Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Toyota 6 Day Race - South Africa - Now in Progress

http://home.metroweb.co.za/~tgdrew

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

POOLSIDE WATER WORLD GREAT OCEAN RUN (45 KMS) 20.3.2005

Runaway victories into a howling southerly marked the results for this year’s Poolside Water World Great Ocean Run from Red Rock to Coffs Harbour Jetty along the beaches, over the headlands and across the creeks. Andrew Thompson seemed determined not to tie as he did last year, setting a cracking pace over the soft sand of Red Rock beach to open a clear gap over race record-holder Jim Bennington, himself no slouch in heavy going. The gap became a chasm as Thompson established his superiority over the second biggest field in the fifteen year history of the event. His final margin over eventual runner-up and former winner, Michael Smart was a whopping 27.23 with Smart the only other runner to break four hours.

Third went to race debutant Adrian Pearce a further 19 minutes later. With the first three all under 40 it was a triumph for youth which extended to the winner of the Women’s Race, Kylie Spence who at 37 was the equal youngest of the women to complete the distance. Spence also established a commanding lead in the early going, initially over eventual third place finisher Robyn Williams and later over runner-up Carol Coburn, who are 59 and 55 respectively. Spence’s time of 5.05.22 gave her a victory margin of over half an hour. However less than four minutes separated the minor place-getters this time.
Jim Bennington was the first Coffs local male , eventually filling 5th spot behind the place-getters and Minnie Water’s Andi Aman . First local female was Marg Gill also in fifth. She had entered to keep Lee Ann Lloyd company as she sought to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation through sponsorship. Lloyd battled to the finish in a commendable 7.11.11 to finish eleventh out of the 14 ladies who completed the journey. In all 12 locals finished out of a field of 52. None was happier to reach the Jetty than John Walker who had started on three previous occasions only to have to call a halt at Moonee or Sapphire. It is ironic that he was able to achieve his goal in the worst ever conditions for the event as far as the strength of the wind and the extent of the soft sand went. Three other local runners were backing up after the Six Foot Track the week before. Anne Grundy and Wendy Maley had completed the mountain run although Wendy narrowly missed the seven hours cut-off. Red Rock to Coffs does not have a cut-off although several of the visitors and some of the locals started early (5.30a.m. in the dark or 6.30 a.m. in the pre-dawn). Jenni Williams had something to prove after collapsing 28 kms into the Six Foot Track event. This she did, in style, actually clocking a minute less than Grundy and Maley – although they did point out that they had run further in the mountains. Anne Grundy will round out her month with the Forster Ironman Triathlon for which she holds her age group’s record.

It should be noted that Peter Gray by finishing at the Jetty completed his 180th Ultramarathon. For him to get to the start was quite a saga. He flew from Melbourne to the Gold Coast then got a lift to Red Rock with the bus organised by the Gold Coast and Tweed runners. Afterwards he needed to repeat the process in reverse.

Two runners, Peter McKenzie and Aileene Markham completed their tenth Water World race and received a very colourful shirt as punishment. Unlike the thongs each finisher received the shirts seemed to fit! Those who received surf hats for completing five runs were Peter Gardiner, Peter Wood, Carol Coburn and Steve Hayes.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the conditions all the runners were pleased with their achievement on the day and praised those from the local running community and the Tweed and Gold Coast Runners Clubs who staffed the drink stops along the way.

