Coach, author, teacher, cold weather maniac

Brent Weigner

Cheyenne, Wyoming
57

Running Experience:
Guru

Why should we pick you to go to the North Pole?:
If selected, I have the necessary skills and experience to provide YourRunning.Com with top rate coverage of the North Pole Marathon. As a passionate geography teacher, coach, author, and adventure runner, I can provide your readers and viewers with a fantastic virtual fieldtrip to the Geographic North Pole. I have done this precise thing before for my students during our 2003 expedition to the North Pole. Please see the blog of that adventure at the following website address: www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/NorthPole.html As a guest of the National Geographic Society, I spent six weeks at their headquarters in Washington D.C. being trained as a teacher consultant. I have used those acquired skills over the years to design electronic fieldtrips and documentaries so my students could participate vicariously in real world and real time learning adventures. I have actually run at the North Pole three times and documented those accomplishments in various media from television to print. Please see the photos and story, “Top o’ the World,” on pages 102 to 112 in the January/February 2004 issue of Marathon and Beyond describing the 2003 North Pole Marathon. Because the 2007 North Pole Marathon experience won’t be new and overwhelming for me, I will be able to concentrate totally on reporting the adventure. Having done similar assignments like this before, I am confident we can make the 2007 North Pole Marathon experience come alive for your clients, readers, and the viewing audience.

Tell us about your cold-weather race experience:
My extensive cold weather experience has prepared me well to meet the challenges associated with the North Pole Marathon. I have been to Antarctica five times, including two trips to the South Pole. Running adventures have also taken me north of the Arctic Circle on eight different occasions. I helped organize and competed in the first and only marathon race to the South Pole. Please see the following website for details: www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/SouthPoleMarathon.html We spent almost a month in Antarctica in pursuit of our running quest. Once on the polar plateau we endured temperatures ranging from minus 30 to minus 50 Fahrenheit. As I mentioned earlier, I have completed the North Pole Marathon on three different occasions. I have also competed in the World High Altitude Snowshoe Championships up and down Mount Elbert near Leadville, Colorado. During the 1996 Iditasport in Alaska, we raced 85 miles pulling our supply sleds down frozen rivers and along snowy trails. During 2003 and 2005, I won my age division at the United States National Snowshoe Championships. In January and February of 2006 our Racing The Planet expedition successfully completed the first ever stage race in Antarctica. The 150-mile event included four stages with the longest one being 100 miles around the Argentine Base of Esperanza on the Antarctic Peninsula. Click on the following link to access the expedition web site and read a short article I wrote. www.racingtheplanet.com My cold weather experience also includes a six-week climbing expedition to South America where we spent time in the Andes climbing Chimborazo in Ecuador and Coropuna in Peru. Both mountains are over 20,000 feet in elevation and covered with permanent glaciers and snowfields. Understanding and being comfortable with the cold will allow me to film, document, and write about the event in such a manner your readers will feel the Arctic’s icy grip like winter on a frozen landscape.

Tell us about your marathon experience, including times, results, etc.:
I have extensive marathon experience, not only as a runner, but also as a coach, consultant, and race director. Brent Weigner’s marathon career began on June 30, 1968, at the Whitewater Wisconsin Marathon, where he ran 3:53. A recent high school graduate and Cheyenne Central High School record holder in the 880 (2:01.3), Brent had never raced over 10K. By 1972 he had lowered his marathon time to 2:49:39 at Denver’s Mile-High Marathon, where he finished 6th place. In 1978 he organized and competed in the First Annual Rocky Mountain 50-Mile Run from Laramie, Wyoming, to Cheyenne, where he finished second in 7:14. The following year Brent ran his marathon PR at Boston with a 2:45:50. During 1979 he also ran his first trail 100 miler (23:39) at Western States. As of January 2007, Brent had run 147 marathons (five sub-2:50s) and ultras. He completed marathons in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., on January 18, 1998. On October 11, 1998, Brent completed marathons in all the Canadian provinces and territories. On July 27, 1998, he completed ultras on all seven continents. Brent has also run marathons in a dozen countries and shorter runs in 86 countries. Dr. Weigner has taught 7th grade geography at McCormick Junior High School for the past thirty-two years. Some of Brent’s adventure races have been the Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile stage race in the Sahara Desert (Morocco) where participants had to carry all of their food and survival gear, the 104 Mile Desert Cup in Jordan (where he was filmed for the Discovery Channel’s Enduring Extremes), the Mt. Kilimanjaro 50k (which he won two days after summitting the mountain) and the 150 mile Atacama Crossing in Chile where he won first in the men’s 50 and over age-group. In 2001 he visited Antarctica as a guest of Adventure Network International to consult with them on the first ever marathon race to the Geog raphic South Pole. The following year, Brent served as co-race director of the North Pole Marathon. Coach Weigner has also directed over 100 running events including the 1980 National AAU Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in which his 17-18 girls team won the national title. For the past 30 years he has been the race director for the Wyoming Marathon Races. Dr. Weigner (he holds a Ph.D. in educational administration) serves as a marathon consultant to various organizations and most recently worked with Arctic Watch to organize the world’s northern most ultramarathon, the Northwest Passage 50k, which was held in August of 2005 near Resolute, Canada. Brent can be contacted at: RunWyo@msn.com or by telephone at (307) 635-3316. Additional biographical information is available at the following web site: www.marquiswhoswho.net A comprehensive data base of Brent’s total marathon list is available on request.

