[ORRando] Furnace Creek 508

Del Scharffenberg dels at intersoftsystems.com
Wed Oct 1 13:17:26 PDT 2008


This weekend I will be riding my 5th Furnace Creek 508
race.  The race starts at 7 am Saturday, October 4.
Webcast and other information is at www.the508.com

100 solo riders were accepted last spring, but now the
web site says there are 84 solo entrants.  Seven are over
60, but I am the oldest solo entrant at age 63 this year.
This is the 25th anniversary of the race.  In that time
there have been only 10 different solo 60+ finishers and
only 3 official finishers over the age of 62.  There are only
17 Oregon finishers listed.  I was the 4th Oregonian to
finish (1996) and still the only one with multiple finishes.

Four Oregon entrants this year:
Alex Kohan, "Kakakpo", hoping to become the youngest
recumbent finisher ever.  Youngest solo entrant this year.
Nelson Snyder, "Spider Monkey" going for his 2nd finish.
Del Scharffenberg, "Spider" going for his 5th finish.  Oldest
solo entrant this year.
Also Mark Newsome is on a 2-person team with a Californian.

My goals?  Finish for my 5th time.  Only 8 riders have 5 or
more solo finishes.  Get done before dark Sunday (36 hrs).
My only daytime finish was my first ride 12 years ago.  Try
to finish closer to Flamingo and Donkey, the first two 60+ 
riders the last two years.  Finfrock set a remarkable 60+
record of 32:10 last year, a PR for him on his 8th finish!
Donkey David Jones set a new RAAM 60+ record a few
months ago.  Formidable competition in my age category!

The current weather forecast shows highs only in the 80's
and lows in the 50's with a chance of thunderstorms. 
Weather is always a huge factor in completion percentages
and finish times at Furnace Creek.

My crew chief is Matt Liou, my nephew from Sacramento
(cell 916-206-0480, but coverage is spotty).  We also
recruited Karla Sandoval from an AdventureCorps bulletin
board posting.  We will meet her Friday evening.  

-- "Spider" Del
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