Sacramento Running News

Under rainy and slippery conditions, Leor Pantilat of San Carlos earned the win with a 3:54:29 this week at the 28th running of the Quad Dipsea. Leor joins Erik Skaggs and Carl Anderson in a very small club of runners who have ever broken four hours on this course.

ALSO women’s winner Caren Spore, of Davis, makes history by setting a new course record of 4:38:33!

The Quad Dipsea is a Northern California self-abuse tradition, based on the “more is better” philosophy of ultrarunning and  takes existing, difficult trail runs–Dipsea and Double Dipsea–and makes them longer.

The official course description reads:

It begins at the Old Mill Park, then up three flights of stairs as tall as a fifty-story building, and up some more through an old horse ranch to Windy Gap. Then it plunges down into Muir Woods across Redwood Creek and begins a tough grind up through the trees over trails named “Dynamite” and “Cardiac.” At the top of Cardiac, the course levels out before it plunges down through the “Swoop”, over the rocks and roots of “Steep Ravine” and the discouragingly steep climb up “Insult Hill.” Finally, as the course follows the relatively gentle slope of The Moors toward the ocean, Stinson Beach is in sight a mile ahead.

Once to Stinson, you turn around an head back to the start following the same course.

Now that you have done the double Dipsea, DO IT AGAIN for the QUAD!

Makes you want to sign up for next year’s race doesn’t it? They fail to mention the approximately 9,200 feet of climb and descent and 2,700 stair-steps packed into the 28.4 mile race.

Ultrarunning online has a short post about the event.

Here’s a video of runners tackling a flight of stairs during the 2008 race.