What do you expect your North Pole Marathon time to be?:
5:34:19. Predicting marathon times on the frozen ocean in the high Arctic is nearly impossible.

Can you write well? Explain:
I have been writing and publishing running stories and photographs since 1974 when my first photos and story appeared in Runners World Magazine, “Wyoming Is No Wasteland,” p. 22, March 1974. Over the years I have had dozens of stories and photographs published in various newspapers, magazines, and websites. Listed below are citations for some recent publications. “Antarctica: Once Is Not Enough,” December 20, 2005 www.racingtheplanet.com “Running on Mars: Outer Space or Spaced Out?,” Marathon & Beyond, pp. 18-36, July/August 2005. “Top o’ the World,” Marathon & Beyond, pp.102-112, January/February 2004. “My Most Unforgettable Ultramarathon,” Marathon & Beyond, pp. 41-54, May/June 2002. “An Antarctic Adventure,” Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne, Wyoming, p. B3, March 2, 1999. As an adventure writer for the North Pole Marathon, I would set up a website and use the usual Internet tools to keep readers abreast of my training leading up to the race. My intent would be to create a virtual electronic fieldtrip for the audience. While on the ice and isolated at the Pole, I would use an Iridium satellite phone to log daily reports with the Webmaster. My blog would also include various links covering training and the history of the North Pole Marathon. Content might also include anecdotal stories from the Arctic and information about the International Polar Year (IPY 2007-2008). I would use my past experience to describe the concerns and anxieties of a first time polar marathoner. As a marathon consultant, advisor, and race director, I have a unique background and perspective that lends itself to anticipating runners’ questions and logistical concerns, such as proper clothing and nutrition. I hope to paint a picture that will allow future North Po le Marathon runners to adequately prepare for the race so they can enjoy the adventure with a minimum amount of trepidation. The event is truly one of the world’s greatest adventures—running on floating ice over 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean. YIKES! I truly am nuts. Or, perhaps I merely suffer from “tri-polar madness”. The syndrome is similar to “bi-polar madness,” but much worse with no known cure because you can never get enough of God’s icy creations at both ends of the Earth.

Tell us about your media experience:
After the North and South Pole Marathons, I helped produce two 2-hour specials for the Wyoming Equality Network (WEN). The specials were broadcast live to school districts around the state of Wyoming. The format was interactive using compressed video technology. As viewers asked questions, we made the experiences come alive for the students. We used maps, photos, video, and worksheets to highlight the expeditions. Worksheets and other materials were available online prior to the broadcasts. As McCormick Junior High’s cross-country coach, I have also filmed races and special events for the school’s daily television show. I actually own my own video camera and have completed a photography course at the community college. My experience with the media also includes numerous radio and television interviews. During 2006 I was interviewed and appeared on the Outdoor Life Networks’ Special, “The World’s 25 Most Dangerous Places,” which highlighted and questioned the sanity of our run to the South Pole. During the 1st Annual 104 mile Desert Cup in Jordan, Outside Television filmed my race from Wadi Rum to Petra, Jordan. The special production later appeared on the Discovery Channel, titled, “Enduring Extremes.”

Websites:
Biographical information and stories about my running.
www.marquiswhoswho.net
www.greeleytrib.com
North Pole Marathon blog and related stories.
www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/NorthPole.html
www.aims-association.org
www.npmarathon.com
uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu
South Pole Marathon blog and related sites.
www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/SouthPoleMarathon.html
www.wyomingnews.com
www.sevencontinents.ie
Wyoming Marathon Races official website.
www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/
World’s northern most ultra results.
www.canadianarcticholidays.ca
Snowshoe Results from the National Championships
www.snowshoeracing.com
Antarctica Stage Race
www.multidayrunning.com
150 Mile Sahara Race Fundraising.
www.teamstraydogs.comv Mount Kilimanjaro Ultra.
www.coolrunning.com
Story on chronologically gifted (old) runners.
www.geezerjock.com
Teaching my students about adventures around the world.
www.laramie1.k12.wy.us pp.14-15

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