Friday, August 07, 2009

A Southern Oregon Beer Mile

**Warning** Some the images below are graphic. It's advised that you do not try the following activity at home alone.

The official rules can be found on The Beer Mile website. We won't go into the specifics. All that can be said is that you drink a can of beer before each of the four laps you run. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? But as many folks found out last night, it's not easy to keep it all down. Not easy at all!

Roughly 40 folks started the August Beer Mile in Ashland, OR. Most finished. So how did folks fare? There were three unofficial, official finishers under seven minutes. Hal Koerner in 6:50.7, Todd Ragsdale in 6:55.0 and Erik Skaggs in 6:57.0. Rob Cain and Heidi Bosworth recorded the slowest, but still respectible time of 16:38. Thanks to all those who put aside their vices, egos and doubts to participate this year. Nice work eveyone! On to "some" photos...

Our Beer Mile Logo. Look for it coming to a theater near you.


Leland and Renn get their groove on pre-race. Costumes are encouraged.


Tim and Aaron pose pre-race.


The first beer is always the easiest.


Maria and Heidi drink up. A hand on the forehead was a position often assumed for this event.


The contenders down their tasty beverages.


Worse than running the event is the clean-up after all the carnage. They were ready! Thanks!


Ragsdale puts it down! Has he done this before?


More than drinking was done. Bree Ray sprints to finish her mile. Looks as if most of her beer ran down the front?


The lead pack on lap one. Are those spikes Hal?


The chase pack.


Torrence loses his on the fourth lap. Penalty lap assessed.


That'll be a penalty lap for you too, Jenn. Does anyone have a mop?


Ixel likes the foam and won the women's race (no time recorded though). Heidi still has her hand on her forehead!


Your 2009 Beer Mile Champion. Hal Koerner, 6:50.7


The Faces of Agony.


It's simple. It's just you, the track and your beverage. Don't miss out next time. Right?

25 comments:

Speedgoat Karl said...

I would have come to Ashland for this race. Koerner would be toast!

Rennaker said...

I'm training for the next one right now...

That was a great turnout for our first beer mile!

Aaron Brian definitely wins the costume award
Ian with wins the sweetest tights, although Leland in second with his sweet ass tights
Macdog did it right with the O'douls
Thanks for the many many spectators, you made it even more fun!

slowrunner77 said...

sweetest tights, huh? i'm sure glad Ian wasn't wearing those in Redding '08! You guys have all the fun up north!! Congrats Hal. Although I walk a fine line with my "premium" mixture of beer drinking and running (currently planning a Dogfish Head brew tour/Dogfish Dash 10k/Yankees-Sox game in September) I doubt I could break 8 minutes, especially Drinking PBR!!! Keep me in the loop for the second annual...have beer will travel!

Derrick said...

Living in Kingston where the 'Kingston Beer Mile Rules' originated, I'm surprised at the amount of American 4% beer there!!!

You need some good Canadian 5% beer!

Great report and photos!

HeidiHo said...

That is hysterical!
The hand on the forehead means
"WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!"
Enjoyed all 16:38 minutes of it.
The last lap was great.
Rob Cain Rocks!

AJW said...

I want in next year. I think I could give Hal a run for his money. And Skaggs, jeez, I can't believe he let the old man take him down.

Rogue Valley Runners said...

They all thought they were going to take the 180lber down!!!

Better luck next year.

hk

Anton said...

Three under seven is impressive. Way to knock 'em down, Hal. In college, every time there was ever any beer drinking occurring my friends and I got in the habit of doing a little Beer Mile training: sprint a couple laps around the outside of the building (to incur some sort of oxygen debt) and then chug a beverage. Always a good start to the night...

Dory said...

Nice, 40 people. PBR brought in the riff raff from Medford and CP eh? Nice picture of Jenn, that is sweet.

Can't believe I wasn't invited. I better be notified of the next one.

max

Unknown said...

Yeah we have the same race here in memphis every year in August called the H.U.R.L.(human energy resource league) Mile they publish the results in the paper every Sunday following. lol.

Our record is 5:57. Vic Perini back in 97 or 98.

Let's hold the World Championship? You have to qualify locally. And the host city provides the beverage.

Lots of Fun!

trudginalong said...

This is wonderful.

Slowman said...

I think the photos captured the event from the runners perspective well. What was needed were photos of the spectators. Their faces said it all and their emotions ran the gamut from horror, humor, pity, feeling sorry for us, schadenfreude, shame, and outright revolt.
I’m just glad Heidi was there to help sooth my delicate ego. You’re not really DFL when there’s a tie are you?

Koz said...

I'm in WS next year but maybe it would be more fun to try and peak for this event! That shot of Shelton has mag cover written (or is that splashed?) all over it. And...Mr. 100 Miles mentioned on his blog that Mr. Smiles would have solidified his bid for runner of the year honors with a W at WR but, forget about that, this performance is where it's at. I mean who can argue with this kind of versatility? Time for a cold one...and a run.

saschasdad said...

This definitely makes me want to organize one of these in central Oregon. In fact, I've already started talking to a few folks. Then we can have a grudge match - Southern Oregonians vs. Central Oregonians. Who has the fastest running alcoholics?

BTW Jenn, bad form on the track. At least Ian was on the grass.

AJW said...

I hafta agree Sean on that one. Glad to see that Ian's experience got him to puke in the grass.

Anonymous said...

we had ours in town a few weeks ago under humid conditions. I would encourage the use of a beer bong if you are looking to edge your closest competitors. Old Milwaukee or Leinenkugels works best up here. I see you chose the rice beer. nice jesterwear too.

-wynn

Anonymous said...

Slowrunner77:

A: that would be just cruelty to great beer to purge on DogFishHead.

B: On the other hand if someone were to slam four DogFishHead 120 minute IPA's, well then that could be worthy of a performance of the year considering each bottle is in 18% abv, or 40 proof. run, slam, run slam, run, slam, run, slam, then run to detox.

jenn said...

sean i know first hand that you have no room to talk when it comes to puking on a race course. or on a cot. or in an aid station...for six hours...

Aaron said...

Nothing like some beer to fire up the blog comment community. And finally a ultra running topic (though the association is loose) where I have enough experience to comment.

Solid time Hal. Really solid. Perhaps better than your WS finish. I know more than a few sub 4 minute milers (minus the beer) that would be taken down by that time.

Rod Bien said...

man, Jenn even bonks in "beer miles"?

Billy Barnett said...

See everyone for the bi-annual Ashland beer mile in mid september, I'll be shootin' from the hip!! Nice comment Rod, I nearly spit out my drink.

Annie Taylor said...

It appears the over-forty crowd was missing from this event. Some of us were pretty good drinkers in our day -- maybe not good runners, but we'd still provide some competition. Looking forward to the second annual beer mile.

Jessica DeLine said...

Sean - great idea! I think we need one in Portland too. Portlanders would probably take it over Central and Southern. We have way more beer drinkers/runners per capita here ;)

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