Saddleback Marathon Race Report

We had a nice old school, mountain marathon on Veterans day this year (11/11/23) – small & cozy. The weather was perfect, cold in the morning (around 50F), warmer in the afternoon (70F plus some). We were blessed with blue skies, beautiful trails and the entire campground, both upper and lower, all to ourselves. That’s right, though most of the campground’s renovations seem nearly completed, the place remains closed to the public.  Thank you Forest Service for permitting our event!

We had a total of 25 registrants, 5 DNS (did not show), 7 DNF (did not finish), and 13 Finishers. It was a super tough course (and long to boot). The course also was a re-route again this year (trails still haven’t re-opened after #HolyFire). We saw lots of triumphs and some tough defeats on the course as is always the case with sports, especially trail runs. Every one of the runners did an awesome job.

The original course (Under “Big Baz) was short by 3 miles. I really didn’t mind that one bit. It was difficult enough. My preference is to go over on mileage though. Calico 30k is always more than 30k. Even one San Diego Rock n’ roll marathon I ran, I came in over 27 miles on my garmin. On these Saddleback Mountain re-routes, I especially aim for the 26 miles and go over some just to make sure. My measurements came to 26.8. As is with the case taking measurements with our gps tools, others who ran the race reported from 27 to 28 plus some. This of course made the 2023 Saddleback Marathon even more difficult.

Looking down toward Start/Finish (lower Blue Jay) from Long Cyn Rd

Lower Blue Jay
       
Top 3 Finishers

Dan Friedman	4:50:57
Michael Karch	4:54:06
Cameron Robles	5:53:52

Full results here. Females not listed above because all females were “Early Start”, which technically do not place, though do receive an official finishing time.

Top 3 Finishers
  Candy Store (San Juan Loop) Aid Station (photos courtesy Leon Gray)
DFL Lawrence Kosick below arriving to the finish in awesome spirits, a true sportsman. We had him marked as DNF but Bib #666 Chris Larson insisted there was a runner behind him. So, I drove up to Julie on Long Cyn Road to check her roster when sure enough, Lawrence popped up off San Juan Trail, smiling, followed by Matt, the sweep. BTW, we had the BEST volunteers -- Julie, Rick H, Matt, Scott, Whitney, Leon, Rick A, Nancy, Tracy, Dave, Lucas, & Avery. They did a huge amount of work, we are so grateful! 

It was an awesome day. I learned much. Looking forward to 11/9/24, the next marathon, this time, Big Baz’s original course!

DFL