Santa Rosa California, January 18 2011- Santa Rosan 50 year old Epic Bill Bradley will be taking a second attempt to run the 135 mile Arrowhead race in Northern Minnesota. Arrowhead is one of the world's most grueling and dangerous races.
The race is billed as way colder then any other race and we have the frostbite to prove it. Temperatures at night are usually below minus 20 degrees and can go as low as minus 60 degrees.
The 135 mile race will start January 31 in International Falls Minnesota and is run along the rugged and hilly Arrowhead trail. There will be over 100 racers this year competing in one of the three divisions on foot, on ski's or on a snow bike. In the run division Bradley will pull a 40lb sled with his survival gear, food and water.
Bradley's first attempt at the Arrowhead 135 in 2010 ended at the the 73 mile mark after 37 hours of racing on the frigid course. Bradley ended up crawling into a sleeping bag at the 73 mile mark with extreme hypothermia and blisters on his fingers. Bradley waited 3 hrs till someone came and found him. Bradley was quoted as saying" First my equipment failed, then my body failed" in the frigid minus 20 degree weather.
Bradley has upgraded his equipment for this years Arrowhead including Arctic rated gloves.
Bradley has also gone through a rigid 2 month training period to prepare for Arrowhead. Including power hiking over 200 miles in the hills around Santa Rosa with a 35 pound weighted vest. His training peaked with a 10 hour - 33 mile effort in the weighted vest.
Bradley's other accomplishments in 2010 included running 200 miles in the Bay Area and at the 100 mile mark swimming under the Golden Gate Bridge, A Double Badwater where he ran 292 miles through Death Valley with a Mount Whitney summit. ( Temperatures hit 135 degrees) and he swam 17 miles in the English Channel. The water temperature in the Channel was 61 degrees. He wore no wetsuit and took no breaks.
Contact: Bill Bradley 707 953-2206
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