2007 Athens Big-Fork Marathon and 17 Mile Fun Run

Big Fork Arkansas Saturday January 6th, 2007

by Brian Hoover

For years a good friend and fellow Tatur, Ken Childress has been telling me about this race that the Arkansas Ultra Running Association (AURA) puts on. It is called the Athens-Big Fork (ABF) Trail Marathon. Any time the mention of a tough course or steep climb was mentioned during our training runs, inevitably Ken would bring up this Athens-Big Fork race. Well I had to find out for myself if this race was as difficult as it was hyped up to be. The general rule is to take your regular marathon time, double it, and that is what you could expect to finish this marathon in.

After the Turkey and Taturs 50K that our TATUR (Tulsa Area Trail & Ultra Runners) cough...shameless plug...club had put on, I made the commitment to run the ABF 26.2. I talked with Tim King and Raton Parmain, a couple of elite trail runners, about it and they told me about the same thing. They both swear they will never do it again after each race, yet find themselves back almost every year for more punishment. Even my wife, Kathy Sager-Hoover, has done it and vows never to attempt it again.

The website has several warnings on it. Here are a few of them:

"This event is NOT for trail-newbies." and " If you are not an experienced trail- or ultra-runner (or adventure racer), we happily invite you to one of the other UTS runs, BUT NOT THIS ONE.  To further make their point they state, "This is a difficult event on a difficult trail that presents many opportunities for one to get lost, injured, exhausted, or incapacitated--with sparse access for rescue." To discourage the masochists they warn..."Please do not be enticed into trying this run because of the difficulty warning--it is merely an honest attempt at preventing the run organizers from having to find and rescue someone ill-equipped for the event. Then they even go so far as to say, "If you cannot find the Big Fork Community Center without further instructions--please disregard this race."

Well Hells Bells!!! Sign me up!!!

We tried to persuade several other Taturs to join us in this adventure but most made up flimsy excuses as to why they could not go to the event. We ended up with a group of seven hard-core trail runners making the trip into the Ouchita Mountains for this insane trail run. Alex Eaton and I, left Tulsa about 4:30pm. Dennis Crosby (our adventure racing buddy) drove down by his self. Ken and Dana Childress, and Mike and Diana Snyder piled into Mike's Blazer and left Tulsa around 8pm for the four hour ride to Mena Arkansas where all seven of us ended up staying the night.

The cast L-R Baloo the Dog, Diana and Mike Snyder, Alex Eaton, Dennis Crosby, Ken and Dana Childress

As per my pre-race ritual I find it helpful to drink a few (as in two, maybe three) beers the night before a big race. It relaxes me and I can usually sleep better with some good German beer (Spaten Optimator) coursing through my veins. Well for some reason I did not have any imported beer, I only had some Michelob Ultra. So I proceeded to drink about seven of these within a short period of time. This was not my normal routine and consequently woke up with a small hangover. But I digress.

Alex, Dennis, and I arrived at the Lime Tree Motel in Mena Arkansas around 8pm. Alex jumped in the shower then yelled out asking if I had any shampoo. I looked in my little bathroom bag and tossed him the small clear travel size bottle of what I thought was shampoo. It was almost empty but Alex said he would add some water to the bottle and get the last of the shampoo out. After his shower, he asked me if I was sure that the bottle was shampoo. We later determined that he had washed his hair with styling gel. Oops!!

Alex, right before his gel shower

We laid out our clothing, watched a little TV and succumbed to the beer that we drank. We were probably asleep by 9:30 pm. At midnight I hear a knock on the motel door. Alex and I bolt awake and look out the peephole and see the rest of our entourage, Ken, Dana, Mike and Diana wanting to be let in. As soon as I opened the door they burst in, yanked the covers off both of our beds and start yelling, "Wake up ya bums" Needles to say, Alex and I quickly threw these four scoundrels out of our room.

I fell back asleep for about and hour only to find myself shivering and listening to an air-conditioner which was running full blast. Mike Snyder had messed with the A/C unit before he left out motel room. Everyone has to be a joker! BRRRR !! We finally got back to sleep and the following morning Alex and I dressed and drove to the McDonald's across the street and ran into another runner named Paul Lowrey who had done the race before. Paul echoed all the warnings as to the difficulty of the course.

Unlike most races that I participate in, we actually arrived to the start area early. The race starts in the tiny town of Big Fork Arkansas. The town boasts a dozen homes, a tiny general store (known as the Big Fork Mall), a community center where the school once was located, and three churches. The Community Center serves as race central. The race itself is free. However, they ask that you donate at least $5 which goes to help the Community Center. There are no t-shirts, awards, minimally but adequately stocked aid stations and a great group of people. David Samuel, Stan and Chrissy Ferguson, Lou and Charlie Peyton, and a few others help organize this amazing race. Only about thirty people finish the marathon each year. It is an out and back course which takes you over eight mountains on the way out and the same eight on the way back.

