8th
Annual Holiday Lake 50K
February 15, 2003
“The Mudfest”
by David Horton
Running an ultra is always hard. But, some are harder than others! Directing an ultra is always hard. But some are harder to direct than others!
With the Farmer’s Almanac and the local and national weather service
calling for a major winter storm … I had to make decisions just like many
runners had to make. With runners
coming from 15 states, there was really no decision for me to make … the race
would go on! Although many runners
made the decision to stay at home, we had 161 runners (of the 185 registered)
brave the elements and begin the 2003 Holiday Lake 50K.
The Holiday Lake is the first race in the Lynchburg Ultra
Series (LUS). It is also the
easiest of the three: Holiday Lake – 2000 feet of elevation gain; Promise Land
– 7400 feet elevation gain and the Mountain Masochist – 9200 feet elevation
gain. The Holiday Lake is
relatively flat. That is good and
bad news. You can end up running a
lot more and a lot faster … and
when it rains … it is very muddy! And
it was VERY muddy this year! It
rained all night Friday night and continued throughout the day on Saturday.
I knew there would be no course records set … and there wasn’t!
The major reason for holding a 50K at Holiday Lake in
February is having a relatively easy 50K early in the season (and it’s the
only consistent date available). Also,
there is cheap lodging (bunkhouse/cabin style quarters @ $10 per night), hot
showers, delicious pre- and post-race meals ALL at the start/finish of the
Holiday Lake 50K. This is an
excellent event for first timers and we had several running their first ultra
this year. I have also been able to
motivate, talk and even pressure several students from my running class at LU
into participating in this event. There
were 9 runners who are or have been in my running classes and all 9 finished
this year! (Must be the teacher!)
The women’s field appeared to be the toughest we have
ever had at the Holiday Lake … and it certainly turned out that way.
Bethany Hunter (Lynchburg, VA) won last year and was also the 2001 and
2002 LUS champion. However, she had
won the Uwharrie 40 Miler the previous weekend and broke Anne Riddle’s course
record to boot. Annette Bednosky
(Boone, NC) had also run Uwharrie, finishing 21 minutes behind Hunter.
The question was if these two would be recovered?
To make the field even more competitive was Connie Gardner
(Medina, OH) who has been one to the hottest runners in the country this last
year. Laura Nelson (Waynesboro, VA)
a three-time winner of the JFK 50 Miler and one of only three women to ever
break 7 hours at JFK, was also entered. Michele
Burr (Gaithersburg, MD) was looking in top form as well.
The men’s field was not as competitive as the women’s.
It was going to be difficult for any one to compete with Clark Zealand
(Lynchburg, VA). Zealand was the
2001 and 2002 LUS champion and two-time winner of Holiday Lake 50K.
But, the field was good. Derrick
Carr (Fredericksburg, VA) has been running very well in the last year.
Tom Nielson (Annandale, VA) a west coast legend, was in the Lynchburg
area for his first try at one of our races.
Byron Backer (Greenville, SC) was a last minute entrant,
coming in on Friday night. Backer
won the Uwharrie 40 Miler the weekend before, holding off Mike Morton and Eric
Clifton. The same question applied
to his capabilities as did for Hunter and Bednosky … had he recovered enough?
One last runner who figured to compete for the win was Josh Zealand,
Clark’s youngest brother. Josh had been training with Clark and wanted to check out his
level of fitness against the big brother! Clark’s
other two brothers, Mike and Matt, were also entered in the race … 4 Zealands!
As expected, Clark took the lead from the start with his
brother, Josh, at his side. They
stayed together through aid station 4 (12.1 miles).
Just before the turnaround, Clark pulled away with a one-minute lead.
Going in the opposite direction for the second loop, reaching aid station
4 again (19.3), Josh had hit the wall and died.
The race for first was over as Clark cruised in finishing in 4:02,
running the first loop in 1:56 and the second loop in 2:06 for his 3rd
Holiday Lake victory. Second place
was a little more competitive. Carr
dogged Backer for a long time, finally catching him and passing him between
25-28 miles, holding Backer off to beat him by one minute (4:27:32 vs. 4:28:33).
