Saturday, March 04, 2006

Roy pIrRUNg column

Roy pIrRUNg column:

Men in tights? More than a fashion trend

http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060303/SHE0204/603030652/1088

The Dead Sea Ultra Marathon

The Dead Sea Ultra Marathon
http://www.deadseamarathon.com/index.htm
“Run To The Lowest Point On Earth”
The Dead Sea Ultra Marathon (DSUM) has witnessed over a decade of rising national and international recognition with the joint effort of the Society for the Care of Neurological Patients (SCNP) and Amman Road Runners, under the patronage of HRH Prince Raad Bin Zeid.
The DSUM is held annually every April on the second Friday, from Amman to the Dead Sea. It is the main fund raising event for the SCNP, which provides neurological patients with medical aid and covers the costs of necessary surgeries for the needy.
So far, the Society has contributed to the treatment of 940 cases at a value of nearly 520.000 JDs. The SCNP is funded by donations from individuals, public and private companies, annual membership fees, as well as proceeds of sports events. The Society anticipates expanding its role in the treatment of neurological patients and becoming a developmental organization—creating social and technical programs in cooperation with related official and non-official sectors. 
The DSUM  had a successful  record of accomplishment since it first started. Several world record runners and champions participated, the year 2005 run broke all records, it marked a turning point in the future of the event as a national and international athletic, touristic and above all charitable event with the continuous support of Jordanian organizations with more than 1600 runners representing 48 nationalities.
The 13th Dead Sea Ultra Marathon will take place on April 7th 2006, more than 2500 participants are expected to participate.

History of South Africa 6-day race

http://www.ultradistance.co.za/ultradistance/6day/toyota/history/t6d_hist.htm

Great British Ultra Ladies

http://www.ultrarunner.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=104

All time lists

All time lists for various ultra races in the USA.

http://www.realendurance.com/

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Canberra 50km to be Aust Championship

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS AWARDED TO CANBERRA MARATHON

Athletics Australia and the Australian Ultra Runners Association have awarded the inaugural Australian 50km Road Championships to the Canberra 50km Ultra Marathon, which is held each year in conjunction with the Canberra Marathon.

The Canberra Ultra was first held in 1993 and it was an immediate success, with local runners Trevor Jacobs and Carol Ey both breaking the Australian 50km records.

In the intervening  years, the race has produced a plethora of outright and age group records, including a world W50 record in 1994 (Lavinia Petrie, VIC, 3.41.57) and a world M75 record in 1999 (Randall Hughes, VIC, 4.44.09).

Victorian Michael McIntyre set the current Australian record (2.54.57) when winning in Canberra in 2001 while the women’s Australian record is held by Sandra Timmer-Arends, also from Victoria, with a time of 3.23.22 in Canberra in 1999.

The 50km race is Canberra is an optional extra. All marathon runners have the option when they complete the standard 42.195km marathon to continue and complete the ultra marathon distance. The option was introduced to encourage Australia’s marathon runners to experience an ultra marathon and has been very successful with, so far, almost 500 runners completing the extra distance.

The 30th Canberra Marathon and Canberra 50km Ultra Marathon will be held on Sunday 9 April. Support events include the Asics Marathon Eve 5km and 10km Fun Runs and the Kids Marathon.

Postal entries for all events close on Friday 10 March. Full details are at www.canberramarathon.com.au.

The marathon is a member of AIMS (the Association of International Marathons), an Athletics Australia gold medal event, and supported by Asics and the Australian Capital Tourism Corporation.

Dave Cundy
RACE DIRECTOR
28 February 2006

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Peter Rietveld runs 25 Marathons in 25 Days

Peter Rietveld runs 25 marathons in 25 days.
Form Bregenz ro Bratislava.
For the benefit of people in acute need.
Join him on part of the route.

„I run for lives. Join me“

1. Run with Peter Rietveld
Any runner can join Peter on part of the route

2. Organise your own RUN FOR LIVES
Anywhere in Austria a runner can organise
his/her own RUN FOR LIVES.
Alone or with others. Or simply join an existing run
and dedicate it to RUN FOR LIVES.
Any kilometre run-wherever- can be dedicated and counts.

3. RUN FOR LIVES- Look for sponsors
Any runner looks for sponsors who are willing to spend
one Euro foe each km that he/she runs. The sponsors can
be found in their social surrounding.
(Family, friends, work, clibs etc.)

The registered male nurse Peter Rietveld is since 1994 with Doctors without Borders.
His missions took him eg, to Albania and Liberia, into the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Colombia, Afghanistan and Nepal. He has been running marathons for years.