RESULTS IN FULL – (MALE) : Andrew Thompson 3.29.43, 1; Michael Smart 3.57.06, 2; Adrian Pearce 4.16.11, 3; Andi Aman 4.24.29, 4; Jim Bennington 4.26.49, 5; David Crellin 4.26.57, 6; Simon Forsterling 4.30.26, 7; Rick Herring 4.33.58, 8; Wayne Fitzgerald 4.43.00, 9; Steve Hayes 4.51.52, 10; Rod Ladyman 4.53.55, 11; Mark Parsonson 4.55.00, 12; Peter McKenzie 4.58.31, 13; Tony Kean 4.58.44, 14; David Sewell 5.03.31, 15; Bob Beer 5.03.50, 16; Peter Gardiner 5.04.54, 17; Peter Wood 5.07.33, 18; Richard Hutchinson 5.07.56, 19; Hugh Dearnley 5.23.02, 20; Geoff Williams & Geoff Last 5.25.52, =21; Russell Forestall & Paul Chamberlain 5.39.27, =23; Gordon Abbott 5.40.21, 25; David Casey 5.42.49, 26; Chris Cohen 5.45.23, 27; Geoff Kopittke 5.57.46, 28; Mal Draper 6.01.07, 29; Arthur Ballantyne 6.16.49, 30; John Walker 6.21.31, 31; Ross Donald 6.30.26, 32; Brett Taylor & Reg Tilley 6.46.15, =33; Damon Palliser 6.59.53, 35; Peter Gray 7.19.17, 36; Dennis French & Alistair Ault 7.52.46, =37.

(FEMALE) : Kylie Spence 5.05.22, 1; Carol Coburn 5.39.27, 2; Robyn Williams 5.43.01, 3; Karen Wiersma 5.53.07, 4; Marg Gill 6.16.49, 5; Jenni Williams 6.47.17, 6; Anne Grundy & Wendy Maley 6.48.19, = 7; Aileene Markham 6.59.53, 9; Diana Kever 7.09.57, 10; Lee-Anne Lloyd 7.11.11, 11; Lyn Campbell 7.23.50, 12; Elly Friend 7.29.41, 13; Claire Sewell 7.47.01, 14.

Raid Sahara Ultra

Go to http://www.raidsahara.com/ for more details


Phil

Monday, March 28, 2005

GRASSLANDS RUN 50 mile results

8:33:58 Mark Henderson
8:47:11 Todd Reynolds
10:03:25 Edwin Heller First Masters male
10:12:05 James Cummins
10:12:05 Murry Chappelle
10:26:21 Scott Wood
10:46:28 Dylan Copeland
10:51:19 Barbara Hitzfeld First Woman
10:59:10 Gerardo Ramirez
10:59:10 Molly Gibb First Masters Female
10:59:10 Philip Williams
10:59:10 Rene Villalobos
11:04:33 Meda Bourland
11:09:56 George Hitzfeld
11:19:04 Chris McConnell
12:03:02 Sandy Powell
12:26:49 Jay Freeman
12:27:58 David Jackson
12:27:58 Jeff Dalton
13:15:02 Bret Sholar

Pony Express 100K/50M/50K/30K rides into town soon!

The race is less than 3 weeks away(April 16, 2005). We have added a
new 100K race distance. The cutoff for all races is 12 hours. Visit
http://www.ultrarunner.net for more details and race applications. This is
the second race in the 2005 Ultrarunner.net Race Series. This is a fast
course producing the second fastest men's and women's 50 mile times in North
American in 2004. Great qualifier for any Western States or any other 100.
We offer a great post race buffet!

For those of you already entered, an updated race packet is on the
Pony Website.

Thanks,

Robert Mathis - Robert@ULTRARUNNER.NET

Time to sign up for Quicksilver!

The Quicksilver and Sierra Azul trails are expecially beautiful this year with all the lush green, gazillions of flowers, flowing streams and the great views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. If you haven't already signed up, please do. It's May 7. After April 15, the entry fees go up by $15, so now's the time. Complete details can be found at http://www.quicksilver-running.com .

Janice O'Grady and Tom O'Connell
Race Directors
janotomo@earthlink.net

Three Days of Syllamo Race Report

If you're interested, you can find a race report and lots of pictures here:

http://www.geocities.com/marshall/blog/syllamo2005_intro.htm

Thanks. Happy trails.

from

Marshall King

Entry Form for Laurel Valley 2005

Laurel Valley 2005

I have posted an application for the Laurel Valley 2005 Ultra Run scheduled
for 08/13/2005 at http://www.claudesinclair.com . I encourage runners to get
their applications in early as I will be strict enforcing the 50 runner
cutoff. This run is not for the pampered runner. First timers are
accepted as sweeps only with the exception of Ms. Laurel Valley. After
all, she shares her name with the race course.

Regards,
Claude Sinclair, RD