History
A History of PRRR
(as told by the race directors)
2006
In the fall of 2006, while scrubbing dishes in his Medford apartment, Ed Warren had an idea – to get college students from outing clubs across New England to come together for a little friendly competition in the White Mountains. It would be a chance to meet other like-minded outdoors people, to create connections between outing clubs, and to have some fun competition all the while.
It was a fantastical and ungrounded idea, but with the enthusiasm and encouragement of a fantastic friend, Danny McGee, the idea began to take form. With the indispensable White Mountain Guide, Danny and Ed stayed up late into the night planning a racecourse divided into three sections that spanned the best of the Presidential Ridge. College outing clubs would assemble a relay teams and support crews to safely race across the highest mountains in New England in a single day. By early morning, still functioning on the initial adrenaline of the idea, the intrepid race founders had planned the specific racecourse, the exchange points, race rules, and a timeline for pulling off the event.
By flashing endearing smiles and twisting some reluctant arms, the guys managed to convince the Tufts Mountain Club board to get on board with this huge, crazy idea. That gave them just three weeks to convince other schools to participate, recruit volunteers, and pray hard for good weather- winter was quickly approaching. Through sheer volume of effort, the race began to materialize. Shockingly, schools seemed excited and jumped on board despite the short notice.
At 3:00 am on October 14th, the race directors and support crew awoke after little sleep and drove through the dark to Crawford Notch, the race’s starting point. There were still millions of loose ends and with an empty parking lot in front of them, there was nothing to do but hope and wait for someone to show up.
Then out of the windswept darkness came a caravan of vehicles. They pulled into the parking lot headlights flashing and music blasting; bare-chested hooligans waving massive flags and hanging out of van windows. Bates had arrived. Their unbridled enthusiasm jumpstarted the morning and race day officially began. Soon, Dartmouth, Colby, Green Mountain, Castleton, MIT, and Tufts’ participants arrived, totally eight schools, 80 competitors, and over 20 volunteers.
Registration was total chaos- excited students throwing forms around in total darkness – but as the sun rose, they all blessed their luck at the beautiful blue skies it revealed. And so the race finally began.
After all of the racers had finally left, Ed led the sweep team from the start to the summit of Washington where Danny McGee and Zach Landau would then corral the racers the rest of the way to the finish line.
It was a brutal day for participants. Although the weather was good, the wind was unrelenting and the rough terrain of the Presidential Ridge made for slow going. By the time the sun began to set, there were still quite a few racers coming off the ridge. With all of the trails that funnel off the ridge and down to Appalachia, it made Danny and Zach’s job of “sweeping” difficult, but they still managed to do a fantastic job directing hikers in the right direction. When they finally arrived at the finish by headlamp there were still a couple of hikers unaccounted for. It was a stressful hour or so before the last participants finally stumbled out of the woods, exhausted but ebullient to be done.
The 2006 winner was a varsity cross-country ski racer from Dartmouth who defied the race rules by running the whole ridge by himself but did so in an astounding sub-five hour time. The first team complete team to cross the line was MIT, which consisted of three guys who did the whole ridge together. Bates, with their party buses and costumes, won the Spirit Award.
The post race party at the Tufts Loj was a big hit too.
2007
With Danny graduated, Ed was left to direct the race by himself. However, due to the huge success of the first PRRR, there were lots of volunteers ready to assist in the planning process. Key players included Jed Palmer, Chris Cote, Kipp Callahan, Bridget Belliveau, David Gainsboro, Hanah Shaw, Leo Franchi, Stephen Normandin, Patricia Pop, Justin Birudivol, Erica Fine, and Jeff Longcor.
For PRRR 2007 there was enough interest to not only have volunteers but also to have a race team. That team was headed by Stephen Normandin and included Cole Archambault, Jonathan Gregorowicz, Austin Lines, Rosie Mansfield, Rob Gleich, Alysssa Krag-Arnold, Andrew Wise, Sean O’Loughlin, Michael Brown, Elizabeth Su, Jenna Abelli, Katherine Diaz-MacInnis, Melody Feo, with Sarah Hayes as support crew.