Every kilometre is a contribution,,,, to the missions of Doctors without Borders
The more runners accompany Peter Rietveld – or run by themselves – and the more sponsors support them with one Euro per kilometre, the more people Doctors without Borders can treat and thus save from death.
Every Euro saves lives.
Already one Euro ensures a full daily ration for a malnourished child or enables the treatment of a child against malaria

RUN FOR LIVES
Start of the RUN FOR LIVES is 15ht April 2006 in Bregenz. Passing Innsbruck, Zell am See, Salzburg, linz and St.Pöltenthe run will lead to Vienna.
Highlight of the run is the participation in the Vienna City Marathon the 7th May 2006.
Finish of the run is the 9th May in Bratislava.

For any other Information: www.run-for-lives.at

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The true spirit of Sport

This may be the true spirit of the Olympics, even sport as a whole.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
An avalanche of goodwill: U.S. speedskater Cheek set generous precedent with charitable donation

Knight-Ridder Tribune

Mon 27 Feb 2006

Section: Byline: By Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 27--TURIN, Italy -- They gave Joey Cheek a U.S. Olympic spirit award Sunday afternoon, and they gave him the honor of carrying the American flag in the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.

For what Cheek did during the 2006 Winter Games, there is no tribute too great. The long-track speedskater from North Carolina should be the lasting image of an Olympics he honored with his presence.

Winter Olympics icon Jean-Claude Killy of France, who oversaw Turin's Olympic organization, said Sunday these were Winter Games of "heart, warmth, smiles and generosity." That view of the Turin Olympics--geographically fragmented, often dispassionate and intermittently compelling--seemed exaggerated unless Killy had Cheek in mind.

The U.S. speedskater's selflessness started a snowball rolling, and it has turned into an avalanche of goodwill. His humanitarian vision is the legacy of the Turin Games.

"If you want to define what the Olympics are about, Joey is it," 1994 Olympic champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway said. "He was the fastest man on the ice, and he gave so much more beyond that. He became a hero in this world by being compassionate."

After winning the 500 meters, Cheek said he would donate his $25,000 U.S. Olympic Committee gold-medal bonus to Right to Play, the worldwide organization Koss founded to promote health and hope for disadvantaged children in developing nations. Cheek did the same with his $15,000 silver-medal bonus from the 1,000 meters.

"If I had retired before I won the 500 meters, I would have gotten so much more from the Olympics than I have given back," Cheek insisted Sunday. "When people talk about the Olympics and Olympic ideals, it is up to those of us with the privilege of being Olympians to represent them the best we can."

Others heard the message Cheek delivered through the forum provided by his Olympic successes. The USOC matched his $40,000 gift, and private companies and individuals have followed suit to raise more than $400,000 in Cheek's name, according to Conrad Alleblas, associate director of Right to Play's Dutch office. Alleblas said that could impact as many as 25,000 children in the poorest countries.

Saturday, after winning the 5,000 meters, Canadian speedskater Clara Hughes, whose Olympic committee does not give medal bonuses, announced she was inspired by Cheek to donate 10,000 Canadian dollars ($8,700) from her own bank account to Right to Play. That already has attracted another $52,000 from Canadian companies and individuals.

Sunday, Chinese short-track speedskater Yang Yang, who once trained with Cheek in Salt Lake City, said she was giving her $10,000 bronze-medal bonus to Right to Play. Yang added she would work to establish a Right to Play branch in Beijing.

"I was impressed he donated his prize money," Yang said. "Joey would be happy if I just said he is a nice man, a good person and not put him very high [on a pedestal]."

Cheek, laid low by food poisoning for 24 hours, was unaware of Hughes' and Yang's contributions until asked about them Sunday.

"If I had dreamed, this is exactly the way I wanted things to happen after I first talked with [Koss] about giving anything I won to Right to Play," Cheek said.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said Sunday that Canadian speedskater Cindy Klassen, whose five medals were the most by any athlete here, "was definitely the woman of the Games." Rogge gave a surprisingly tepid response to the question of whether Cheek's sporting brilliance and altruistic benevolence combined to make him the man of the Games.

"The gesture of Joey Cheek is very moving and very generous, but we have also seen some very generous gestures during these Games," Rogge said, citing acts of fair play in the competitive arena in which they occurred.

Cheek, 26, was moved to contribute to Right to Play after seeing European TV reports about the plight of refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan. He has plans to see what the organization does for children in Africa, beginning with an April 7-15 visit to Zambia.

After winning the world sprint title this season and competing in a second Olympics--he won bronze in the 1,000 in Salt Lake City--Cheek is retiring from the sport to go to college. He has applied to a long list of top schools.

