Badwater has a way of wringing every single emotion from a person. That's what you get when you're trying to run 217km non-stop over 39-plus hours. And all through an inhospitably dry, scorching hot desert environment with three brutal climbs to test the very best. Somewhere in the murky hardship of that challenge, Glenn Sutton thrives.
He completed his third Badwater 135 event last Thursday in a time of 39 hours and 54 minutes. I had the privilege to film his journey from my position embedded with the support team. I thought that would help me understand Glenn's attraction to these sort of superhuman feats, but instead I'm more confused than ever. The event starts with an overwhelming rush of emotion – that's brought on by the journey to get to the startline and the final words before the 95 vetted runners start off from Badwater Basin.
From there it is chaos as the stifling desert night air suffocates amid the panic of jostling athletes. Glenn wipes his tears aside and starts at a pace that sees him catch runners from the first wave – runners who started an hour and a half earlier.
The support vehicle is a frantic servery of electrolytes, water, food and positivity. Glenn laps it up. By Mile 42, he's in good shape and the first hill rises above us, a ribbon of tarmac twisting up to the horizon as the sun bleeds colour down across the mountain range. Glenn clamps up. The hill bites. The heat sears and the climb sucks energy from us all. There are lows upon lows, upon lows. One way or another, Glenn reaches the top.
The descent to Panamint Valley is mild respite – in the hottest part of the day, but with an unobscured view of what comes next: the dreaded Father Crowley climb. In the bottom of Panamint Valley, Glenn collapses in a chair and the support team suffers in the 50°C heat and questions how Glenn will continue. He just shrugs it off. Stands up and starts running again. Somehow he finds a second wind and with pacer Steve Barton at his side he grinds out Father Crowley in impressive time.
From there it is a long undulating descent to Lone Pine. The second night sinks around us. None of us have had any sleep in the support vehicle and the night takes its toll. One-by-one we all grab around 90-minutes' sleep any way we can. For me it is a broken sleep slumped across my gimbal and Pelicase while cuddling my tripod and DSLR. I'm thankful for it. It's all I'll get in this 64-hour period. Glenn gets none.
Somewhere in the middle of the night I find myself the only one alert enough to feed Glenn. I serve him platters of fruit and ice in cupfuls expecting him to be incoherent. But he's Glenn Sutton – one of the nicest people you could ever meet and he's more concerned about my welfare than his own. He chats away as though we're strolling through a moonlit park. He's staving off the toll that 100 miles of running inflicts on you. In his shoes, his feet are blistered raw. His left knee is screaming and his fractured pelvis is a constant reminder that he should never have embarked on this journey. But he shares none of that with me. Pacer Greg Yee is forced from his own broken sleep to resume duties for Glenn. It's perfect timing. Greg drags Glenn through one of his lowest lows and convinces him to press on. Greg's been there himself before. As the night starts to break we are handed something of a reprieve – the temperature plummets to an unseasonal 14°C. Lone Pine looms and Mt Whitney finally takes a step toward us.
The final hurdle is 13 miles of slog to Whitney Portal at 2552m as the heat of the day returns with a vengeance.
It's heartbreaking to watch Glenn shuffle toward the picturesque finishline. Beside him are his daughter Emily and support team of Steve, Greg and Bruce Adams. Tears roll down his face as he breaks the finishline tape. A flood of emotion a fitting way to sum up 217km of mental rollercoaster, physical pain and superhuman endurance. It's inspiring and frightening. We're all exhausted and relieved.
Here's a news piece we filed immediately after Glenn completed his third ever Badwater 135 event.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS Former Box of Light assistant Lana Young has completed her Masters in Documentary Filmmaking. As part of that she was required to create a 25-minute documentary on any science topic she liked. So, Lana being Lana, she wanted to tell an ocean-related story, and that is how her film HOOKED came about. Along with four other excellent student films, HOOKED will be shown on the 27th July at the Regent Theatre in Dunedin.
You can see a trailer for it, and the other fantastic films here. HOOKED is about Dunedin-born artist Tori Clearwater who finds inspiration in Southern ocean science. By working with seabird biologist Kalinka Rexer-Huber, Tori delves into the interconnected threats seabirds face, and develops a thought-provoking sculpture that reflects on the impacts of long-lining on Southern ocean seabirds. See you there!
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