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Greater Toronto
Ultras |
| Race Report by John Remington, RD |
New races are always an adventure especially new ultra races. On April 14, 2001 at 7am 69 brave souls lined up to experience an ultra race conceived, organized, and promoted by yours truly. My team (Leslie Nigh) had slaved away the night before at the launch party for the OUS 2001 season and we had both had 2 hours sleep.
Registration was interesting as 11 people showed up with cash in hand at 6:45 am to take part. The carefully produced splits recording books had disappeared. There followed what more than one observer felt was a mob scene. Overwhelming fear is all I recall. Helen Malmberg and Gary Black saved the day and I found the recording books. I said something to the awaiting mass and handed over the start to our race Grand Marshall Ron Flint. Ron won the first Toronto 100k in 1981- but had not raced an ultra since 1982. Like many others the concept of this revival had fired him up into trying the 50k despite a hamstring injury caused training for this race!
Tony Martin’s horn went off and I pedalled furiously down the course as Ryne Melcher thundered towards me. Down the 5k bike path we zoomed and I got off my bike at the turnaround to find the turnaround crew under Canada’s 100k Team Captain Theresa Kirby in a bit of a panic as they had delayed their departure from the starting area. Soon Theresa and Leslie had the aid station working but George Sarson had already left at high speed without taking a drink (water was unavailable at that time). Quickly I hopped on the bike and chased him down with a cup of water.
I believed the course would be fast and I hoped people would enjoy the 5k of smooth, non-cambered, little used bike path that gradually slopes downhill along the Humber River. Crossing a few wooden and iron bridges and an abandoned road it ended after passing underneath the 401 Highway in a quiet park. Then a quick turnaround and follow the course back to the start. Repeat 5 or 10 times.
Michael Misteli from Switzerland was running his second 100k in a six day period as he prepared for the Bronx 6 day event at the end of the month. He was the clear favourite as he’d managed 8 hours and 10 minutes the previous Sunday and had a personal best of 7 hours and 40 minutes. Well he motored and zoomed and had a personal best by 5 minutes in 7 hours 35 minutes 10 seconds.
Les Michalak stormed the course and held off a charging Karin Westfahl to take second and first male 50 and over in 8:46:45. After being in second for awhile Karin held 3rd easily to finish in a stunning 8:52:43. Prerace Canadian favourite Tony Martin had a rough time for part of the race but finished first male under 50 in 9:34:23. Helping set up the course probably wasn’t the best preparation but Tony and John Cookson played a vital role in setting up this race. Jim Morrison is my pick to win the OUS this year and almost caught Tony by running sanely for an evenly paced 9:37:10. It gave us all great pleasure to see our new “President for Life” Gord England actually finish a 100k in his fifth try. Gord surpassed himself in a smooth 9:46:16 and was not seen sleeping even once on this course. Gord also helped me by setting up the timer clock and finish line.
Charlie Upshall raced second in the matured male category to finish in a personal best time of 9:55:49. Next in was Brenda Hann from Winnipeg who is becoming a fixture in this series. Her 10:04:08 was a PB and first mature female. She made it look very easy!
Of note in the 100k was Henri Girault from France who chose our race to complete his 445th 100k race. Theresa Kirby did airport duty and gave Henri lodging for the 3 days he was in Toronto. He was very happy to wear number 445 and said it was only the second time a race had honoured him this way.
Well on a day with many happy runners the “fast pack” proved experience can teach them nothing. John Culhane raced Michael despite not having resumed long run training. His DNF at 50k was a good start to his training and was invaluable to Michael. Dom Repta -“in my heart I know I am going to run the 100k” ignored my advice and ran hard despite being on antibiotics and having spent the week in bed. He never did upgrade to the 100k and finished an amazing second in 3:56:10. Scott Turner has been only running once a week all winter because of work but race day fever hit him big time. 3:46:51 was his winning time and he was delighted by his shiny trophy and Montrail shoes! Oh, Ryne Melcher is undertrained and injured but still hit 18kph during the first 5k! If these guys get fit and race each other on this course with perfect weather I want to be watching.
One of the many stories here was the presence of Grand Marshall Ron Flint returning to ultras for the first time since 1982. Paced by Ed Whitlock and Chris Kelk he stormed along to do his “one or two loops” to finish third in 4:01:10 and took the first mature male trophy by a big margin. Next year I hope Ron returns to break the 4 hour barrier! Fourth finisher in 4:03:33 was Peter Traynor who didn’t receive a sweatshirt on race day as 11 race day entries swamped me. Thanks to Peter and other locals for allowing me to give your sweatshirts to the US Army contingent. New sweatshirts will be ordered!
Doug Barber came second in the matured male category in an impressive 4:10:12 and an amazing 100th ultra finish. Doug could have had number 100 on his bib but chose to keep this accomplishment private. With the return of Ron Flint to ultras and Chris Kelk and Ed Whitlock showing more than a passing interest Doug may have more competition in this category in future years! Bruce Pellow ran a relaxed 4:14:46 to take third matured male.
First woman was no surprise as Cathy Kueneman came in after 4:26:46. The Montrail shoes and trophy seemed to be a surprise to her and I hope she’ll return to try and win this race overall next year. Second woman was Claudia Baker-Frauchiger in 4:30:49 and impressive in her first ultra. She is thinking (like many other new ultrarunners) of now doing Ganaraska. Third woman was Tanja Angleitner from Slovenia in 4:34:19. I don’t know what was on her Walkman but she didn’t do badly in her first race of any distance over half-marathon!