The Big Fork Community Center. Three minutes before the start of the race

The Athens-Big Fork Trail dates back 126 years to 1880 and was originally designed to for the Postal Service to deliver mail between Athens and Big Fork Arkansas. The trail gradually deteriorated for a number of years then was partly restored in 1986 then finished in 1993. Rather than running east to west along creek beds like other trails on the Caddo Ranger District, this trail runs north to south across the mountains. The trail features include spectacular views of the Ouachita Mountains from such high points as Eagle Rock Vista, Brushheap Mountain and Hurricane Knob. A mystical cave, located 35 feet below the trail on the south side of Brushy Mountain and a geologic outcropping, located 150 feet south of the highest point on Brushy Mountain, add to the experience.

We entered the Community Center and saw a lot of very fast trail veterans including Paul Schoenlaub, Stan Ferguson, Kevin Dorsey, Darin Hoover (no relation), Natalie McBee Paul Lowrey and Susy Phillips. We saw some friends who we have met before including Carrie DuPriest, Pete Ireland, Patty Groth, Ken Barton, and Mike Richardson.. This race does not have many slugs in it. Most of this crowd are heavy hitters who can flat out move. Our Tulsa gang mingled and went over race strategy. I had decided that I would take it very easy and stay with Ken at least till the 13.1 mile turnaround. Dana and Diana opted to sit this race out. However they did hike up to the first mountain. It is so great to have supportive spouses.

At 8:04 we were off and running. I ran with a Garmin 205 GPS watch and it performed beautifully. The race starts on State Hwy 8 where the altitude was 1,076 feet above sea level. We went south for about 0.8 miles, then turned right onto a 1.25 mile dirt road before we hit the trail head. At the trail head we dropped some gloves, shirts, hat and other cold weather items that we did not need anymore. Alex was trying to run this event as fast as possible and started to leave us in the dust as soon as we started running on the single track trail. Ken, Mike, Dennis and I took it very slow and easy. We ended up pretty much staying together as a foursome till just before the 13.1 mile turn-around. We would walk all the hills, run the few flat sections and jog the downhills.

Back of the packers at the start

When you read run in this report it really means we are jogging along one of the rare flat portions of the trail. When you read jog, that means we are chugging along a downhill section trying to keep our speed slow enough to avoid killing ourselves. Walking means that we are climbing/crawling up the mountains and hanging on to trees until we can catch our breath enough to go on.

Let me explain more about the trail. First of all, it is very, very technical. Most of the 10.1 mile trail proper is strewn with 1" to 3' loose granite/quartz stones that make twisting an ankle very easy. Running the downhills on these loose stones is like trying to run on marbles. The trail itself is less that a foot wide in many places and most is covered in both deciduous tree leaves and pine needles which make it very hard to know what lies beneath. Several sections are muddy and water often flows down the trail making the leaves very slippery. What makes matters worse is that much of the trail features 100'-300' nearly vertical cliffs to one side of the trail or other.

One slip or misstep and you will fall/tumble till a tree stops you. Even if you only fall 8-10' the mountain is so steep that getting back up to trail level would be very difficult. Add to all this is the fact that towards the middle to end of this race many participants get dizzy from fatigue. There are about 22 stream crossings and two river crossings. Also it is very easy to miss a turn and get off on one of the alternate interior trails. There is some debate over the amount of total ascent. I will tell you that my Garmin measured it at 12,824' of climb and descent.

A rare flat section with the normal rocks on the trail

The first two mountains that we crossed were the Missouri Mountain and Hurricane Knob. Even though they were steep climbs, we all had fresh legs and we motored up them pretty fast. Dennis took a beautiful fall. It was like watching a gymnast do a controlled tumble. He popped out of it with hardly even a dirty mark on his white jacket. Mike is one of those runners who can run down steep rocky downhills like a gazelle with his feet hardly touching the ground. On one section he barrelled down it at about a 5 minute/mile pace. We just watched with our mouths agape and wondered how he would adapt to blowing in a straw to move his wheelchair if he took just one wrong step.

We hit a very minimal aid station at the 4.2 mile mark. I refilled my water bottle with gatorade and grabbed a few KitKats and we were off again. At first I tried to keep my feet dry while crossing some of the smaller streams. Hikers had put large stones across the some of streams and if you were careful you could tiptoe along the slick rocks and make it across without getting your socks too wet. But more often than not I would slip and plunge my foot into the deepest coldest section of the stream and come close to getting my camera wet.

