Almost everything has been told by the other runners. It´s a challenging race, the course is well marked and the scenery is unique!

This was a very well organized race. I was very impressed! I was fortunate enough to be one of 3 American runners hosted by Cesar Torres of Quest Patagonia Travel & Adventures. Cesar took care of our travel details and did a great job with it, not to mention that he's just a great guy. The race has already been highlighted by Joe, so I won't go more into it, other than to say it was definitely worth the trip down there to do it. The scenery was just awesome. The course was hilly, but I like hills. My only 'complaint' about the whole race was that given the beauty of the area, and that I'm more of a trail runner than road, I would have prefered more single-track trails than the dirt and paved roads they had. About half of it was single-track. But that is a minor complaint given everything else they did right. The organization was top-notch!

Racing in the Uttermost part of the World...

Patagonia is called the uttermost part of the world because of the distance south of the equator. If one looks at a map they will see that the southern end of Chile and Argentina, which is the Patagonia region, is further south than both New Zealand and Australia. The only significant land mass farther south than Patagonia is Antarctica. Patagonia´s position on the planet makes it susceptible to extreme weather conditions. As Cesar, the owner of Quest Patagonia (the adventure travel company which arranged my visit) told me prior to the race, ?be prepared for any weather conditions; it could be 20 degrees and snowing or it could be 70 degrees and hot.?

Heeding Cesar´s warning I packed a variety of running apparel as I made my way down to Villa l´ Angoustura (Villa) for the K42 Adventure Marathon. The race and Villa are located in the eastern side of the Andes mountains just north of Bariloche. Villa is surrounded by two glacial lakes: Nahuil Huapi and Espejo, and these lakes are connected by Correntoso, the world´s shortest river, which is about 200 meters. These are all natural wonders, constructed by nature, not humans. This is true of most of Patagonia; here you see nature unscathed by humans.

On the beach of Espejo, I warmed up and prepared to begín the K42. The weather was in the low 40´s or high 30´s and a light rain fell from the sky. At five minutes until 9 am over 300 runners toed the starting line dwarfed by the inflatable Gatorade and Quilmes (the local beer) bottles promoting these two race sponsors. At nine, the countdown ended and the race began. Other racers and I jockeyed for position in the first 100 meters, which was run on loose sand before we took a sharp left jumping over a log and onto a dirt road which began the first of many uphill climbs in the race. A pack of 6 runners separated themselves from me and the rest of the trailing runners almost immediately. After climbing and descending the first hill, which composed the first three miles of the race, we crossed over a wooden foot bridge that took us over the Correntoso River.

Immediately after crossing the river, I got a glimpse of the leaders and looked to Negro a local runner from the town of Villa who I had met a few days ago and said ?Vamois? (we go), seeing this as our opportunity to get back in contact with the lead pack. After a feeble attempt by the both of us, I realized I was not ?vamoising? anywhere. In fact running the first serious mountain climb of the race, I was suffering. A little excited at the start of the race, I believe I went out a little fast trying to stay close to the leaders.

Argentines play lots of soccer regardless of other activities and the fast twitch muscle they create from this game of quick sprinting carries over to racing and had put me in a predicament where I was simply trying to maintain on the first 6km mounatin climb. The climbs are my strength and this is where I should be passing other racers; instead because of my uncontrolled exuberance, I was being passed and in a bit of a desperate state.

I continued to suffer as the dirt road climb became a technical single track, which overlooked a valley over 200 feet below. This trail led up to a river crossing just on the upstream side of a waterfall which plunged over 200 feet into the valley I had been running parallel to. After crossing the river, we began a steep single track descent which caused me to swing from tree to tree as I made my way down the steep, muddy and slick trail.

After coming off the mountain, I was pleased to see dirt roads with rolling hills for the next 3 miles before beginning the longest, steepest, and final climb up Cerro (Mt.) Bayo. During this time I was able to recover from my unwise effort early in the race and prepare for a big effort on the final climb up to Cerro Bayo and the long descent and push to the finish. The climb up Cerro Bayo began with a steep single-track climb where I caught three runners who had passed me earlier during my struggles. The final runner of the three was Negro, who had left me earlier during the first mountain climb. As I passed Negro, the single-track ran into a dirt road, which continúed to make its way toward the summit. The weather on the road and on the way to the summit was much cooler than at any time during the race and by the time I reached the summit of the climb where a ski lodge was I was quite chilled. Race officials and volunteers who had been startegically placed throughout the course to point the way and assist runners were at the top saying ?caliente? (Are you warm). At least at this point, that is what I thought they were saying. I later found out they were saying ?caliente aqua? (Do you want hot water?). Anyway, I thought to myself as I passed the volunteers, "Of course I am not warm, but descending this ski slope will warm me up."

The race dropped down a ski slope covered in loose dirt and some snow, which also covered the top of the mountain. It was a fun descent as the loose dirt cushioned each step as you went down the steep slope. As I came upon another runner, he was descending in a hopping ski motion a little quicker than I and I would have to wait to reach the dirt road at the 32K mark to pass two more runners, before the fast, paved 4-mile section which led to the finish in the middle of Villa. I was hard charging all the way to the finish, but the effort was not enough to make back the gain Todd Holmes (another American) had put on me during my struggles early in the race. My 3:36 effort was good enough for an 8th place finish and about six minutes after crossing the finish line, Negro crossed in 11th place as a loud applause roared from the crowd for their local runner.

After the race, as rain continued to fall, we went and got a complementary massage at the race tent. We made plans to meet for an anasado (meat) with vino (wine) later in the evening. The meat and wine in Argentina are known to be some of the best in the world. What is unknown is that Patagonia at the uttermost part of the earth is one of the only places you can go and get a land of towering mountains, natural lakes, whitewater rivers, natural waterfalls, and true adventure unscripted by man but scripted by competition and unpredicatable weather conditions.

Overall this marathon ranks the highest on my list of the 50 or so marathons I have run. It was challenging, exotic, with different scenery than I?m used to in the US. The course is extremely beautiful with about 80% on dirt trails circling the edge of several lakes, going by big waterfalls, and traversing two mountains with majestic vistas. There are about 5 miles of road leading to the finish at the town of Villa La Angostura. The course is well marked and one would have to be brain dead to go off-course.

Participants, generally from Chile and Buenos Aires, are extremely friendly and generally well trained. Also there are some very strong local runners.

Race organization ranks at the top with attention paid to the weather and safety. The trails are well maintained and in some place ropes were put up to help safely negotiate several steep slippery descents. Since the mountain base is at approximately 2000 feet altitude is not much of an issue.

The local town is patterned after a European ski village and is extremely charming and chock full of restaurants with extremely good but very inexpensive food (by USA standards), especially if you like beef or trout. I stayed there a week and had a blast doing mountain biking, hiking, touring and running. I stayed in a small hotel just outside of town with about 4 rooms. Rooms had great views, kitchens, wood fireplaces, and great hear which was needed on cold. In town there is a great running and tri-athlete sports shop that has great gear. Never thought I would find that in such a small town. Also in town is a great bike rental shop where I rented a mountain bike for the week (my sole and extremely adequate source of transportation) for the week and a tour agency that facilitated my hiking, biking, and touring. The folks at the tour agency were extremely friendly and eager to help me.

The run and the town were extremely safe. I never locked my room or my bike. It was a wonderful change from the Washington DC environment I?m used to.

From my perspective this is a must-do marathon for runners looking for a beautiful challenging run in a foreign country.