Furnace Creek 508 race - Matt 'Desert Locust' Ruscigno

Long story short, my housemate Matt just completed the 508 mile race that I helped support (3 of us followed him in a van with water, nutrition etc). 508 miles, the equivalent of San Francisco to San Diego, or Melbourne to Sydney, with 35,000 feet of elevation gain (higher than Mt. Everest), and he did it in 37 hours with 15 minutes of sleep in total. From Santa Clarita the race passes through some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth, Death Valley, Mojave Desert, fog, sand storms, poor road conditions, 12 mile climbs, and 50mph descents. It was an honour and an adventure to support, but mostly I was thankful to be sitting in a van with air conditioning and not riding. You choose an animal totem rather than a number for the race and keep it for life, Matt was Desert Locust, almost as good as Weiner Dog, but not quite. More info and photos at Matt's blog.









Morgan 'Goat' Beeby (he did the race 3 years ago), Chris, Matt and I at the finish. And yes I am sporting a moustache in support of Matt.