2005 Badwater Race
Team Azalea Charities founder, Norm Albert competed in the 2005 Badwater Race in Death Valley, California to raise funds for Azalea Charities.
Norm Albert, from Dumfries, Virginia, served his country in the United States Air Force for 27 years and approached Azalea Charities in 2005 to see what he could do to raise awareness and funds for Azalea Charities, Inc., Aid for Wounded Soldiers, as part of his Badwater run.
At the race check-in in July 2005, when asked about his most challenging event to date prior to this Badwater race, Norm replied, “'I think it was treading water continuously for 52 hours in 1977 (I lost 15 pounds) and then 64 hours in 1978 for Guinness World Records. It was mostly the mental strength it took to endure the hours making the same body movements over such a long period of time.” This was his rookie year in Badwater and he hoped to complete the race in less than 48 hours.
The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere at 282’ (85m) below sea level. Traversing 135 miles of paved roads over three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent, the race finishes at Mt. Whitney Portal at 8360' (2533m). The Portal is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,496’. Competitors travel through places or landmarks with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil’s Cornfield, Devil’s Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Keeler and Lone Pine.
Norm’s on the far right holding |
And what a back drop to |
It’s 6 a.m. – the race is on for the next three days
(or at least until the 72-hour time limit)! Norm is #57.