MCTC Elite’s Eddie Owens become only the second athlete to record back to back wins in the Mount Tam Triple Crown. The event, held in Marin County, spans three days over Labor Day weekend with each day focusing on a different route up Mount Tam, the county’s highest peak (2,571’).
On day 1, the athletes take to the roads cycling from Mill Valley via Panoramic Highway to Mount Tam’s East Peak parking lot, a route covering 10 miles and over 2,600’ of climbing.
Day 2, athletes swap their road bikes for mountain bikes and hit dirt trails for 5.7 miles and over 2000’ of incline from Phoenix Lake, again to East Peak.
Day 3, athletes lace up their sneakers for 3.5 miles and 2,500’ of climbing taking the fastest possible running route from Mill Valley to the fire lookout tower at the very top of East Peak.
After winning this event in 2019, Eddie was keen to come back to go for the ‘repeat’.
“I feel in better shape this year compared to where I was going into the race a year ago.”
With shelter in place orders, social distancing measures and having to wear masks due to the pandemic, trying to maintain an optimum training cycle has had its disruptions. And if all of that wasn’t enough, a heatwave was forecasted over the entire weekend of the event with temperatures expected to hit triple digits.
Road Bike Stage
The cyclists maintained close contact through the tight winding streets of Mill Valley before exiting Bayview Drive, where Eddie was holding third place.
“I knew from last year, until you get to Panoramic [highway], it’s tricky,” recalled Eddie. “There are some steep roads, it’s winding, narrow and it’s easy to get out of position. There’s also a trail segment [before you reach Panoramic Drive] so my plan was to get out fast, stay near the front, definitely hit the trail segment in a good spot and once on Panoramic [highway], just settle in.”
Once the riders made it to Panoramic Highway, a beautiful stretch of coastal road with unobstructed views of Muir Woods and the Pacific Ocean, there was some shifty maneuvering going on and Eddie found himself at the back of the pack.
Twenty minutes into the race the cyclists’ ground to an abrupt halt when they came across a road accident with fire truck presence. Fortunately, this didn’t appear to be too serious and the cyclists were waved through all but 10 seconds later.
A further mile up the highway and upon reaching Pantoll campground, Eddie was able to make his way towards the front of the pack and found himself leading the race.
“My strategy at this point was to conserve energy. I didn’t want to set a hard pace from here as there was still a long way to go.”
It couldn’t have been any more than thirty seconds later that Eddie was passed by a surging Jovanni Stefani who launched a huge attack with the rest of the riders in tow.
“I wasn’t terribly concerned by Jovanni’s surge and was half expecting it,” he explained. “When the chase pack followed him, I knew they’d soon be hurting as there was still a lot of racing left and It would be hard for them to maintain Jovanni’s pace. So, I fell back a bit, maintained a solid pace and slowly began reeling guys back in.”
With about 2 miles to go, Eddie found himself closing in on Sebastian Dow for 3rd place. But, with the finish line looming Dow was able to maintain enough distance to hold on by 2 seconds with a sprinting Cassius Anderson managing to grab 4th place, just 1 second ahead of Eddie.
“It was very frustrating to have Cassius come and nip me at the line,” said Eddie. “Even though places don’t matter so much at this point, I still wanted to finish high up on the leader board.”
Eddie’s finishing time for stage 1 was 41 minutes 2 seconds, just 1 minute 19 seconds behind the day’s leader.
Mountain Bike Stage
The cyclists appeared to be caught slightly by surprise at the start of this stage, though Eddie happened to be in a good position to start strongly.
As the bikers snaked up Eldridge Grade, temperatures began creeping up as more and more sections of the route were exposed to direct sunlight.
“It was hot but the heat wasn’t an issue,” Eddie mentioned. “The mountain bike is the leg where I can lose the most time. In 2019, I was not riding clipped in and I lost about 5 minutes during this stage. This year, I have a much better mountain bike and I was riding clipped in.”
The lead pack established a steady rhythm early on, though at no point was Eddie leading the group.
“My game plan was to settle into a sustainable pace. I knew there were some uneven stretches further up the course that I wanted to keep some energy in the tank for.”
A mile into the race three riders in the lead pack opened a small gap isolating Eddie.
“I was holding a steady effort even after this breakaway but was caught and passed by another rider at the 2-mile point, which lit the fire in me. I ‘pushed on’ a little to keep him in my sights though I was not able to catch him,” added Eddie.
“I was able to catch and pass another rider from the earlier breakaway pack and get back into 4th place, so that was a nice rabbit to chase after being passed earlier”.
Eddie would hold 4th place for the remainder of the stage finishing in 35 minutes 16 seconds, an improvement of over 3 minutes from his time one year ago.
Running Stage
The final day of the event and by far the most popular, drawing close to 100 athletes in previous editions, is a foot race.
Athletes were welcomed at the start line with temperatures in the 70s and with 60% humidity. Those temperatures would only increase as the day progressed and as the athletes ascend the 3.5 miles and 2,500’ route to the fire lookout tower atop Mount Tam.
Immediately as the race started, Jeff Stern and Matt Nawrocki got out to a fast start but were caught within 100 meters by Eddie, whose strategy was on being in the best position possible by the time they hit the Bernard Street stairs.
Eddie began creating some separation right away covering the first mile, which also involved 398’ of elevation, in 7 minutes 34 seconds. “I got out too hard”, said Eddie.
“Some guys took off fast [from the start] and were in front of me. I wanted to be leading by the time we got to the [Bernard Street] stairs so that if they were to slow up it wouldn’t affect my pace.”
Approximately 1.5 miles into the race the route hits trail, which shortly thereafter becomes tight, single track, overgrown and with numerous switchbacks.
With no signs of slowing, Eddie furthered the distance between himself, Jeff and Matt. Eddie crossed 2 miles clocking 17 minutes 42 seconds with total elevation climbed at that point of over 1,500’.
However, there was still another 1.5 miles left to race with a further 1,000’ of climbing to go.
“The heat was a factor and about 2/3 the way up the smoke [from the wild fires] became more and more noticeable,” commented Eddie.
Once on the Verna Dunshee trail, Eddie began the final scramble with the fire lookout tower within touching distance. For those unfamiliar with this section, it quite literally is a climb on all fours in places.
Dashing over the final few yards, Eddie opted for a craggier route than the stairs, leaping to strike the tower door signaling the end of the race in a time of 35 minutes 41 seconds.
His segment win, along with his performances in the bike stages, set a new event record with a combined time of 1 hour 51 minutes 43 seconds, knocking 1 minute 52 seconds of the previous event record.
