24 Hours Of Sunlight — Eric Sullivan Sets New World Record

Update, Monday, Feb 25:
It’s Monday morning. I was on my feet for about 31 hours straight yesterday doing support at Sunlight, and I wasn’t the only one. Amazing how the human body holds up (sort of). I got up to do a quick post, then I think I’ll take a break for a while longer…

The big news is of course Sullivan’s new record of 34 laps and 51,068 feet, but we now have a new women’s world record by Molly Zurn (22 laps), and of course we’ve always got to pump our own team “Future Ski Bums of America,” who got a nice second place podium finish for their class, and were third overall. Flippin Sweet Moves, who got first in our class, said they were “watching you guys the whole time.” Flippin beat us by a few laps, but not without some effort. Look out next year you guys, those kids were fiddling with their Ipods too much, they get that wired and they’ll pick up at least 3 minutes a lap (just kidding).

Future Ski Bums of America. Mike Eaton, Jason Caudill, Luke Caudill, Louie Dawson (L to R). Thanks to Wasatch Skiing we came up with three pair of Trabs, and BD kept Mike going on a pair of Stigmas we keep in our quiver. Wall to wall Dynafit bindings, but of course.

Polly McLean, who we were also doing support for, got a solid second in women’s solo. After Molly stopped when she was sure of a win, Polly toughed it out to the end of the race for a few more laps, thus showing that she’s got to be one of the toughest people out there in this type of race. Can you imagine being on your feet, on skis, for more than 24 hours straight? Trying to figure out strategy while attempting to eat and drink enough, not fall on the downhill, and more? Wow. No wonder Andrew McLean is always in such good shape. He has to follow Polly around.

We were also helping women’s solo Elizabeth Schulte, who was battling for third with Joy Schneiter. Toward the end of the race is looked like Joy had quit, so Elizabeth decided to get in a another lap and perhaps move into third. But who’s just behind her but Joy? The two got to talking and decided to share third. Camaraderie is one of the traditions of this race, nice to see it still happening.

See the Glenwood Post coverage here. Time for some more rest…

It happened just a few minutes ago. Eric Sullivan was out on his 32 lap to match the world record of 50,000 human powered vertical feet on skis, he came in, left on another lap, and the rest is history! Sully actually looked pretty good — I’m wondering if he’ll go for a topper lap to cement his feat and make it harder to match. It’s just after 10:00 AM. We’ve got a battle going for women’s solo third and fourth, Poly has locked second as far as we can tell (and is trying to get in one last lap as I write), and Molly Zurn decided to pack it in with a solid first place with 22 laps, which is now the women’s record at 33,000 feet and change. Congratulations all!

8 Responses to “24 Hours Of Sunlight — Eric Sullivan Sets New World Record”

1. tony nitti February 25th, 2008 8:23 am

   Lou, I want those kids tested for EPO. They got faster as they went on! Kudos to the Future Ski Bums; that was an extremely impressive performance. We had to gut out the last 16 hours with only 3 guys, and I’m pretty destroyed today. Great seeing you at the race and here’s to hoping those kids enjoy college a bit too much next year so we can find our way onto the podium.

2. Lou February 25th, 2008 8:35 am

   Tony, considering you kept it going with three guys, I’m impressed. Don’t know if the Future Ski Bums will return next year, I hope they do! The kids are all experienced athletes and good at pacing themselves. Our mistake is that we should have studied last year’s times and been a bit more careful about getting faster initial times so that we had chased Flippin Sweet Moves more effectively. Next year.

3. Jim February 25th, 2008 9:56 am

   Hey Lou
   congrats to the FSBOA, they should give the Boy Scouts some good competition for members.

   What model of Dynafits was the team using? Looks like the race/speedlite model. how do those hold up. I was looking into a race rig but the lowtech race seemed a bit too spartan
   jim

4. Lou February 25th, 2008 11:19 am

   Jim, three of the ski sets had TLT of various vintage with some race mods such as alu top plate. We also had a pair of Trab Aero with the Ti race binding. Our biggest problem was having enough glide skins to go around. Next year we’ll be wall-to-wall mohair. Not sure how much that slows down a lap, but it’s got to be a factor (along with many others.)

5. powderjunky February 25th, 2008 12:11 pm

   Cheers to all who competed! What a test of endurance!

6. Gareth February 25th, 2008 4:44 pm

   That looks like a great race, we must organise something more social out here, our local series is way to serious. They are half way through the World Ski Mountaineering Champs over the hill in Switzerland. You can see the conditions are a bit bare after 14 days of sunshine. Have a look at the vid if you want to see the euro types getting serious. http://www.skimo.org/node/1677

7. Jamie February 26th, 2008 11:46 pm

   I like louies face along with the tight pants and giant jacket, haha. Louies going to kill me tomorrow at school if he reads this. I have more pictures to blackmail him with from the 24 hours and other trips. just kidding, that was a fun night. I will see you guys later, my brothers say “thank you alot Lou,” alright, have a good one.

8. Lisa February 27th, 2008 3:59 am

   Jamie, next year, “You’re it!” I expect to see you and your team on the podium. We’ll be your support.