SUN PRECAUTIONS 2000

BADWATER ULTRAMARATHON

     A classic race is

reborn as an epic international battlefield.

Death Valley, CA

     Sixty nine runners

from a dozen countries ran 135 miles non stop from Death Valley to Mt.
Whitney on July 27 29 in the annual Sun Precautions Badwater Ultramarathon.
The international field of athletes, ages 24 to 69 (12 women and 57 men),
ran a blistering 135 miles through temperatures up to 128F°.
The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000
of vertical ascent and 4,700
of descent. It is arguably the most demanding, extreme, and prestigious
ultramarathon in the world.

     Anatoli Kruglikov of

Russia won the men's
division with a time of 25 hours, 9 minutes, and 5 seconds, breaking Eric
Clifton's
world record by over two hours, 40 minutes. Second place Dusan Mravlje of
Slovenia finished 12 minutes later with a time of 25:21:20, followed by
Kaname Sakurai of Japan in 27:52:14 and Ivan Labutin of Russia in 29:42:24.
The women's
world record was shattered by Irina Reutovich of Russia with a time of
29:48:27, seven hours faster than the previous record set by Angelika
Castaneda. The top American finisher, Tim Hewitt of Greensburg, PA, was 6th
over the line with a time of 30:14:20. The top American female, Lynn Werner
of Seattle, WA, finished in 41:14:57, followed by Lisa Smith in 43:23:56. A
total of 49 runners completed the distance within the 60 hour cutoff.

     The 2000 race

featured the first ever truly international field assembled for this race,
with racers from England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Greece, Slovenia,
Russia, Bermuda, Taiwan, and Japan. Most of these entrants were first time
Badwater racers and so either totally ignored, or were never aware of,
"conventional Badwater wisdom." As such, when each wave start of
runners
departed at 6am, 8am, and 10am, many of the runners took off at a 10K or
marathon pace.

     The start line temp

in Badwater, at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the Western
Hemisphere, was 90+ and that quickly rose to 128 degrees. Despite these
extreme conditions, the top runners from Russia, Slovenia, and Japan simply
poured on the steam. The Americans and the rest of the field were content to
deal with their own survival and probably assumed that the frontrunners
would soon fade as they traveled through places with names like Mushroom
Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil's
Cornfield, Devil's
Golf Course, and Stove Pipe Wells.
     What the Americans didn't
seem to know, however, was that the Russians and the Slovenian are all well
known world record holders from the European ultra racing circuit and the
Japanese runner is a five time top finisher in the Race Across America bicycle
race. So it was that at the 70 mile mark in Panamint Springs, the Europeans felt
comfortable enough with their pace and their lead to stop at this famous resort
hamlet to each down a big, tall beer. Then it was straight back into the night
and onto the course to climb the second mountain range. By the next morning,
Kruglikov was crossing the line so far of any predicted schedule that race staff
and journalists from around the world were barely awake in time to document his
arrival on Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. He
ascended the 13 miles from Lone Pine to Mt. Whitney Portal in 2:51, the only
runner to break three hours for the final leg of the race.

     From that point on,

runners from around the world made their way up the mountain and triumphantly
across the finish line. Twenty three men and five women earned the coveted
Badwater Ultramarathon belt buckle by finishing in under 48 hours. Another
twenty one runners made the official course cutoff of 60 hours, including Mary
Campilongo of San Diego, who finished with just one minute, 47 seconds to spare
and completed the final 13 miles faster than the women's
winner, Reutovich of Russia!

     The course was first

officially completed in 1977 by ultra running pioneer and human potential guru
Al Arnold of Walnut Creek, CA. This run against the clock became an actual race
in 1988 under the directorship and sponsorship of the Hi Tec USA footwear
company. But after the 1999 race, which was documented in the just released
feature film "Running on the Sun," Hi Tec abandoned the race to put all
of its
marketing efforts behind the Hi Tec Adventure Racing Series.

     Filling the void,

AdventureCORPS stepped in to produce the race in 2000 and beyond. The organizers
of the annual Furnace Creek 508 bicycle race through Death Valley had been
long time fans of the Badwater event and for several years had offered a special
prize, known as the Death Valley Cup, to any athlete who completed both of the
events in the same year. (Marshall Ulrich and Angelika Castaneda are the current
Death Valley Cup record holders.) Collaborating with AdventureCORPS and serving
as its Race Ambassadors are Badwater Mayor Ben and First Lady Denise Jones, both
three time finishers.

     The title sponsor of the

2000 Badwater Ultramarathon was Sun Precautions, the Seattle based makers of
Solumbra 30+ SPF sun protective clothing, medically accepted sun protection for
sun sensitive and sun sensible people. Additional race sponsors included Brave
Soldier, The North Face, Gatorade, Hammer Gel, E Caps, Cycle Design,
mediablend.com, and thefinalcut.net.

     A live webcast of text,

photos, and videos of the 2000 race received over 95,000 page views during the
three days of the event. It remains archived at

http://www.badwaterultra.com

 for continual viewing. The 2001 Badwater Ultramarathon will take place July
25 27, 2001. Applications to compete may be completed online at
http://www.badwaterultra.com

Up to 99 athletes will be
invited to compete, based upon applications submitted, with the first of several
rounds of invitations going out on December 1, 2000. Anyone who feels up to the
challenge of completing this epic race held in Mother Nature's greatest sports
arena in under the 60 hour time limit is invited to compete. Just be sure to
bring a few foreign language dictionaries!

Contact:

Chris Kostman, President,

adventureCORPS

Phone: 310 312 1841_ Fax:

419 818 5393

Email: kostman@adventurecorps.com
and Web: http://www.badwaterultra.com

Office: 11718 Barrington Ct.,

#342 Los Angeles, CA 90049 2930 U.S.A.