One of the shallower streams, yet I still almost fell in.

The next three mountains were McKinley Mountain (5.5 mile mark), Brier Creek Mountain (6.9 miles) and Leader Mountain (8.0 miles). The peaks averages about 1,700 ft with the valleys at about 1,100 feet. That is 600 feet of climb within about 0.5 miles of distance. That is how steep these puppys were. We would huff and puff our way to the top. Take a five second breather, wipe the sweat out of our eyes, and go back down on rubber legs.

At the seven mile mark I was running downhill through the normal leaves and rocks when I landed on a hidden rock and twisted my ankle. It hurt like crazy, but I was able to limp around for about a minute. I tried to run on it for a while. It was hurting but I could tell that it was not going to swell. It slowly got stronger and quit hurting as much. Ken and Mike called me gimp and hop-a-long Cassidy and told me there was no way they would carry me out of there. However, I knew unless I twisted it again it would be alright.

The 17 mile fun runners turn around at the second aid station which was manned by the infamous Charlie Peyton (Big Shot) The fun runners climb five mountains each way for a total of ten. We told a girl that we had been running with goodbye as she headed back toward Big Fork. I secretly wished that I could be joining her by turning around here. Even though I still felt strong overall, my hamstrings were getting sore and I was getting a bit dehydrated. The temps were still probably in the 40's yet I was sweating quite a bit. I refilled my bottle with more Gatorade drank it all down and re-refilled it again. This aid station had cake. and other goodies. I saw Patty Groth pop out of the trail and heard that she and Carrie DuPriest would be turning around also.

Aid Station at Hurricane Knob. Notice the small smudge of dirt on Dennis' white jacket (left underarm)

And we are off again. Five down thirteen to go. Mountain number six is named Brush Heap Mountain and it about killed me. First of all it is one of the mountains that you can see off in the distance and find yourself thinking, "I hope we don't have to over that bad boy" We did and it was no picnic. The trail from the previous mountain goes down to the lowest point on the valley floor. So you start at the very bottom of the mountain and climb to over 1,800' This one does not have hardly any switchbacks. It just goes straight up for 3/4 of a mile. I literally had my hands on my kneecaps pushing off with each step. My calves were burning. We even tried to walk up it backwards to use some different muscles. I thought it would never end.

When we reached the top I felt like lighting a cigar and cracking open beer to celebrate our achievement but those thoughts were quickly doused by the realization that we still had ten more peaks to summit. At about mile 11.5 we ran into the speedy Alex Eaton. Alex was a little over three miles ahead of us and still looked strong although his face was as red a beet. He told me to hurry up or else he would drink the rest of my Michelobs when he got back to the finish line. This inspired me to speed up. Beer.... Yum Beer

Red faced Alex on Brushy Mountain

Mountains seven and eight are named Brushy Mountain and Big Tom mountain, respectively. While not a walk in the park, these two were definitely easier than Brush Heap. Mike and I took off a little ahead of Dennis and Ken and we actually enjoyed about a mile of gentle downhill running. We were able to stretch our legs and for about ten minutes and for the first time, this event seemed more like a running race rather than a mountain climbing contest. Soon after this Mike kamikazeed one of the downhills before the turn-around and left me in the dust.

Ken poses near a very steep burned out section. Pictures do not do it justice.

The trail ends at the 12.7 mile mark of the race. We popped out onto a dirt road and ran another 0.4 miles west to make it an even 1/2 marathon. Here was the next aid station. I grabbed a handful of M&M's, a handful of trail mix, mixed them together, grabbed two packages of Lance peanut butter crackers, which I stuffed into my Race Ready shorts and left the aid station singing..."I got Lance in my pants and there making me dance" In all honesty they were making me cough. When I pulled them out later I was breathing pretty hard and I would pop one into my mouth, crunch down, inhale cracker dust and suffer a coughing fit for a minute or so until I could wash it down with Gatorade. I was too hungry to throw them away, so the coughing fits lasted about two miles until I polished off both packages. I crossed paths with Ken then Dennis who were heading to the turnaround and all I could manage to get out was a cough and a nod as I went by.

This is where it got ugly. As I left the aid station I actually felt pretty good. My legs only had a hint of soreness and I really had thoughts of catching up to Mike and passing a few people. As soon as I started to climb mountain number nine, Big Tom, it became quickly apparent that my legs were starting to die. My quads were throbbing the entire climb and I found myself needing to stop and rest before continuing. The downhills were not as bad but I did feel the need to brake more in order to compensate for the increasing jelly felling that was building up in my legs. I also knew that this would be the perfect time to sprain my ankle again.