The race for first mature woman was a tense one as Lili Hrabchak and Judy Jonas tussled with each other for the whole race. Being great friends they passed the lead back and forth. Lili had her youth running group show up to run the 10k sections with her. Fittingly they tied in 6:12:38! Lili seems to have caught the ultra bug and is one of many talking about Ganaraska. Perhaps this race will start off a few more new ultrarunners next year!
Oh yes. The really big story in the 50k was the presence of Odino Soligo fresh from a year’s worth of leg injuries. He turned 80 years young on March 23, 2001. The Canadian record was going down in flames if he finished but what about the world record? Well it's now 5:43:52 which is 45 minutes less than it was on April 13, 2001! Seeing Odino beam with joy and show us all the old record was a highlight for all of us. I had restrained myself from adding to his own pressure and merely wrote “Good Luck!” on his entry instructions. I had volunteer and ultra wannabe John Turner give “special” attention to Odino and a few others. All who helped run this event felt enormous satisfaction in contributing to Odino's world record run in the 50k for males 80 and over.
The 80k category will be removed in future races but I am glad it was here for this race as Cynthia Black in her second race of over 13 miles was able to win it in a very painful 9:45:35. At 16 years of age she raced the Buffalo 6 hour two weeks before to finish just behind me with 34+ miles. She has a rare talent and I hope being coached by a certain directionally challenged K/W runner won’t have her lining up for all the longest races in the OUS! Yes folks Ron Gehl went right instead of left but after one mile of new hills he realised he was off course and got back on. I had warned the runners that if they saw a big lake they had gone too far south but next year I’ll try and make the course “Ron proof”. I wrote “left” instead of “right” on a sign but the correct direction was obvious to all others. Aimee Runge was able to secure 80 OUS points in second and finished this race in 10:21:18. John Maxwell took third behind the ladies in 10:23:18-nobody catches Aimee! Last in the 80k was Richard Lulin from Montreal in 11:57:54.
Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers. We will return!
100km 1 Misteli Michael Basel Switz 7:35:10 2 Michalak Les M50+ Burlington 8:46:45 3 Westfahl Karin F Waterloo 8:52:43 4 Martin Tony Kitchener 9:34:23 5 Morrison Jim Thornhill 9:37:10 6 England Gord Toronto 9:46:16 7 Upshall Charlie M50+ Schomberg 9:55:49 8 Hann Brenda F50+ Winnipeg MB 10:04:08 9 Jepson Fred M50+ Burlington 10:15:23 10 Gehl Ronald M50+ Kitchener 10:19:58 11 Martin Jim M50+ Lindsay 11:11:49 12 Landry Donald M50+ Montreal QC 11:54:03 13 Maier Hans M50+ Markham 12:13:07 14 Girault Henri M50+ Naintre France 12:39:23 15 Hilton Bruce M50+ Brampton 12:47:49 16 Landry Marion F50+ Montreal QC 13:40:46 Swan Dennis Hamilton DNF Culhane John Toronto DNF Hewitt Joseph Burlington DNF Melcher Ryne Waterloo DNF 50km 1 Turner Scott London 3:46:51 2 Repta Dom Hamilton 3:56:10 3 Flint Ron M50+ Toronto 4:01:50 4 Traynor Peter Toronto 4:03:33 5 Schiff Michael Menlo Park CA 4:07:48 6 Van Gemert Henry Oakville 4:09:10 7 Barber Doug M50+ Owen Sound 4:10:12 8 Ragetlie Henri Niagara O-T-L 4:11:16 9 Pellow Bruce M50+ London 4:14:46 10 Veldhuizen Todd Bloomington IN 4:15:17 11 McRobert Ricky Whitby 4:22:13 12 Kueneman Cathy F Kitchener 4:26:46 13 Baker-Frauchiger Claudia F Collingwood 4:30:49 14 Hickey Grant Etobicoke 4:31:04 15 Udell Rob Toronto 4:32:00 16 Angleitner Tanja F Maribor Slovenia 4:34:19 17 Campbell Grant Guelph 4:36:17 18 Charbonneau Vincent Burlington 4:37:46 19 Kelleher Laurie F Seneca Falls NY 4:43:23 20 Farla Suzanne F Woodville 4:44:28 21 Tang Hin Scarborough 4:55:19 22 Govier Virginia F Kitchener 5:03:20 23 Ross Ian M50+ Toronto 5:03:59 24 Stein Stephen M50+ Toronto 5:05:23 25 Tysiak William Toronto 5:14:40 26 Reid Colin Fort Drum NY 5:16:06 27 White Bob Owen Sound 5:16:37 28 O'Connor Gary Fergus 5:20:37 29 Gouin Michel Drummondville QC 5:27:46 30 McQuay Terry Toronto 5:29:58 31 Marinucci James Fort Drum NY 5:37:19 32 Soligo Odino M50+ Thornhill 5:43:52* 33 Barnard Chris Evans Mills NY 5:44:50 34 Singh Jaswant Mississauga 5:47:29 35 Thill Brad Fort Drum NY 5:47:36 36 Walker Sue F Mississauga 5:50:24 37 Hrabchak Lili F50+ Toronto 6:12:38 Jonas Judith F50+ Toronto 6:12:38 39 Stanton Jennifer F Fort Erie 6:14:41 40 Goodsell David Niagara Falls NY 6:45:36 41 Cookson John M50+ Waterloo 6:48:35 42 Kaufman Carl M50+ Toronto 7:14:52 Sarson George M50+ Waterloo DNF McGarvie Debbie F Toronto DNF Samarelli Michael Toronto DNS 80km 1 Black Cynthia F Petersburg 9:45:35 2 Runge Aimee F Toronto 10:21:18 3 Maxwell John M Toronto 10:23:18 4 Lulin Richard M50+ Montreal QC 11:57:54
* Pending World Record, Men 80+