What was a nice girl like Nikki Kimball doing in Hector on Saturday? She was winning the FLT 50 miler OVERALL! in a new women's record 8:08:05. Had it not been for the 90 degrees and humidity, she might have gone under 8 hours. Shawn Ramsdell (a male) of Syracuse was 2nd in 9:17:17; and rookie Laurie Brophy of Manlius was 3rd overall in 9:19:11. And to think some folks were worried Alan Evans would show up to defend his title(s). Kimball will represent the U.S. at the World (yes, world!) 100K Road Championships in France this summer, and is a member of the U.S. Mountain Running team which will go to Italy in September for those championships. Nikki said although trail/Mt. running is her forte, her/our team has a better shot at winning or medaling at the 100K road championships. Nikki recently placed 4th among elite women at Mt. Washington; won the snowshoe nationals last winter and placed 2nd in the U.S. 100K Nat. Championships in Pittsburgh. It was a wonderful performance to watch...
But of course, we had other excellent runners. Sam Hsiao of Ithaca set a new CR in the 25K (1:58:39) and so did 2nd place Alan Lockett in the masters CR (2:00:26). Jim "4 seconds short of a bear" Miner placed 3rd (2:04:41), but won the M50 div. Donna Lockett won the F25K race in 2:25:51. Bad news: she didn't have Audrey to hammer with so no CR there; good news: the Locketts now have "6 kids," 4 humans and 2 bears! Mark Stuart of Edinboro, Mass. won the 50K in record time (4:12:16), knocking 40 seconds off Alan Evans' old mark, and breaking the unofficial 25K course record by going through the first loop in 1:58 and change. Greig Watson, an Englishman who did go out in the hot noonday sun, placed 2nd in 4:17:50. Watson is a sports nutritionist getting an ex. phys. M.S. at IC. Greig says he will now be able to give insightful advice to all athletes he counsels who may want to do an ultra. Dave "the stonehead" Jones was 3rd and first masters (4:56:32).
Lorrie "Grete Waitz" Marnell made it 6 straight in the 50K women's dash, with a 5:27:02. She's asking for appearance fees.
An article will appear in Monday's Star Gazette, but a longer version will be printed in our newsletter & Web site (FLRC) in the very near future. I don't know why, but my editors don't let me go on and on... The Montreal runners offered to write something for our newsletter too, but "It'll be in French; perhaps you can get someone to translate it," Danielle told me. It takes a FLRC village to raise the FLT50s and bravo to Joe Reynolds (RD) and the HUGE stable of volunteers coordinated by Pam Carlucci. Many people worked from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., so you can see the demands of this race. We'll give more credit where credit is due in other press releases, but I personally think Earl Steinbrecher, Sr. should have his own HBO Comedy Special. He kept us laughing for 12 hours! We had an international field: Japan, Hungary and Canada; plus lots from the Northeast, a few from the west, and as always a big crowd from West. Mass. (Thanks for the bread -- no nuts -- Will.)
We'll be writing up the race in detail and it will be posted on the Web and set to several publications. Look for photos to emerge as well. Many thanks to everyone involved. It was a big success. Let's not even chat about the bug bites and the snakes in the portjohns. The pepper corn near death experience; and almost mistaking orange paint for bug spray. Ever see chicken in Runners World bags? And how about that canister of mace someone brought along? What were they thinking?
Now, Lorrie & I need volunteers for our WDF 5K. A piece of cake.
--Diane Sherrer