The biggest change from the previous year was the decision to change the race course from the exposed Presidential Ridge to a more protected the contingency route. The potential move had been planned earlier due to a bad weather forecast for the race day, but the decision was only made official after a bit of debate between coordinators and team captains the morning of the event (not a smart move). The decision was the right one, but the last minute timing created some complicated logistics.
Although registration still had some room for improvement (printer failure), volunteers running on only an hour of sleep managed to get accurate team rosters and payments, give out batons, explain the new course, trail heads, and directions in a very short amount of time = success! Racers also had the pleasure of dining on hundreds of mini Cliff Bars – free samples from a company rep who we had the chance to chat up while he was touring Tufts campus one day.
When the race finally began, Justin Birudivol and Jed Palmer were already in place at the exchange points welcoming teams, heating water for hot drinks and soup, and keeping track of team arrival and departure times. Their hardwork and friendliness was one of the highlights of PRRR 2007.
When the first teams finished the race, there were burgers and PRRR t-shirts for everyone. Erica and Kipp, along with volunteers from Castleton College, did a fantastic job ensuring all racers were checked in and well fed!
Jeff Longcor headed up the sweep teams and did a brilliant job of keeping participants on course (something akin to herding cats) in spite of the added challenge of the last minute course change. He skillfully managed the situation when a few teams took wrong turns, barely survived some nasty weather, and finished after dark. All participants were eventually accounted for and there were no major injuries.
Dartmouth won PRRR 2007 with a strong co-ed team comprising mostly of varsity cross country skiers. Bates took Spirit again!
2008
In 2008 Erica Fine and Kipp Callahan took over as Race Directors, supported by a team of more than 30 Tufts volunteers. More than 90 racers from 9 schools made up the 11 teams and included the full range of undergrads, grad students, alumni, and faculty advisers (plus Ace the dog). The success of previous years had generated a huge amount of excitement. Word of the race was spreading and new schools contacted the directors, asking to be involved.
For the 2nd year in a row, the tough decision was made to use an alternate course (Garfield Ridge?) due to bad weather reports for the Presi Ridge. The decision was made only 5 or so hours before registration, but race organizers were prepared with copies of maps and directions for both courses. It turned out to be a good decision since snow and ice still covered large parts of the alternate course.
Despite all efforts to the contrary, volunteers still got only a few hours of sleep at the Tufts Loj before heading over to Crawford Depot at 5:00 am. The first checkpoint team left even earlier to make it to their site before the first racers would arrive. A new registration system of stations, check-lists, and labeled manila folders kept registration running relatively smooth. This and the absolutely amazing transportation logistics spreadsheet (including car swaps and key hand-offs) that Jeff Longcor created were huge successes in PRRR 2008.
From Crawford depot, teams drove to the race start where Jeff started them off at staggered intervals down the trail. This year sweep teams and check point volunteers sported brooms, orange reflective vests, speedos (Rob Gleich) and penguin suits (Daniel Buonaiuto). Teams handed off decorated PVC pipe batons (laminated maps inside) and Tufts fielded two teams! Finishers were greeted by friendly girls in sleeping bags and once again rewarded by a yummy BBQ and race schwag – a timeless patch. A few teams suffered from being unprepared for conditions and terrain (in experience and gear), took wrong turns, or decided to pull out of the race early or split up their groups without notifying race officials. It was dark by the time all participants were accounted for but the Tufts Checkpoint and Sweep Teams were well prepared and dealt with all situations in an impressively professional manner.
The 2008 race had three prize categories: Dartmouth took the “through-hiking” title, New Hampshire Outing Club won the relay, and Tufts got the Spirit award (a highly enthusiastic and successful group of volunteers made up for a poor performance by race teams). The Loj afterparty, which included new festive Christmas light decorations and the second annual pull-up contest, was said to be a testament to Tufts hospitality and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
2009
