I did this in 07. Finished 13th Ironman I think. 13th sounds ok for an amateur but not really. The guy that won did about double my laps, and he was an amateur too.
I wasn't supposed to be racing, I was training to go to Iraq, but snuck away and tried to kill myself by eating Alabama dust so I wouldn't have to go get shot at. I figured I might as well die having fun rather than from some crazy raghead with a bomb but unfortunately I survived the Alabama 24 hr. Don't know if I'd ever do it again though, it was so dusty it wasn't even fun. The course was fun for 2 laps then it was just hot dusty and boring. the temp was 101 on my buddies themostat on the trailer. I think that the night would have been fun if I had been using proper lights but my lights came from Walmart. I did have one pretty good Trailtech HID but it was not the big one, only 35 watts and it was worse than a 55 watt Halogen. It was just bright enough to reflect off of the dust while the cheap halogen sort of shined a few feet into the dust. I think maybe the color and heat range of the HID was wrong? The guys with the 100 watt HIDs had lights that would cut through the dust. I could feel the heat on the back of my neck from their lights as they passed me. If it happened to rain right before the race and got rid of the dust I'd try it again maybe.
I wish someone would come up with a 24 hr event that was in a place with real singletrack and had 25+ mile laps so dust and a torn up track wouldn't be as much of a factor. I think it would be much more fun like that. I did think the Alabama race was well organized and they did the best they could with the area for a track that they had to use. Parking was a major problem. We had a 32 foot car hauler, and got there the day before the race and got the last parking spot for a big trailer. They had people parked everywhere trying to fit everyone in but they managed. All in all it was a good event. No one can do anything about hot dry weather and dust.
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