The lesson Cheek learned from his parents, Bill and Chris, provided him a sense of global perspective lacking in most athletes.

"I knew even as a young child that my parents wanted me to do my best, but they would be happiest if my brother and I did something meaningful," he said.

By the much more mundane standards of medals won, Canadians should be the happiest. Their $110 million, five-year "Own the Podium-2010" athlete funding program, begun after a poor showing at the 2004 Summer Games and funded 50 percent by the federal government, focuses on putting Canada atop the medal standings by the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Vancouver's mayor, Sam Sullivan, 46, a quadriplegic since a ski accident at age 19, received the Olympic flag at the closing from Rogge, who put it into a slot on Sullivan's wheelchair. That allowed Sullivan to continue the tradition of waving the flag by spinning his motorized chair to make the cloth flutter.

Canada's 24 medals in Turin, seven more than its previous Winter Games best, earned third place in the overall standings. It also won more medals in different sports, 10, than any other country.

U.S. athletes made a respectable showing on the field of play--other than alpine skier Bode Miller, whose disdain for his own ability made him a failure of humiliating proportions.

The United States, with 10 times the population of Canada but about one-tenth the passion for winter sports, dropped, as expected, after its record 34 medals in Salt Lake City. Team USA finished with 25 medals, 14 from two sports--snowboard and long-track speedskating, which won seven apiece.

That put the U.S. second to Germany (29) in the overall medal standings and tied for second with Austria in the gold-medal standings (9), also behind Germany (11). "Overall, we see this as a great performance, even if it has been viewed generally as a little less than that because of the high expectations we all had," USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said.

The medal wealth was spread more than ever. Twenty-six countries won medals, two more than before at a Winter Olympics. China, which did not win its first Winter Olympic medals until 1992, finished with 11.

And what would an Olympics be without doping? This one was historic, even if just one athlete, Russia's biathlon silver medalist Olga Pyleva, had tested positive in the more than 800 urine tests and 362 blood tests analyzed as of Sunday. There were seven positives four years ago in Salt Lake City, two involving gold medalists.

The Turin Games marked the first time police were involved in doping control at an Olympics. They raided houses used by Austrian biathletes and cross-country skiers, 10 of whom underwent surprise tests that proved negative.

Otherwise, the Turin Winter Games, which Rogge called "truly magnificent" at the Closing Ceremony, will fill a place in Olympics history like Oliver Cromwell does in the history of the British Monarchy--as an interregnum between the surprisingly successful 2004 Athens Summer Games and the much-anticipated 2008 Beijing Summer Games.

Turin put up with a Games it put on without major snafus. There never was a feeling the city had been swept up in its role as Olympic host.

The best way to remember Turin is through the words of Joey Cheek, who spoke of the moral imperative for champions to reach out a hand and help someone else. To the Olympic motto of "Faster, higher, stronger," Cheek added a new idea: Nobler.

phersh@tribune.com

Updated list of US Centurions

I've updated the roster of U.S. Centurions and posted it at
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ultrawalking/files/ .
   Note that two past Centurions made long drives to be on hand for
last weekend's event. Scott Demaree, surely the only person in my
lifetime to win open-level U. S. championships in both running and race
walking, made the round trip from Dallas to see how the meet he founded
a few years ago is getting along. Ivo Majetic had driven to Dallas from
Denver for a business function, so he figured the extra 250 miles to
Houston wouldn't kill him.

Sacred Run 2006

http://www.sacredrun.org/

A GREAT example of the positives that can be had from Long Distance running and walking.

Ultrarunning book selection

http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/bookstore/index.htm

New Multiday Races in India

New Multiday Races in India
Posted on the ultralist:
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 03:52:39 -0800From: Arun BhardwajSubject: 24hr & 10days Races in India
Dear ultrarunners,
Very shortly India is also coming in to the "Ultramarathon World".
2 races are scheduled to take place, the full details will be announced around mid-March.
No. 1 = 24 hr on 15-16 August 2006, in Bangalore on all-weather track.
No.2 = 10 Days starting from 23rd Sept. 2006, in Mysore on cinder track.
Both events are international and open for the ultrarunners from all over the world, and will be held under the approval of Govt. sports bodies.
Regards,
- Arun Kumar Bhardwaj

