Our friend Adam Engst had this to say after running the 2005 Virgil Mountain Madness:

Another bout of madness, Virgil Mountain Madness, has now come and gone, and for me at least, it was a near-perfect mix of the two previous years. In 2003, I ran the then-new 12K in astonishingly wet conditions - it was the first time I'd ever considered the concept of running both uphill and against the current at the same time and the main stream crossing was at least chest-deep*. But no seriously fast people showed up and I won the race in 54:59. In 2004, despite the wet summer, the trails were much drier and the stream crossing barely wet my ankles, so I ran a 53:37, chopping over a minute off my time but finishing a distant second to seriously fast guy Garrett Wagner.

This year combined last year's time, more or less (53:44) with the previous year's place (1st, thanks to no Garrett Wagner), and the trail conditions obliged as well. Through the 6.5 mile mark, where the 30K and 12K course diverge, the trails were mostly dry and rocky, with only an occasional damp spot. But at that point, the heavens opened up and deluged us all with a torrential downpour that was a great relief from the humidity, at least until I realized what it was doing to the weight of my shoes. (And I'm blaming the rain for running slower than last year - if the last mile or so had been dry, I surely would have run at least 7 seconds faster.)

As usual, the race was impeccably managed by Dave Burbank and Gill Sharp. I decided at the last minute to ditch my traditional High Noon jersey because of the humidity, and wow, was that the right move. I stayed a bit cooler up the hills, and when the rain hit, I didn't have to put up with soggy nylon clinging to my body. Surprisingly, the start was slow, and I led the way down the rocky road and up into the first trail section. Michael Wunsch passed me at some point there, followed by Ryan Pouling, and after we popped out on a road for a bit before heading back into the woods, Jason Clark caught up with me as well. We ran together for a while, chatting briefly, before I told him to go past me, since I was having serious trouble maintaining a good pace up the hills, so he went by and disappeared quickly, leaving me hoping that all three of them were running the 30K.

Most of the rest of race I ran by myself, then, bombing the major road hill that leads back down into the valley (worrying the entire time that the sound of my race number snapping in the breeze was actually footsteps close behind), and sprinting through the pine woods that make up my favorite section of the course. Those woods are normally dim, with only filtered light, but with the thunderclouds gathering, it was nearly pitch black in there, and at some point I simply failed to see a root or rock, kicked it with my right toe, and went down. For once in a fall, though, I did what you're supposed to do successfully: I turned my right shoulder in, rolled, and popped back up without more than a slight scratch and without even losing much momentum.

A few minutes later I caught up with Michael, who was taking the rooted pine woods a bit more slowly than I was, and we ran together for just a minute or two across the stream and up the hill to the 12K turnoff point, just as the rain started. I was feeling good and fairly confident I could pass him in the last mile, but it didn't come to that as he turned left up the 30K course, leaving me to run into the finish line in the rain by myself. As I crossed, with Dave huddling in his car to keep the results paper dry and Gill under a big umbrella with the Seiko watches, it became clear that Ryan and Jason had also opted for 30K, leaving me with a win. Apart from Suzie Myette in third or fourth (not a course record, I don't think, but I'm not sure about age group record) and Zofia Franck's husband Carl in fifth, I didn't know or remember details most of the rest of the 12K finishers who came struggling in through the downpour.

In the 30K**, Ryan ran an amazing 2:17 that was close to a course record, and Michael ended up passing Jason to finish second. Alan Evans was third, and Jason came in fourth, slowed by a few falls and mistaken turns. Tim Ingall was fifth, I think, and although I can't remember her exact place, Katie Danner utterly smashed the course record for the women, running much of the way with Boris, who not only didn't get lost, but announced gleefully, "Follow Boris!" when Katie was explaining her race.

Again, kudos to Dave and Gill, and although Madness seems to be one of the smaller local races with about 70 runners, it's been highly enjoyable every year I've run it. Kudos too to the Wilderness Rescue folks, who were all over, and who at some point delivered a DNF'd Steve Ryan back to the finish line after both of his calves had cramped too badly to run (or even walk comfortably).

* Historical exaggeration for Joe Dabes, it couldn't have been more than waist deep. :-)

** All results from memory before I saw the official results, so don't quote me.

cheers... -Adam