Wasatch Back Live Webcast is here!

[James Winzenz]

Yes, like Del Sol, in fact put on by the same group - Ragnar Relays.  WBR stands for Wasatch Back Relay.  I think there is a link in this topic to the web page where you can see how challenging it is . . .

[MikL]

Yep...it is run by the same group, Ragnar. It is (I think) 188 miles from Logan to Park City. Our 2 FRB teams are trying to win it and there are over 550 teams!

8:30 MST: I just talked to Sasha. Tyler ran the 3rd leg in 34:42, 1:12 behind Sasha Science. He struggled with the heat. Walter ran 31:00 and was 37 ahead of SS, and Sasha ran 47:59, 41 sec ahead of SS. Jeff is running now and they are about 8 minutes behind a very strong Van 1 for BYU. The rest of their van consists of Aaron Robison, John Cotter, and Tyrel Jensen. Most of their van is the BYU traveling squad. The blue team was about 8 min behind the white team at the third exchange. More updates after Jeff finishes and hands off to van 2! (I told them to pick it up!)

8:47 MST: Jeff ran in 39:06, giving Van 1 a total time of 3:40:54 when they handed off to van 2. They are about 1 minute behind SS. They are 12:42 behind BYU and in a secure 2nd place. They haven't seen the blue team yet. Sasha mentioned John Cotter ran Sasha's same leg in 43:44!

8:55 MST: The blue team hit the first major exchange (van 1 done, 6 legs completed) 13:05 behind the white team and 30 seconds ahead of Runners Corner team.

[adam]

Oh, thats jon Kotter! He served a mission in Rome while I was in Sicily. We were in the MTC together a long time ago. Good to see him running strong again!

[Josse]

The night is young!

[MikL]

9:30 MST: Taylor ran 23:23 and Dave ran 19:05, both just a little slow from their projections. Adam is running and BYU has already handed off at the next exchange, so they don't know how far behind they are. Come on guys!!!

10:30 MST: Adam ran 19:19 a little faster than predicted and Seth ran 17:11, just a tad slow. Logan should be finished so Clyde is running now. More updates in a bit. Is anyone still checking?

[Marion McClellan]

yep, still reading.  These guys are AWESOME!!!

[MikL]

11:22 Last update until morning...
Van 2 passed back to Van 1 16:10 behind BYU, so van 2 lost less than 3 minutes to BYU. Kyle Perry ran 43:33 for BYU on leg 13. I haven't even heard from Clyde to see how they are feeling, but I'll give them a call in the morning around 6:30 to see where they are. Jeff is running right now. Goodnight!

Just heard from Clyde. He ran 22:00 on his leg, just a few seconds slow from SS. They are headed to the next major exchange to get some sleep. They passed Hayden running and were all yelling at him and I heard someone say, "He's bookin it!" Now goodnight for real.

[Sarah Pachev]

I finally got to talk to Sasha this morning at 7:30 or so. He said they were about 40 minutes behind BYU and about 40 minutes ahead of the 3rd place team..so a solid 2nd place. Approximate numbers of course. Sasha also said he got a record amount of sleep on one of these relays...1 hour 10 minutes!!!

[MikL]

8:26 update: The white team is on their last van. They are about 10 minutes behind projected schedule and Sasha thinks they will come in second to BYU by about an hour. We should come in about 17 hours 50 min. Sasha was pumped about Jeff M's second leg, where he was only 32 seconds slower than Kyle Perry on that leg. He ran 44:05 for about 8 1/2 miles. Hayden beat his projections on his 2nd and 3rd legs. Tyler and Jeff S were a little slow due to heat on the first leg for Tyler and killer downhill for Jeff. Sasha was slow on his second leg but made up for it on his 3rd leg. He got down to 4:36 pace on the 8% grade downhill. White was beating Blue by about 35 min halfway through.

I just talked to Cody who is with the Blue team. They are about 3 minutes ahead of 26.2 and Runners Corner. Our van 2 has been better than theirs on both legs, so we should be a solid 2-3 for the FRB teams. He said Blue is about 40 min behind White. Blue is about 6 min behind their projections. The Wildbull is running leg 31 right now. I guess he's even managed to get a couple numbers on this trip!

[Michelle Lowry]

Thank you for the updates MikL.  You can tell we are watching!

[James Winzenz]

I would consider that to be very good, considering BYU brought several of their current scholarship athletes, including both Kyle Perry and Tyrel Jensen, who were both indoor all-americans!

[MikL]

I just talked to Clyde. Logan is running now and will pass off to Clyde who will finish for the white team. They sound tired! Clyde said he hasn't been running very good...typical relay stomach issues. Seth ran the Ragnar leg and beat the record he set last year on that horrible uphill killer! They are having fun but I'm sure ready to be done and get some sleep! He'll call back when they are finished.

10:20: Sasha called...BYU finished in 17:19:34. He projects us to finish around 17:54-55. Not bad. Seth ran Ragnar in 29:12.

[MikL]

Well Sasha was right. 17:54:16 for the White team. 5:56 pace overall, 2nd place. Good job guys!

[James Winzenz]

Woohoo!  Sounds like they made up some time on the BYU team - finished 34 minutes behind them.  Congratulations to the White team!

[MikL]

12:03 MST: The Blue Team just finished in 18:54:03, 3rd place! 6:15 pace. Almost exactly one hour after the white team. They had a wrong turn on the last leg and Steve Olsen was injured (foot) at some point so the Wildbull filled in for him! They still haven't seen 26.2 or Runners Corner come in. There was another team that started at 4:00 p.m. yesterday that came in just before them, but they beat them by enough that they kept 3rd.

Good job to both teams. That is an awesome showing for the FRB! I'm sure everyone will have fun stories to post after they take a good, long nap!