Good morning! 

In 1928 a hurricane with winds that reached 150 mph ripped through Palm Beach County and turned north over Lake Okeechobee. The strong winds pushed the waters north and then south over a feeble earthen dike, swamping the low-lying areas and killing thousands.

The catastrophe resulted in the construction of the Herbert Hoover Dike by the Army Corps of Engineers, a 118-mile belt around the 10th largest freshwater lake in the contiguous U.S. 

“I started wondering why we don’t have a race around here,” said ultra marathoner Scott Maxwell, who was sitting in the lobby of the historic and decadent Clewiston Inn.

In 2007, Maxwell founded the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail 118-Mile Ultra, the LOST 118. “The Main Street Program was trying to revitalize dead downtowns and I sold them on the idea it would be good for business,” said Maxwell, who’s 73 and a retired industrial engineer.

The race is held on the full snow moon, which this year was on Feb. 24. “The moonlight is so bright you don’t need flashlights,” said Maxwell. “Everyone says you gotta worry about snakes and gators but they’re cold-blooded creatures. They’re not coming up some 32-foot high dike to take a bite.”

Maxwell drove from his home in Melbourne near Daytona to mark the course and lay out coolers at 32 access points. “I contacted the police in Okeechobee, Belle Glade, Pahokee and other towns and sheriffs from each of the 13 counties to let them know we’re coming around,” he said.

“Daytime it’s gorgeous up there. On a clear day you can see across the lake which is both exhilarating and depressing because that’s where you’re going. The west side at night is so dark you’ll see the gators’ eyes. Going by the towns you can see everybody’s yard and who’s growing weed, or whatever they’re growing.”

The dike is in constant repair but Maxwell’s used his engineering skills to build temporary bridges and find other means of getting runners from start to finish. “Last year we couldn’t get from Uncle Joe’s Fish Camp to Clewiston. It was under construction, so I plotted a course through sugar cane fields. Basically I kept them on the dirt roads to bring them into Clewiston.”

Under Maxwell’s direction the LOST 118 had drawn runners from California, England, Toronto, Colorado and “from all over because I advertised it extensively and being an ultra runner I had extensive contacts. Now it’s more localized.”

Three years ago an ultra runner and real estate attorney from Fort Lauderdale named Brendan Barry contacted Maxwell and offered to be the race director. “My life is black or white,” said the 56-year-old Barry. “I’m not mystical but I am spiritually connected to that lake and the hundreds of generations that have lived on it, so when I heard about it I had to get involved.”

At first light last Saturday runners and their supporters were congregated in a large parking lot close to where boaters were launching their Triton Fishunters and Bass Cats for a day on the lake.

This would be Miami native Thierry Guillot’s 37th ultra. Asked to name his favorites he mentioned the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Run and the KEYS 100. “What do you take from each race?” I asked.

“Suffering,” he said. “And beautiful landscapes.”

“And what inspires you?” I asked.

“Going beyond,” he answered.

Guillot and others were partaking of last-minute snacks and gulps of coffee that were set on a foldout table next to the narrow strip of sidewalks and restrooms. Barry called them over to the starting line and introduced them to Maxwell. “The effort you put into this every year is spectacular,” he said.

Maxwell took a bow, everyone applauded and Barry gave last minute instructions. “Be an adult,” he said. “Don’t do anything that you’d regret.”

“That’s a low bar,” someone cracked.

A cheerful staffer named Lulu Yun-Pelz gave Barry a hug and left to set up a support station on the opposite end of the lake. “Your body can only expend 300 calories an hour but needs more for a 100-plus race,” said the north Florida resident. “They’ll need easily-digestible food that will trickle into the stomach, watermelons, oranges, bananas, cheeses, ramen noodles, PBJs…”

Asked why she’s involved she said, “I fell in love with the ultra marathon community, people who stop to help, even return to help. People more interested in each other than in winning.”    

Clewiston is located on the southern tip of the lake and is a hub for the American Bass Anglers tournaments. Later that afternoon business was good at Roland and Mary Ann’s Tiki Bar and Galley Restaurant.

A Tennessee fisherman named Cort Riggs was watching anglers bring their catches to the weigh-in station and I asked him, “How’d you do today?”

“We did real good,” said Riggs. “We’re not in the tournament though. Figures.”

Riggs was holding a beer and leaning against a sawhorse. His face was sunburned and the picture of contentment. “They say every day of fishing adds another day to your life,” he said. “That means I’m going to live to be 200.”

The next morning I checked out of the Clewiston Inn (not recommended for an overnight stay) and returned to the lake to see if anyone had finished the race.

The course record of 18 1/2 hours averages out to nine-minute miles and Barry doubted anyone would come close to breaking it.

He looked dazed when I saw him emerge from his SUV. He’d been up since 3 a.m. when the timer notified him that 26-year-old Jacob Hart of Utica, Ohio, had passed Joe’s Fish Camp and was nearing the finish line.

“What kind of shape was he in?” I asked.

“Excellent,” replied Barry.

An hour later Chad Hubscher, a urologist from Dunedin, crossed in 21:39, and the aforementioned Thierry Guillot was on pace to finish at about 8 a.m. “It will be spaced out, and as they come in I will give them a belt buckle,” said Barry.

“What’s the first place prize?” I asked.

He reached into the back of a pickup truck and pulled out an alligator head that was mounted on a wood plaque. One thing’s for sure, these guys don’t do it for the money.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com