Iditarod Trail Invitational 2012

yeah I've been following this all week too.
Geoff is hanging in there, number one runner at last check.

Yes, I have been following this too. Geoff’s the man I say! :)

Geoff Roes Iditarod 2012 race report.

Geoff Roes Iditarod 2012

…

His pulk description..

"This was all carried on a "sled" which consisted of a Mountain Hardwear 60 liter (prototype) pack that was strapped to a pair of youth cross country skis with a light wooden frame on top of them to give the pack about 5" of clearance over the ground. The "sled" was pulled with a set of aluminum ski poles, attached to the pack on one end, and to a standard backpack harness on the other."

and then he had a comment about changes,

"in most years i think my "sled" system would have worked great, but in the deep snow it kind of sucked. any time it bottomed out (which it did a lot in the first 100 miles of the race) the drag was huge. in the future i think i would use a sled mounted on skis and then if it bottoms out it's dragging on the sled bottom rather than on the backpack."

This guy is a walking "Mountain Hardwear" billboard.

"This guy is a walking "Mountain Hardwear" billboard.".

Yes, because MH is the clothing sponsor for the Montrail UltraRunning Team.

"This guy is a walking "Mountain Hardwear" billboard.".

Geoff Roes is the nicest most unassuming guy you could ever meet, and he doesn't make a lot of money, so don't give him any grief if you please.

I'd be a walking MH billboard if I were him too.
Athletes on the level of Roes have to train constantly, often to the point of interfering with jobs and a "normal" life. Yet there's so little money in the sport for "professionals". I think it's a beautiful thing that a company like MH is going to outfit him, pay race entries, etc. Pro sponsorships allow athletes to reach full potential, train full time, and do things that would be incredibly difficult to achieve otherwise. And if you've followed his career, I think you'll find he was doing it long before there was money or sponsorships, and I'm sure he'll be doing it long after.

Pretty sad that the MH sponsorship is apparently the only thing some people notice, without a single comment on what he accomplished out there. Talk about missing the point.

I caught a couple of Roes's videos taken while in the ITI and to hear him describe the pain and cold he was going through with such a calm demeanor is impressive, tough as nails man.

note: It's purely a coincidence that this post comes right after Eugene's

Last fall there was this thread titles "Eugene Smith is a beast" … and based on what I've read of that Deadman's Peak race, I certainly couldn't disagree.

But i gotta say … based on this description of the ITI, Geoff Roes is a "Beast's Beast"!