West Grey Runner wrote:Wow Albertatraildog , great pics and an ever more amazing time. I understand that only 1 in 3 solo participants finish! What was the #1 factor in the DNFs?
Good question. It was warm this year, so that may of had something to do with the DNFs, but with 149/418 soloists finishing this year's numbers are better than average.
No doubt some of those who dropped out after only completing one leg were people who were unable to get into the relay and only ever wanted to do a single leg.
There were a lot of folks, including a lot of relay teams who timed out on leg three. There was a bit of a controversy this year as the advertised 7:30pm cut off was changed by the RD to 7:00pm. The vast majority of people had no idea of the change. For those hugging the cut-off time, this put them over the line. There are a LOT of folks discussing this online who are quite upset.
Dehydration hit several folks who I ran across who had nothing to drink in the middle of a leg. There were fewer water sources along the way this year due to it being so dry.
Lack of calories hit many I am sure. I became extremely nausious on Mt Hamel and never ate much after that.
Sodium / electrolyte deficiency is a pretty guaranteed way to come down with cramping and mental funk. I took Succeed S!Caps every hour, which I think helped a lot.
There is a lot to deal with during a race this epic. What it really comes down to more than anything else is "attitude". You can push through a lot of pain and issues along the way if you stay 100% positive that you will succeed. The mind is usually more responsible for DNFs than is the body.
