Mountain and along Giant Ledge before reaching route 47. They then run just off the road south for a short distance to the Slide Mountain Wilderness area where they turn east and ascended Slide (4,180), Cornell (3,860) & Wittenberg (3,780) Mountains. On the northward descent off Wittenberg, runners turned right (east), just before Terrace Mtn, onto a newly created trail leading them over Cross Mountain and northward over Mt. Pleasant (2,800) and Romer Mt., depositing them a short distance from Phoenicia and the finish line. The distance is around 26.5 miles with 7000+/- feet of ascent.
It had been raining since late afternoon Friday during our hike up to the Wittenberg aid station (mile 16.4) to drop off AS suplies. My wife Elizabeth, Len Huffman and myself carried 5 gallons of water each and a few other essentials. This section of trail is pretty technical and even more so with 50lbs on our backs. I guess I should have carried a little more since Elizabeth was easily handling just as much.
Check out Elizabeth working her way up to the Wittenberg AS with 5 gallons of water!
I met the runners for their 6am wave start at the end of Fox Hollow Road. The rain was light and everyone was in good spirits awaiting the adventure ahead.