The cutoff at the Sawbill Aid Station had previously been 12:00PM / Noon on the inbound (from the turnaround) leg / at mile 17.7
The cutoff at Sawbill is now 11:15AM on the outbound (to the turnaround) leg / at mile 13.3
Note that this change will only affect runners closer to the ‘back of the pack’ / those pushing cutoffs. It goes without saying, but I will say it, we value all of our runners regardless of their pace.
With the old cutoff you needed to cover those 17.7 miles in 5 hours (16:56/mile), you now need to cover 13.3 miles in 4.25 hours (19:10/mile). While this gives participants more time to get to Sawbill the first time, you will not be allowed to proceed (to the turnaround on Carlton Peak) if you are not through (out) of the Sawbill Aid Station by 11:15AM. It is also important to keep in mind that just like those pushing the Noon inbound cutoff previously, those pushing the 11:15AM outbound cutoff will still struggle to make the 1:30PM cutoff at Oberg. You want to stay ahead of the cutoffs as you can never assume that just because you made one cutoff by a few minutes that you will be able to make the next, in fact it is unlikely as runners rarely speed up as the race goes on, maintaining a decent buffer is key. In our estimation it would be very hard for anyone leaving Sawbill mile 13.3 after 11:00AM to make the Oberg cutoff which is 1:30PM. Those who anticipate pushing the cutoffs should do their own math and come up with a pacing strategy that they feel gives them the best chance for success given their particular strengths (and weaknesses) in consideration of the terrain and the cutoffs.
We made this change because it continues to be a struggle to ‘guess’ who the last runner coming into Sawbill is (as runners change positions between Oberg and Sawbill) and too often in the past the ‘sweeps’ (a definition is below my signature if this term is new to you) have left Sawbill behind a runner (for example) at 11:50AM who was ultimately going to go on to miss the Noon cutoff at Sawbill by up to an hour or more, being cut at Sawbill on the inbound, and putting the sweeps hours behind the last runner from Sawbill all the way into the finish. While we want as many runners as possible to reach the turnaround at the summit of Carlton peak, we cannot do so at the cost of the continuity of the sweep and manageability / safety of the race as a whole.
As a reminder cutoffs are established and enforced for participant and volunteers safety and event manageability. The 9 hours allowed for a 50K finish gives the majority of well-trained starters the ability to finish. With the inclusion of the 25K and 12.5K on event weekend there should be race distances that allow any reasonably trained runners who wishes to participate in Superior the ability to make the finish line.
Definition of ‘sweeps’ / ‘course sweeps’ / ‘sweepers’: Volunteers that follow behind (typically out of sight of) the last runner(s) in the race, picking up the course marking flags, picking up any trash that was accidentally dropped, keeping an eye out for runners under duress, and aiding in the event of an emergency. When the ‘sweeps’ cross the finish line, the timers do their final checks that every runner who started the race has been accounted for as a race finisher with a published finish time, or has been counted as a DNF (Did Not Finish; a runner who was either missed a cutoff and was pulled from the race or dropped out of the race voluntarily). Any discrepancies found are investigated so we are certain that no runners are lost.