After the Holiday Lake race last year, I thought about dropping the race and starting a new 50K on Liberty Mountain trails adjacent to Liberty University (LU) where I teach.  However, in the face of much opposition, I decided to keep the Holiday Lake, but add a new race, the Promise Land 50K, and institute the Lynchburg Ultra Series.  In hindsight, I am glad that I did not drop the Holiday Lake 50K.  In 2000, we had 112 starters.  This year we had 156 starters, from 13 states!  Why the growth?  I’m not sure, but I think some of it was the Series aspect and also the fact that ultrarunning, especially on trails, is catching on in our area, as witnessed by the fact we had 34 local finishers!

            Another reason that I am glad that we continued the Holiday Lake 50K is because of the setting.  The Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center is a perfect setting for the race. Food, lodging, start and finish, are all at one place.  Richard Pulliam, the director of the center, and Christine Glover, the head cook and all of the Holiday Lake staff made us feel welcome and were extremely gracious hosts, catering to our every need.   Christine and her staff prepared an excellent pre-race meal consisting of meat and meatless spaghetti and meat and meatless lasagna, a garden salad and several tasty desserts.  They also prepared a great post-race chicken meal as well.  We could not ask for better hosts.

            The pre-race favorite this year was Clark Zealand who had tied for first in 2000 with Courtney Campbell (who was not entered in this year’s race).  I thought the race belonged to Clark with possible threats from Scott Wolfe (Brevard, NC), Wes Kessenich (Ruckersville, VA), and Clark’s brother Mike Zealand who finished 5^th in 2000.  Little did I know (or anyone else) that a darkhorse was in the field.  The week before the race, a runner named Andrew Herr (Latrobe, PA) called and asked if he could enter.  Tim Hewitt of Greensburg, PA had suggested the Holiday Lake as a good race for his FIRST ultra.  Not receiving his entry until just before the race, I did not notice that he had run a 2:21 marathon!?!?!  Later, I and everyone else would take notice.

            In the women's field, the favorite was Francesca Conte (Charlottesville, VA). Francesca had finished 2^nd at the 2000 MMTR 50 Miler and had run a very fast 50K race in January of 2001.  Rebekah Trittipoe, of Lynchburg and course record-holder, had been expected to give Francesca some strong competition, but became sick a few days before the race, and was not her true race form.  Terri Handy (Philadelphia, PA) had also run very strong at the 2000 MMTR and was expected to be a threat as well.

            The field also included 15 LU students and four staff members with all but one, who was sick before she even started, finishing the race!  Who says you have to be old to run ultras?   Nine of them were finishing their very first ultra.  Also, two of the five aid stations were manned by LU students.

            Charlie Hesse and I had marked the course on Wednesday of race week with white and red streamers and flour marking the turns.  It rained Thursday and Friday and very hard Friday night.  Most of the flour arrows were washed away by Saturday, but the streamers were still in place.  I drove around and placed new arrows at many of the turns.

            Fortunately, the rain stopped during the night and race day turned out perfect for the runners: cool, sunny, and breezy, but a little muddy in a few places.  The rain also increased the size of the two stream crossings on each of the two loops. There were even sightings of a giant frog and a very large snake at one of the stream crossings!   Snakes and frogs out in February?   That’s Virginia for you!

            As expected, Clark Zealand jumped to the front of the pack, but the unknown Herr went right with him.  They checked through the first aid station (3.5 miles) together, but Her pulled to a two minute lead by aid station 3 (9.0 miles) and a four minute lead by 12 miles.  His lead stayed in the range of 4-5 minutes through 19.3 miles.  Ultimately, Herr pulled away to shatter Courtney Campbell's course record by over 12 minutes, finishing in 3:40:30!  Clark finished just seven seconds over the former course record in a time of 3:51:52.  Clark ran a great race and is one of the best ultra runners in the nation, but his leg speed was not up to Herr's on this day.  Questioned if he would run another ultra, Herr reported that he was going back to the faster races!!  My guess…he’ll be back!

            Wes Kessenich finished in a fine time of 4:07:24.  Issac Rattin, first time ultra-runner, LU student, and former cross-country runner, finished in 4^th place with a time of 4:17:41, despite the fact that he started 11 minutes late!!!  Mike Zealand finished 5^th in 2000 and 5^th again this year in 4:29:21.

            All three top seeded ladies, Conte, Trittipoe, and Handy, checked into the first aid station at the same time.  By the second aid station (6.3 miles), sickness had slowed Trittipoe down considerably.  However, Conte and Handy stayed together through 9.0 miles.  By aid station 4, Conte had moved out to a two-minute lead over Handy only increasing it to three minutes at the turn around at 15.7 miles.  Conte had been running with Russell Gill until this point, but put the hammer down, left Gill, and had a 10-minute lead on Handy by 19.3 miles and never looked back.  The only question was whether or not she would get the course record.  With a 2:30 first half, she was able to run 2:29 for the second half and get a negative split, falling five minutes short of the course record, but achieving a great win.

            The 2^nd place finisher in the ladies field was a surprise as well.  Bethany Hunter, like Issac Rattin, a student at LU also started 11 minutes late and slowly and steadily moved through the field.  Bethany was the 9^th place female at the halfway point getting there in 2:47, despite her late start.  Bethany slowly moved up through the ladies field finally passing the 2^nd place lady (Terri Handy) just before 27 miles.  Bethany's second half was run in 2:37!  Only one minute slower than her actual running time on the first lap.

            Handy took 3^rd in 5:29:29 with Mary (Mouse) Andrews taking 4^th in 5:41:04 and Janice Bales (Afton, VA) taking 5^th in 5:42:06.

            The master's winners were Janice Bales and Russell Zellmer (Shawsville, VA), a first time ultra-runner, finishing in 4:42:51.  In fact, three of the top eight runners were first time ultra-runners!

            The grand masters went to Frank Probst (Burke, VA) in 5:15:36 and Meredith Bonta (Riva, MD) in 6:46:28. The super masters winner was Stan Neumann (Timonium, MD) in 6:13:54.

            The infamous and hard-earned Best Blood Award went to Bill Fornoff (Jarrettsville, MD).  Bill had a nasty gash with blood running down his knee and leg and had caked up nicely!

            The overall winners received embroidered golf shirts.  Other sub 7 ½  hour finishers received a silk-screened duffle bag.

            John Price (Virginia Beach, VA) and Mike Kennedy (Raleigh, NC) finished the 2001 Holiday Lake, and are the only two runners who have finished all six Holiday Lake races.

I would also like the thank Montrail, Conquest, Patagonia and Frank Villa Optometry for helping sponsor this race.  Without their help, we could not have a such a successful event with quality awards, shirts and prizes. 

The 2001 Holiday Lake 50K was an event for runners to get together, eat, fellowship, renew old friendships, meet new ultra-runners, and run 31 Horton miles.

            Hope to see you at the Promise Land 50K on April 28, 2001 and the MMTR 50 on October 20, 2001.