Variations of the legendary Dipsea race have been around for decades. Runners looking for more of a challenge than that offered by the 7.4-mile trail run from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach came up with the Double and Quad Dispeas in 1970s and 1980s, respectively.
Within the last 20 years another more challenging spin on the oldest trail race in America has emerged, attempted only by a few of the most extreme distance runners: the Quad Quad Dipsea, a grueling run of 16 consecutive Dipseas — eight out and backs — totaling well over 100 miles with a total elevation gain greater than Mt. Everest.
Don Lundell, a Bay Area ultramarathoner, was the first to complete a Quad Quad in 2003, finishing in just over 41 hours. That feat became a thing of legend in the Bay Area running community and for nearly 20 years Lundell stood alone as the only person known to have completed a Quad Quad — that is until a few weeks ago.
Tiburon resident and ultramarathoner Bradley Fenner officially joined Lundell on Dec. 5 as just the second known person to finish a Quad Quad. A day prior, in the darkness of Friday morning, Fenner, 56, began his attempt and finished all 113.2 miles in 34 hours and 15 minutes with a total elevation gain of nearly 37,000 feet.
“To date I think, from a running perspective, this is the biggest accomplishment I’ve had in an ultra,” Fenner said recently. “… This was a really meaningful achievement for me.”
Fenner is no stranger to the Dipsea, especially the Quad. It was the first ultramarathon he completed back in 2008 and one he’s run 11 times since.
When Fenner first heard about Lundell’s Quad Quad a few years back, it didn’t immediately appeal to him. The distance and elevation gain were daunting, even for a seasoned ultramarathoner like himself. But that sentiment changed after COVID-19 hit earlier this year. All the races he had entered, including the Quad, were cancelled, meaning unless he came up with his own race, his streak of running a 100-miler every year would come to an end in 2020.
Eventually, Fenner and a running mate, Tony Marshall, decided to give it a shot. They trained for months and both set out together on race day, but Marshall had to step away after 45 miles due to a stomach issue.
Other members of Marin’s distance running community, who came in waves to support Fenner on the trail, also jumped in to serve as pacers and run with him throughout his attempt.
“That was really touching and humbling,” Fenner said of the community support. “That is something for me that I’ll remember for the rest of my life when I think about this run.”
During his run, Fenner never sat down or switched shoes and only changed his clothes a handful of times to combat the chilly coastal weather once the sun set. Even with his training and a number of other 100-milers under his belt, finishing a race of this magnitude and difficulty was by no means a guarantee.
“I didn’t think my finish on the Quad Quad was secure until the last mile,” he said. “I mean I was just, the whole time, living with the prospect that something still could go wrong and I could still get injured or in essence run out of gas. It was not something until the absolute very end that I was confident that I was going to finish.”
But finish he did. When he descended the famed Dipsea steps for the final time, he was doused with champagne and showered with adulation from friends and family who came out in support.
Among the throng was another local ultramarathoner who, by some coincidence, had just completed her own 100-miler in the near vicinity just hours before.
At the same time Fenner was traversing the Dipsea, Mill Valley resident Katherina Laan was attempting her own extreme distance challenge of summiting Mt. Tam 16 consecutive times.
The 42-year-old mother of three has been doing ultramarathons since 2015 and ran her first two 100-milers in 2019. She had been hiking and running Mt. Tam all year and when COVID-19 hit she faced the same outlook for racing as Fenner did. With no official races on her schedule, she continued climbing the peak and by late fall was closing in on 200 summits.
Wanting to end her year with a bang, a 100-miler, she calculated that 16 times up Mt. Tam would put her over that mark, and over 200 summits for the year.
“I kind of wanted to challenge myself and see if I could do it, if I could do a 100-miler on Mt. Tam, like the steepest way up and steepest way down,” Laan said. “I really didn’t know if I could do it because I think six was the most repetitions I had done in one day.”
Laan set out early Friday morning around the same time as Fenner. Thirty-two hours and 43 minutes later, with a determined spirit and minimal feeling in her legs, she finished her run early Saturday afternoon. Her 16 summits totaled 105.6 miles, the longest distance she had ever traversed in one go, and put her at 201 summits of Mt. Tam for the year. She’s added a few more since.
Laan and Fenner know each other from the tight-knit Marin distance running community. They had planned their treks on the same day by coincidence and by the time they were aware of each other’s runs it was too late to reschedule.
In the end, though, the dual runs proved to be beneficial for both Laan and Fenner. Members of their aid crews would cheer each runner as they would make their turns. While on the trails, the two would even keep up with each other’s progress, using that as motivation to keep pushing forward.
“That gave me strength to know that he was still out there at the same time,” Laan said. “It wasn’t planned that way but it worked out great.”
Added Fenner: “We both drew a lot of energy and comfort knowing that the other one was out there, about three miles away doing something else. … I would periodically get updates about how things were going for her and it always brought a smile to my face and a little bit more lift to my step.”
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Sweet 16: Local ultramarathoner becomes second person to complete a Quad Quad Dipsea - Marin Independent Journal
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