Gorge Waterfalls 100k Race Report

Pre-Race

Normally, I try to post these race reports within a week or so of when I finish the race. This one took a while for me to digest, and then I got busy so now I'm coming back to it a full month later. I've been wanting to run this course for several years but it never fit into my schedule when I was still coaching high school track. Then wild fires and COVID had this race closed down for a couple years. Last year I was signed up thinking I would be able to train and prepare for it not really taking into account how much of a toll a cross-country move and the Texas heat would have on me. Unfortunately, I couldn't put in the the work needed to get it done so I took a rain check. Last summer, while crewing for my buddy (and coached athlete), Bob, at Cascades 100 we decided we'd do Gorges together.

My initial goal was to be super fit and throw one down on this course, as life would have it, I never got to the level of fitness I hoped for. Just too much going on for me to put in bigger mileage. Coming out of my last race, which was a super tough 55k, I was pretty beat up; broken finger, fractured wrist, and some yet to be identified foot issue slowed me down quite a bit. I had to take some extra recovery, and wasn't able to run as much as I had planned. Still, I felt fit and confident getting the finish was not going to be a problem. I still thought I could go pretty quick on this course and Bob's training was similar to mine... a little inconsistent at times, but overall strong.

The Race

The Gorge Waterfalls 100k is put on by Daybreak Racing and Freetrail. Its a classic PNW race that parallels the Columbia River on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. It used to be a golden ticket race, but after the 4 year hiatus it lost that status, though it is still a Western States qualifying race. Many would call it a "runnable" course with 11000 ft. of vert on mostly single track with some significant road portions. It occurs in early April so weather can be hit or miss depending on the year, but for the most part it's going to be damp, cool and little to no sunshine.

The warnings had been there for weeks leading into this year's race that the weather was probably going to be bad as the continuation of terrible storms hitting the west coast was not going to stop. The few days leading into the race were cold yet pleasant, and I kept hoping we would get lucky, but no... the "bomb cyclone" arrived on cue. We were staying in Hood River, a 20min drive from the start/finish line. The ride to the race was cold, rainy and ominous. My wife dropped me off at the park where the start/finish line is, and I made my way to clubhouse where most of the racers were waiting in the warm, dry comforts of the building. I bumped into a buddy I met on the plane and made small talk till Bob arrived. Eventually, we were coaxed out of the building with a collective groan from the group as we begrudgingly made our way out into the cold rain to the start line.

This course is mostly rolling hills with a some short punchy climbs from 200-500 ft., one larger steep climb of 1500 ft., and then some moderate climbs around 1000 ft. in the second half. The first couple miles are on paved trail and sidewalk as you make your way out of Cascade Locks and onto the trails. It stays dark for about an hour, but the trail is easy to follow and not particularly technical. I had some loose time goals for this race, but my main goal as I stated to Bob, was for us to "second half the shit out of this race." The early paved portions allowed for the race to string out enough before we hit the single track that there wasn't a lot of shuffling of spots once we got on the trails. We were pretty much in a similar paced group by the 1st decent climb around mile 4. From there the course rolls up and down till around mile 10.There were some awesome views in that section, which were really nice once the sun started coming up. The rain wasn't too bad at this point and the trails were good for the most part. There were only a few sections of really slow slick mud.

I wasn't feeling great for this first part of the race, and I had a hard time once we hit the road section at mile 10. It was just really hard on my legs, I think partially due to my shoes, and Bob was pushing at this point, which was a little out of my comfort zone. Both times we did that 2.5 mile section were probably the worst my legs felt the entire race. After that section you climb back onto the trails for some of the more "fun" parts of the race. Most of the waterfalls are in this stretch, which you get see twice on the out and back. I started to settle down after the 2nd aid station (Ainsworth mile 13) and felt more like I was in my groove. I wanted to stay chill till we got over the biggest climb of the race, so we held nice pace all the way through Multnomah Falls. Once you pass the park it's only a few minutes till you start to go up the big 1500 ft. climb on the Wakeena trail around mile 17.