All five women (Gardner, Nelson, Burr, Bednosky and Hunter)
stayed bunched together through 6.3 miles with only four minutes separating the
first from the last. By 9.0 miles,
Gardner had a one-minute lead over Nelson, and 5 minutes over Bednosky, Hunter
and Burr. By 12.1 miles, Gardner
and Nelson were still separated by only one minute with the other three starting
to drop back.
Gardner’s lead increased to 3 minutes by the end of the
first loop and stayed between 3-4 minutes, pulling away a little more after the
last aid station, winning in a time of 4:46:22, just 4 minutes over Hunter’s
course record in 2002. Nelson
finished strong in 4:50:52 for second place.
Burr had a fine time of 5:01:55 to take third. Bednosky held off Hunter for fourth place in a time of
5:09:13 and 5:10:22 respectively. Gardner
and Nelson both finished in the top 10 overall.
Just imagine how interesting this race would have been if
Backer, Bednosky and Hunter had not raced the previous weekend?
The women’s masters (40-49) was Sophie Speidel
(Charlottesville, VA) in 5:38:26 and grand masters (50 & over) went to
Debbie Miller (Louisville, KY) in 6:13:19.
The men’s masters was Derrick Carr with a time of 4:27:32, grand
masters, Frank Probst (Burke, VA) in 5:10:03 and super masters (60 & over)
was Malcolm Gillis (Huntsville, AL – race director of the Rocket City
Marathon) in 6:22:18. Gilllis, age
69, finished in a tie with one of my students, Sonia Rodriquez, age 19, running
in her first ultra.
Our youngest runner, Caleb Trittipoe, age 15, finished his
first ultra in a time of 6:22:18. His
mother, Rebekah Trittipoe, completed the race with her son … a very special
moment for her!
Frank Villa, one of our race sponsors, used his mega
mileage training (37 ½ miles total for the year to date), to complete the race
in 6:54. How does he do it?
Mike Hayslett became the first staff member of the Holiday
Lake 4-H Center to attempt the race. Mike
finished one loop and now has an idea of what it takes to finish the whole race
… just ask him!!!!
John Price (Virginia Beach, VA) also completed his 8th
Holiday Lake 50K. He is the only
one to have entered and finished all 8 races.
Price has also completed 17 of 20 MMTR 50 Milers.
Our previous heavyweight division, “the Clydesdale,”
now has a new name. Under the
direction of Neal “Push-Ups” Bryant, it has been changed to “the Fat
Boy” Division, and will continue the name throughout the LUS.
It includes anyone weighing 200 pounds or more (without shoes or shirt).
Michael Priddy (Alexandria, VA) won this coveted award with a time of
5:58:13, coming in 44th overall
Those who came the furthest to run the Holiday Lake were
Richard Owens, from Wales, England and Mark Konodi from Seattle, WA.
This year was extremely difficult for crews and especially
aid station workers who braved the wet and cold conditions … they certainly
earned their pay! Pay??!?!!!??
We have great volunteers. We
could not hold the races we do, with the quality we expect, without them!
THANK YOU!
Many people ask… What is the most stressful thing about
being a race director? There are
lots of things … you cannot even imagine.
Yet … I enjoy it. It’s
very rewarding! But, to answer the
question … Awards. What to do?
Trophies are not a problem, but when you try to find something you know
the runners will use and appreciate (shirts), therein lies the problem.
You can’t wait till the last minute to order special items.
It is very difficult to predict the number of runners that will
participate and how many of each size, etc. On the very last date I could order
the Patagonia finisher’s shirts, I only had about 50 runners registered.
So, how many do I order? The
same with meal preparations … how many do we cook for?
That’s why I try to encourage people to enter early, to mark their
sizes, fill out their applications completely.
That’s how you can help me as well as make these races more enjoyable
for everyone involved!
See you at the Promise Land in April and the MMTR in October!