25 years on the road

To friends and Family
In early March 1981 I spotted an article in the local paper for a fun run on
March 15th. I got out my Badminton shoes and decided to have a go. Since
then in training and events I have covered nearly 139,000 kilometres (87,000
miles). Incidentally I gave up Badminton and bought some joggers, and if you
didn't know a jogger is somebody that runs slower than you do.
All this means that next week I will have completed 25 years of running and
Race Walking (Heel Toe stuff). To celebrate those 25 years I am going to
compete in the Bunbury 24 hour event as a Race Walker. As always I have a
target and for this event I hope to walk over 80 kilometres (50 miles) in
those 12 hours. It is on grass which means it will not be easy but if I can
achieve my target I will train to compete as a walker in the November 2006
Colac 6 Day Race. The Bunbury event Starts at 5pm Saturday March 4th and I
will have as my Crew my wife Christine who has looked after me for 45 years
so has had plenty of training.
Will let you know how I go
George Audley

Monday, February 27, 2006

Australian Ultras - March 2006

Mar 2006
Sat
4 Mar
BUNBURY RUNNERS CLUB TRACK CHALLEGE (WA)Distance: Track Event - 12 Hour, 6 Hour, 6 Hour Relay, State 50km Track Champiomship. Start time for all events is 5pm. Location of race: 500 metre grass track at the Bunbury Runners Club rooms, Bunbury Runners Club rooms, Ocean Drive, Bunbury, Western Australia. Entry fees: $40 for the 12 Hour and $35 for the 6 Hour Runners will need to provide their own lapscorers Entries close on 3rd February. Definitely NO late entries. contact: Shane Walker or Pierre Nebbe 0438-922-711. email:
swa46188@bigpond.net.au.

Sat
11 Mar
BLUE MOUNTAINS SIX FOOT TRACK MARATHON (NSW)45.0km mountain trail run, starts 8am Saturday from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. Time limit 7 hours - entry criteria applies. Approx 700 runners. Incorporating the AURA National Trail Ultramarathon Championships contact: Race Organiser, Six Foot Track Marathon, GPO Box 2473, Sydney NSW 2001. email:
raceorganiser@sixfoot.com. Visit the website for more details.

Sat
11 Mar
TE HOUTAEWA 90 MILE BEACH CHALLENGE RUN ()Ultra Marathon (62km), Marathon(42km), Half-Marathon(21km), Walk for life(6km). Starts at 7.00am from The Bluff, 90 Mile Beach, Northland, New Zealand. Run on beautiful white sand, cool sea breezes- Everyone receives a prize - Spot Prizes - 2 trips for 2people across the Tasman contact: Frances Piacun on 64-9-408-6060 - PO Box 654, Kaitaia, New Zealand. email:
francespiacun@xtra.co.nz. Visit the website for more details.

Sun
26 Mar
WATER WORLD GREAT OCEAN RUN (NSW)Red Rock to Coff's Jetty Beach and Headland. 45km. 8am start at northern end of Red Rock Beach. Finish at Coffs Harbour Jetty. Entry fee is $10 before the day (payable to Woolgoolga Fun Run), $15 on the day. Contact Steel Beveridge, (02) 6656 2735, 3b Surf Street, Emerald Beach NSW 2456 or email steelyn@hot.net.au. Course survey Saturday 25 March, meet at Arrawarra Headland, 3pm. Carbo load at Woolgoolga Pizza Place from 6.30pm Saturday 25 March. contact: Steel Beveridge. email:
steelyn@hot.net.au.

Invest in Youth Fund Run

Invest in Youth Fund Run Results

The cool temperatures must have kept some people in bed and a relatively small field participated in this year's Invest in Youth Fund Run.  The venue was changed from a high school track to a converted rail to trail biking/hiking path.  The Centennial Trail extends from Snohomish at the south end north to nearly Arlington, for a total distance of just over 17.5 miles.  The run started roughly 1.5 miles from Snohomish; resulting in a bike odometer-measured distance of 32.6 miles for the out and back.

Participant - Time
Tim Stroh - 4:19
Dave Dutton - 5:05
Stan Nakashima - 5:10
Bob Sokol - 5:14
Genia Kacey - 5:15
Diana Robinson - 5:15
Bob Maxwell - 5:49
John Nevitt - 6:19
John Bandur - 6:23

Stacey Otter - 5:24   27 miles

Thus far, the combination of participant entries and contributions has raised $1,450.00 for the YMCA Invest in Youth program.  Additional donations are still forthcoming. =20

Kendall Kreft - RD

Sunday, February 26, 2006

IAU 24hr World Challenge - Final results

http://www.iau.org.tw/upload/news/1140947369.htm

Some fantastic results and great to see. Great coverage by the IAU. One of the BEST results for Australia on the World Stage in the last few years was Martin Fryer who ran 232.2km and finished 11th. Well done Martin. This was 27km further than Martin's previous PB!

Also well done to Tony Mangan from Ireland who provides information for this web site and is also a member of "Team World Run". Tony completed 228km which is a PB for Tony.