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One 24 hour race you won\'t finish in 14 hours

Mark Richardson / 05.11.2008

The 7th Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Challenge promises to be just that, a challenge. The Gold Rush motto \"one 24 hour race you won\'t finish in 14 hours\", will certainly hold true again this year. The 2008 Gold Rush course is located just west of Yosemite National Park, near the towns of Groveland and Buck Meadows. Fourteen co-ed three and four person teams will travel 100 miles and gain 9,000 vertical feet, navigating scenic ridges, canyons, valleys and waterways of Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties. Thousands of tourists pass through this area every year on their way to Yosemite and aren\'t aware of the recreational opportunities this area has to offer.

On Friday night, November 7th teams will gather near Groveland, California for a race registration and rope skills checks. They will also be get to choose between two free pre-race clinics; Foot Care for Adventure Racers by John Vonhoff, author of Fixing Your Feet, and Navigating with Map and Compass by Adrian Crane. Before the pre-race briefing the Gold Rush crew will serve up a hearty pre-race meal. While they eat they\'ll learn what lies ahead.

Course highlights are amazing vistas from a rappel site near the high point of the course. Racers will trek the Hamby Trail located near the Tuolumne River which is a strenuous 3 mile trail with approximately 40 switchbacks gaining 1850 feet. Gold Rush has packed as much scenic beauty as possible into the front half of the race so that racers can appreciate the amazing landscape before the 14 hours of night begin. Not only will the darkness make it more difficult to navigate, it will bring with it near freezing temperatures. Veterans of the Gold Rush 24 Hour Adventure Challenge call the race \"Cold Rush\", because the fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains never fails to bring and overnight chill to the event. Rain overnight in the 2007 Gold Rush decimated the field. This year the forcast is for partly cloudy skies with highs in the mid-60\'s and lows near freezing.

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