Saturday, September 25, 2010

Best Dam Run Elevation Profile

Saw several references, in the days leading up to the race, to the Best Dam Run 10K course as "downhill," but never saw graphic or numeric evidence. Not that I didn't buy the claim, I was just wondering how darn downhill it was. Having now run the race, Garmin strapped on, I present:



Garmin says the race started at 737 feet above sea level and finished at 465. It also reports we climbed 103 feet and dropped 353 feet. That all doesn't quite add up, nets of -272 vs. -250. But close enough. Say it's a 250-foot drop: that works out to an elevation loss of 7.6 meters per kilometer. As a point of comparison, marathon courses with a drop greater than 3.25 m/km don't count for U.S. Olympic Trials qualification purposes.