Ultramarathon Daily News | Mon, July 1
iRunFar/Mock: All the results from this weekend’s ultramarathon and trail results. Here’s what caught my eye:
-Tim Tollefson winning Lavaredo. One of these years Tim is going to conquer UTMB and this may be his year. Nice work Tim!
-Allie O at Mt Marathon. Can’t wait to see her return to my favorite race in the world.
-Marathon du Mont Blanc: Sounds like Megan Kimmel had a good day but couldn’t hold on and took a DNF. She raced Broken Arrow just one week ago and must be tired. Then Jackson Brill, Cole Watson and Sage Canaday all outside the top ten.
Another big race this weekend was the Lake Saroma 100k in Japan…Nothing too remarkable in the results except that nearly 4,000 people lined up for the race. Wow!
Footwear News: What brands are selling at stores and which aren’t selling, based on interviews with store employees and owners.
Fast Women: Results from the Prefontaine Classic to Western States, all focused on female athletes and accomplishments with a special call-out to our wacky sport.
Western States thoughts. You can find all the play by plays elsewhere, but here are my hot takes from the weekend:
- Jared Hazen is incredible and would be the star of the sport if it weren’t for that pesky Jim meddling in his fame. 🙂 What a run for both of them!
- And what a race for the women’s win! My guesses were once again way off, but instead got a surprise race to the finish when Brittany turned it on to chase down Clare Gallagher! I’d love to hear Brittany’s story about what happened between No Hands and the track. Clare led at the bridge by 90s, but 3 miles later had 11 minutes on Brittany. Wow!
- For four years (this my fifth), I’ve played the alpenhorn on the escarpment, beckoning the runners up the hill with the natural sound of the obscure 11′ Swiss woodwind instrument. This year there was loud rap music at the top, so I was on the backside facing the high country and got a different perspective on the race.
- Good footage from the race in this video. The difference in finish line emotions is stark: Jim’s whooping it up with high fives and smiles while Clare came in spent after a hard fought battle during the last few hours. What a race!
- Camille Herron is the best road/track ultramarathon runner we’ve seen in decades and that’s rarely disputed. But while some runners find success on multiple terrains, Camille struggles with trails and mountains and I wish she’s either focus on her core strength (road/track/timed), or run a trail race conservatively and get across the finish line with a smile on her face. But this isn’t working.
- Fun times at Foresthill again. At one point we had Pam Reed and Ben Gibbard in the tent together, both sharing stories about trail running and throwing down odds on the runners.
- Many of you followed along as Kyle attempted to be the first blind runner to finish Western States, but unfortunately the icy trails in the high country were just too much for him. Guiding a blind/VI runner down technical trail is one thing: “Alright, we’ve got 50 feet of technical crap…let’s tip toe this stuff”, but slippery and uneven ice isn’t something you can’t guide over with any urgency and Kyle missed the cutoffs at mile 17. He’s in good spirits and was at the track cheering on all the runners.
- Ladia Albertson-Junkans (interview and story) ran her first hundred miler this year at Western and did so shortly after losing her best friend Gabe to cancer. Each time I saw her she was exuding joy and positive energy and very clearly running with someone else in her heart. Nice job out there Ladia!
- Tim Lambert was on the show a few weeks ago talking about his plan at Western after six years of waiting in the lottery. Tim came to the race from Bath, England and took a DNF. Not sure what happened out there, but there was lots of carnage.
- We also spoke with WS course marking captain Jennifer O’Connor about her (at that time) upcoming run at Western and how she planned on chasing the cutoffs. Unfortunatly, her day ended before she got to the finish line.
So for the last three URP interviews with WS participants (Amanda, Tim, Jennifer), all three DNFed. Do yourself a favor next year folks, and if I invite you on the show and want to talk about your prep for Western States, politely decline the offer if you know what’s good for you. - Here’s an interesting article about how M3 Tom Evans trained for the race. Hint: It includes fast Ethiopians. (Yo Tom, call one of your mates and see if they’d like to run next year.)
- I tweeted about this from my hammock yesterday morning, but I think it’s worth repeating: Tim Tweitmeyer has 25 consecutive sub 24 hour finishes. Fifteen of those were top five and five of them were wins. During those two and a half decades, Tim also competed in other sports, served on the WS Board, raised a family, worked full time, and volunteered. Incredible. I can’t imagine anyone coming close to that streak. Ever.
Here’s a great video of how Anna Frost is transitioning from elite MUT runner to motherhood (with a fair amount of overlap.)
LetsRun: Another reason to stay as far away from the USATF as possible. What the hell is going on in there?
Before Western mania took over this past weekend, I posted a wrap up to my time at Broken Arrow Skyrace. Be sure to check it out.