Ultracycling

RAAM lite: RAW:

History

We organized RAW in 2008 with the goal of bridging the gap between RAAM and the other RAAM Qualifiers in the domestic market. The first 2 years RAW finished in Taos, NM - 1,044 miles from Oceanside to Taos. Paul Carpenter (USA) won the inaugural race in 3d:11h:27m - 12.51 mph. Carpenter was the only finisher in an 8-person solo field. Dallas Morris (Canada) won the 2009 race in 3d:18h:37m - 11.52 mph. Morris was the only finisher in a 9 person solo field. There were 3 teams competing in 2008 and 6 teams competing in 2009. In 2008 the 18-person race field was 100% domestic. In 2009 the race field had grown to 25 and was 92% domestic and 8% of the riders were from outside the USA.

Eva Synnestvedt Hansen, Solo Female RAW Champion

In 2010 the RAAM route was moved back to Wolf Creek Pass and the RAW finish was moved to Durango, shortening the route to 860 miles. Thomas Lavallee (USA) won that race in a record setting 2d:11h:51m - 14.33 mph. In 2011, Swiss RAAM veteran Dani Wyss, recovering from a serious mountain biking accident, on his road back to RAAM, decided to race RAW. He shattered the course record, finishing in 2d:00h:29m. Joan Deitchman (Canada) became the first solo female finisher in 2d:22h:58m - 12.08 mph. Wyss exclaimed, "Great race! The RAW course is the best part of RAAM. This should be really popular among European racers."

After a second accident on his road back to RAAM, Wyss decided to race RAW again, returning to go sub 2 days, he finished in 1d:22h:19m - 18.54 mph. Also, in 2012, Leah Goldstein (Israel) set a new female solo record - 2d:14h:03m - 13.84 mph.

RAW Today

Since the inception, all RAW racers - solo and team - start the same day as the Solo RAAM racers. The RAW course follows the RAAM course - across the Coast Range and down the Montezuma Grade (the "Glass Elevator") into Borrego Springs, around the Salton Sea, through the Algodones Dunes and across the Colorado River into Arizona, up Yarnell Grade, across Mingus Mountain, down across the Verde River, up Oak Creek Canyon, across the Navajo Reservation, through Monument Valley into Utah, and finally finishing in Durango, Colorado.

RAW is an important step for aspiring RAAM racers. Being able to race with the Solo RAAM racers on the RAAM course affords them the opportunity to benchmark their performance. Solos and Teams use RAW to work out race strategies, exchanges, team and support crew compatibility and other issues. But, RAW has become much more than that - RAW is now an important event in both the domestic and international ultra-racing world.

Michael Conti, Solo Male RAW Champion

The 2015 race

This year there were 61 racers from 8 countries (Australia, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Italy, Japan, UK and USA). The racers faced extreme heat in the Desert Southwest - temperatures were 5-10 F above recent years. The heat was a factor as evidenced by the somewhat slower speeds and the relatively low solo finish rate.

Solo Division

Michael Conti (USA) was the top male finisher with 2d:17h:17m - 13.22 mph. Colan Arnold (USA) won the 50-59 age group in 3d:00h:27m - 11.91 mph. The heat had a market effect in the solo division. The average finish rate for all solo racers on the Oceanside to Durango course (2010 - 2014) was 75%. This year's solo finish rate was 33%. This is underscored by 2 racers who raced this year and in the past: Chris O'Keefe (USA) finished with an average speed of 9.89 mph this year while his average speed in 2012 was 11.47 mph; and Dave Elsberry who finished in 2010 with 10.8 mph, dropped out this year.

The top female finisher was Eva Synnestvedt Hansen (Denmark) in 3d:04h:01m - 11.36 mph. The 26 year old civil engineering student from Copenhagen became the first winner from Denmark as well as Europe. Winner of the female 50-59 age group was Karen Armstrong (USA) in 3d:04h:53m - 11.23
2-Person RAW Winners, Team PHenomenal Hope

mph. Both Hansen and Armstrong, a pediatric physical therapist from Spokane, Washington, had great rides, especially when you consider they both came from markedly cooler climes.

Team Division

RAW is open to 2 and 4-person teams. The race is a great opportunity to work out exchanges - pull intervals, exchange site selection and crew preparedness under race conditions. This year there were 6 teams competing - all from the USA. The teams were better able to survive in the heat - 100% of the teams finished.

2-Person Teams TDL-Team2Transplant, racing in the male 50-59 group, was fastest 2-person team, finishing in 2d:09h:31m - 15.01 mph. Team Friends of Freedom won the 2-person male under 50 group coming in with 2d:16h:22m - 13.41 mph. Team Moxie won the 2-person female division in 2d:10h:23m - 14.79 mph.

4-Person RAW Winners, Team Strategic Global Advisors
4-Person Teams Racing in the 4-person male 50-59 age group, the fastest 4-person team was Team Strategic Global Advisors, finishing in 1d:22h:57m - 18.39 mph. They set the 50-59 male age group record. Former RAAM Race Director, George Thomas, raced on the team, emceed the RAW banquets and headed off to Annapolis where he announced the RAAM finish and emceed the RAAM banquets. Thomas now shares three RAW team records. B4T9 Blaze won the female under 50 group finishing in 2d:04h:13m - 16.53 mph; and Spokeswomen won the female 60-69 group finishing in 2d:09h:42m - 14.96 mph. TBP Wolfpack on the male under 50 group in 2d:17h:33m - 13.17 mph; andTeam Moab/Specialized won the mixed under 50 group with 2d:00h:39m - 17.74 mph.

Awards

The King and Queen of the Desert awards were given to the fastest male and female solo racers based on the shortest time/fastest average speed over two flat segments: TS 2 to TS 3 (Brawley to Blythe, CA) and TS 10 to TS 11 (Tuba City to Kayenta, AZ). Michael Conti (USA) won King of the Desert while Eva Synnestvedt Hansen (Denmark) won Queen of the Desert.

The King and Queen of the Mountains awards were given to the fastest male and female solo racers based on the shortest time/fastest speed over three segments with the toughest climbing: TS 6 to TS 7 (Congress to Prescott, AZ) and TS 14 to TS 15 (Cortez to Durango, CO). Thomas Jaklitsch (Austria) won King of the Mountains and Karen Armstrong (USA) won Queen of the Mountains.
Solo Female RAW Award Winners - Eva Synnestvedt Hansen and Karen Armstrong

Rookie of the Year awards are given to the fastest male and female solo racers who are competing in RAW for the first time. The top male was Michael Conti and top female was Eva Synnestvedt Hansen.

The Lanterne Rouge is given to the last Solo finisher and this year's winner was Chris O'Keefe (USA).

Final Thoughts
Chapeau to all of our racers and crew. There were many great stories this year. With limited time and space we simply could not tell them all. Our apologies to those who we neglected to mention. We wish to thank everybody - racers, support crews, sponsors, volunteers, staff and fans - for helping make the Race Across the West one of the best ultra-endurance bicycle races in the world. Plans are already underway for the 2016 race. Registration is open. Help us make next year - our 9th edition of RAW - the best ever.