Almost half of this climb is on paved path. There's lots of hikers, but the trail is wide enough for it not be an issue. It's only around 1.5 miles to gain 1500ft., so power hiking for most of us mortals. I was feeling great going up and we picked up quite a few spots as we climbed. It's a beautiful section of trail and one of my favorite parts of the course. It is a little deceptive as you leave the creek and think the climb is done, it goes up for another .5 mile but not near as steep. It did get cold at the top and the rain turned into snow, but we were only in it for a little while because once you top out you immediately start the downhill along Multnomah creek. This section was definitely the diciest and most technical section of the whole course. It was wet and you're descending a steep trail on a lot of slick bare rock and somewhat narrow paths. Eventually, you get closer to the bottom and you're back on paved sections as you get close to the Multnomah Falls park.

From there you head back towards Cascade Locks on the same trails. By this time I was starting to run low on food. I had worked pretty hard through mile 22 so I was looking forward to hitting the aid station at Ainsworth (mile 25). However, when we got there, they were out of a lot of food. I think at that point we were mid-pack, maybe back of the mid-pack at most, but there were a lot of racers behind us. Both of us were upset there wasn't much there, I think we were both needing it. I'll address some of the other aid issues later. We grabbed what we could and moved on. Course wise, besides one of the creek crossing that is a little rough, the trails were in okay condition. Lots of puddles, very wet but manageable other than a few sloppy sections.

I struggled through the next section, I was low on calories and my watch was way off on mileage for whatever reason and it threw me for a loop mentally. Thankfully, Bob towed me through. My legs were fine, other than the 2.5 mile road section, which kind of hurt, I was moving well just really hungry! As far as low points go, this was not even close to being as bad as it can get. Bob seemed to enjoy seeing me work through it, not in a sadistic way, but in kind of humanizing "we all go through it" type of way. He was a huge help there, and eventually I was able to get back in front and do some work too. Coming into that 1st crew point at Wahclella (mile 33), we were both feeling it, me probably a little worse. I was so glad to see my wife. That aid station was packed, plenty of food, lots of people and some warming stations. I knew I would have to get as much calories down as I could handle at the next couple crew points before we hit the long sections in the second half of the course, so we took our time there. As we prepared to leave the darkness rolled in and it began to dump buckets. Both Bob and I were not looking forward to leaving the aid station, but it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon so on we went.

The conditions had already been tough by that point. I would realize later people were dropping like flies. Leaving Wahclella was hard. It was cold, we had been soaked from mile 1. As they say misery loves company, and again, I was happy to be running this with Bob. There were a few miserable miles out of that aid but it got better. We were way passed time goals at that point, and totally in "get it done" mode. It was a short 5.8 mile section to the Cascade Locks aid and crew station. We moved well through there, most of this part of the course is easy and very runnable. We picked up some good time in that section and eventually the rain let up some. By the time we were coming into the Locks aid at mile 38 I was feeling a lot better. It had warmed up some too. C was waiting for us, so I got a sock change and a couple quesadillas to make sure I was fueled up for the long 10 mile section to mile 48 aid at Wyeth.

The second part of this course is an out and back on a 10 mile section from mile 38 to 48 and back to Cascade Locks at mile 58. It has a gradual climb of around 1000 ft. with a short punchy 400 ft. descent and similar climb at miles 42-43 before a nice long downhill into the Wyeth aid station. Hands down the best part of the whole day for me was miles 38-48. The sun came out, it's a very pleasant runnable trail and both of us were feeling good. The climb at mile 43 is no joke, but it's short and is followed by a nice flowy downhill. I had a few spots on the bottom of my foot that hurt, and some normal aches and pains, but I was still moving well. That section does get long and I did start to get hungry, but it was fun to see all the fast folks coming back the other way. We rolled into Wyeth in decent time, but Bob was starting to fade some so it was good we had our whole crew there.

Leaving Wyeth was sweet, the sun was still out and I had changed my shirt and jacket so it was nice to be warm for a while. Bob was hauling ass up the climb which was a very gradual 800 ft. It seemed a little fast for me, and I had to work to stay with him, but my legs were still strong and I was able to keep up. As we began the short steep 400 ft. downhill it started to rain again as the sun began to set. Bob followed me down and at that point, the trails were totally soaked. Climbing out of that little canyon was tough but I could smell the barn at that point so I kept pushing. We were still together when we crested that climb, but I lost Bob shortly afterwards. I couldn't tell when I lost him since it was dark and raining, but I knew he was way behind since I couldn't see his headlamp. After fooling with my light a little bit I hit the gas. Perhaps I went a little too hard down that section, I was having fun and sort of threw caution to the wind. It's a cool bit of trail to go fast on. My legs felt great and I ended up passing quite a few people. Lots of mud and standing water towards the bottom coming back into Cascade Locks at mile 58.