Random picture

What is deceiving about the course is that a mountain that may have been easy on the way out can be extremely difficult on the way in and visa versa. While the Brushy mountain was not bad earlier it was extremely difficult on the was back. Now I know some of this can be attributed to my legs being more sore, actually most of it is that you do not notice how steep a side of a mountain is while you are running downhill. Over and over I was amazed at how it seemed like a totally new trail on the way back.

I had run the 1st half of the race with Ken Childress who knew the course and he made sure we did not take the wrong trails. I did not have that luxury on the way back as I was running by myself. I was getting very tired and to make matters worse is that the sun decided to show it's face. The temperature started creeping up and I was trying to conserve the water in my bottle and only drink after I submitted a mountain.

At mile fifteen is when it happened. I was cruising along a downhill section and was keeping my eyes glued to the trail when I looked up and realized that I had not seen a white blaze on a tree for quite a while. I debated about going further on this jeep road till I saw something I recognized or saw a white blaze when I realized that I could use my Garmin. I toggled my Garmin to map mode screen and saw that I was no longer following the bread crumb trail that the GPS unit dropped on the way out. I was heading northeast when I should have been going northwest. My Garmin also told me that I need to backtrack 4/10 of a mile. Thank goodness for modern technology. Sure enough after I backtracked 0.4 mile I saw the white blazes to the left. I should have made a left turn and instead stayed straight and this, my Garmin later told me, cost me 12 minutes and 8 seconds.

Above the black pointer indicates my wrong turn (bonus miles)

For the rest of the run I kept my eyes peeled on my trusty Garmin to show me the way. I would have made another wrong turn had it not been for my GPS watch. I was frustrated tired and wanting the day to be over. I still had six more mountains and I was slowing down considerably. From this point on my memory started to get a bit hazy and I really began getting dehydrated. Yet somehow I passed a girl who was wearing an Arkansas Pike's Peak Racing Team shirt. I later learned that she had dropped and I hoped I would not be next.

I made it to Charlie Peyton's Leader Mountain Aid station and guzzled a couple of bottles of water and headed off again. I would not say that I got dizzy, but when I stopped and tried to focus on the next mountain, my vision would zoom in and out like I was looking through a telephoto lens that was whirring in and out. My legs were coming close to cramping and I prayed that they would hold out.

The low point came on a huge climb up Hurricane Knob. I was only able to walk up about 15 paces, stop and repeat. I did this for about twenty minutes until I reached the top. I was done, put a fork in me! I even took a picture of myself on the summit so I could see how bad I looked. I was out of water and very hungry and I could not remember how far to the next aid station. I could not even recall if there was an aid station before the finish line.

At the summit of Hurricane Knob. Only the mountain in the background left.

Thankfully I did run into the last aid station, however all they had was water. I am not complaining but I really think they should have had some rib eyes on the grill , garlic bread and a six pack of beer waiting for me. I drank the water thanked the poor guy who was out there all by himself listening to people whine all day. I trudged over the last mountain which thankfully was a cakewalk and popped out of the trail where I gratefully retrieved my hat, and gloves from where I had set them down a lifetime ago. It was getting a bit chilly and the sun was not overhead anymore. I knew that I had about 2.5 more miles to go but I also knew that I would have good footing, no more mountains, streams, or cliffs to deal with. After a few minutes of running on the dirt road I was amazed at how good I felt. I was using my flatland muscles for the first time today. A brown blazer came hurtling down the road with Alex Dana, Mike and Diane in it. They jokingly told me to hop in then asked how much behind me were Ken and Dennis. I told them I had no idea and went on my way. They went further up the road to wait on Ken and I jogged the next 1.5 miles into the finish line where I wrote down my time of 8:07 minutes.

Alex finished in 6:40:XX, Mike got 7:35:XX. Ken finished fifteen minutes faster than last year with an 8:15:xx and Dennis came in at 8:59:xx. Click here for full results. This race was definitely an adventure. It will test your mind and body. If you want a difficult race with lots of goodies, people and fanfare, run Pikes' Peak. If you want a tougher challenge, a well organized low-key event with great participants and a wonderful Arkansas Trail Running Group (AURA) run in the Athens-Big Fork Marathon.

Please check out our TATUR website for other race reports and other useful crap. Also feel free to email me with any comments, corrections, or other information about this report at brian@tatur.org

See ya'll next year!!!

Brian Hoover
918-244-6918