When I got to the aid, I looked around for my wife for a minute, grabbed another quesadilla and some Coke and left right away. I texted her to meet me at the finish since I didn't need much. I ended up paying a price for my 4-5 miles of hard downhill though. My legs still felt good, but my right knee was killing me on any kind of uphill. There's a bit of a technical section for about a mile coming out of the aid that was a little tough for me to manage, but it went by quick enough. Eventually, you hit the paved path and take that all the way back into town, so it's pavement or sidewalk till you hit the finish in the park. Those last couple miles were fun though. It was still raining heavily and once I got into town there were plenty of people around to cheer and shout encouragement, which gave me a good lift.

The finish line was somewhat uneventful. It was dark and cold, I collected my beer glass and went straight for the clubhouse. The full effect of being cold and wet for 15 hours immediately set in. Thankfully, C came in and found me right away, so I was able to get some warm dry clothes on and eat. Hot food never tasted so good! The burrito buffet hit the spot and I was so glad to be done. It was a fun environment, most everyone was in a good mood and recounting their days. I always enjoy those post race moments with random strangers. About 10-15 min later Bob came rolling in. He was pretty stoked and glad to be done. Another 100k in the books and we both got our Western qualifiers for the year. Considering the conditions, I think we did great and we were both happy with our performance.

Aftermath, Notes and Analysis

So we were nowhere near what I thought we would do time wise. I don't get overly concerned with that on these longer ultra's, especially when running with someone else. You never quite know how things are going to go, and the weather really made this one tough. I was 136th (15:!4:33) out of 317 starters, 112 did not finish. We spent A LOT of time at aid stations. Way more than I would normally spend for various reasons, but our moving pace was actually pretty quick. It was a weird day for me, I wasn't quite mentally prepared to run with someone else. Nothing bad, but my headspace was a little off for a lot of the day. We had a great time though, and it was nice to have someone pull me through the rough patches. The course was pretty much what I expected. I felt very well prepared for it. Now that I have some things in perspective, it was the end of a very long race season for me and I wasn't fully healthy for it. It was a big confidence booster though, and I really want to take a swing at the next long one I do.

I've done a few of Daybreak's races now. I love their courses, I think they continue to improve, but occasionally there's something not good that sticks out. That Ainsworth aid station not having enough food was a tough one, seems like a planning issue that can be fixed. The other thing was having Spring Energy be the gel sponsor. I use Spring, and really like their products, but Bob noted they were pretty expensive and we later found out you could only grab 1 per aid station. While it didn't bug me, it was a topic of discussion among some of the runners. Besides those couple things, I thought the aids were great! This course parallels the highway for most of the first 35 miles, which makes it pretty noisy due to trucks and other traffic. The coverage for all of the races was awesome. Live tracking was cool too, though mine didn't work, Bob's did and it helped keep our families in the loop. Crewing was easy for C, maps were easily accessible and she had no problem figuring out where to go. My watch was crap, not sure why, normally it's relatively accurate, but way off on this one. I'll add the Strava link any way, but the course is pretty spot on for 100k despite what my watch says. https://www.strava.com/activities/8816514719/overview The other cool thing is free pics! The two on course photos of me and Bob are by Somer Kreisman (@sommerrunner).

I highly recommend this race. It's a classic PNW event and one of the cooler ultra's in the US. I wish we had a little bit nicer day, but I think the way this one played out will hang it in my memory a lot longer. Huge thanks to Bob for doing this one with me! Those 15 hours went by quick, and I definitely learned some things. Big thanks to my wife, Crystal, for coming with me and crewing the both of us, and for helping to get my body ready for these big days. Thanks to Daybreak and Freetrail for a top notch event. For coaching inquiries or if you just want some info on this race, hit me up on the contact page.

As always thanks for reading!

FF