green lakes endurance runs

100 km Race Reports

• Elizabeth Carrion shares her race story and racing insight on the Mountain Peak Fitness blog.  

• Maurice Lee III tells his story of facing the setting sun and being dead on his feet in his Running Through Time blog.  

100 km Women Top Three Overall

1. Elizabeth Carrion          32     11:17:17    Fair Lawn     NJ  *course record
   
2. Jill Perry                          37     11:56:12    Manlius     NY
   
3. Zsuzsanna Carlson     35     12:17:52    Edison     NJ          

100 km Men Top Three Overall

1. Valmir Nunes                44       8:22:31     Santos     Brazil  *course record
   
2. Tim O'Shea                    37     10:17:44    Cazenovia     NY
3. Danny Hayes                 32     11:34:44    Syracuse     NY

50 km Race Reports

• The essence of our sport is reveled in Yassine Diboun's race report on his Life on the Run blog. The women's champion helps the men's champion get to the finish line! 
  

50 km Women Top Three Overall

1. Tanya Cady                   55     5:35:34     Sagamore Hills     OH
2. Jessica Lozier              28     5:38:12     New York     NY
3. Brenda Morris               41     5:45:50     Worcester     MA

  Yassine Diboun, Ithaca, NY          - 50 km Champions -      Tanya Cady, Sagamore Hills, OH 

50 km Men Top Three Overall

1. Yassine Diboun          29     4:04:39     Ithaca     NY  *course record
2. Ed Housel                    49     4:05:56     Rochester     NY
3. Mike Wright                   59    4:16:35     Chittenango     NY

The Fastest Last Lap (50 km)  

Ed Housel

Housel's 1:05:02 moved him from 4th to 2nd position, falling just 1:17 short of being the 50 km champion. Housel's last lap was 1:26 faster than Katie Stettler's amazing 1:06:28 in 2007 which inspired this award. Congratulations Ed

The Even Pace (100 km)

Elizabeth Carrion

Carrion ran her 2nd lap in 1:18:42 and her 8th lap in 1:33:12, a 14:30 difference between her fastest and slowest lap. In this case, Carrion's even pace earned her the 100 km victory. Let this be a lesson to us all. The 6:22 difference by Gary Ferguson in 2007 remains the gold standard. Elizabeth, awesome running!

The Courage of Trying (100 km)

Maurice Lee III

Lee was the final runner in under the 12 hour 87.5 km cut-off. With strength of mind and flash light in hand he would not be denied the 8th and final lap for an official finish. He faced the utmost that our sport has to offer around the lakes and through the upland forest. With the help of the setting sun in the Serengeti and the positive vibes of course sweep, Carolyn Sterritt, Lee finished in a very respectable 14:25:23 on a 100 km course that is establishing itself as one of the more challenging in North America. Lee tells the story on his blog, Running Through Time. You're an inspiration, Maurice.

As the sun rose during the day, the four miles in the upper meadow became more and more challenging each lap as the sun beat down on the runners. By 11:30 a.m. temperatures hit 80 F and the race organizers scrabbled to put out two additional water stops. 87 F (9 degrees above normal) at 2:00 p.m. wilted the 100 km runners, and the athletes adept at temperature regulation came to the top of a field of very good runners. 

The finishers in the 100 km race truly are talented and special. They are the 38% that solved this deceptively challenging course. Low finish rates are nothing to be proud of. Race officials will be seriously looking into why there is a low finish rate and how the race could be better. If you ran the race and want to offer suggestions, please CONTACT US.

Despite the warm morning, six runners went under 4:30 for the 50 km. Yassine Didoun, 4:04:39, and Ed Housel, 4:05:56 each went under Javier Martinez's course record. Martinez, the 2007 50 km champion needed to withdraw at the last minute. The race wasn't the same without Javier, but exciting nonetheless as Housel, the 2007 WNY Ultra Series Co-Ultra Runner of the Year came close to chasing down Diboun who was crippled by leg cramps in the upland forest on the final 12.5 km loop. Had Diboun not lapped Tanya Cady who treated the ailing Diboun with Endurolytes, Housel may have been the champion. As it was-- Diboun had 9 minutes on Housel at 37.5 km and his recovery, thanks to Cady, came just in time. Cady's experience paid off in her own race as well as the 55 year old ran a consistent race passing Jessica Lozier, 28, on the final loop and holding off her trailing competitor, Brenda Morris, 41. In addition to Cady, another veteran, Mike Wright, ran a dazzling race-- third place 4:16:35, and all the runners saw in this athletic 59 year old many things to be envious of as he was surrounded by his wife and daughters at the finish.  

The story of the 100 km starts with an impromptu email that I received in June. Valmir Nunes did as we all have done, checked on a race that was going to coincide with some unrelated travels. (This has some irony that I will share later) Little did he know that I was a co-finisher with him at the 2007 Badwater Ultramarathon which he won while crushing the course record. This modest champion sent along a "mini-resume" of championships and record performances from China to the Netherlands to Greece. I immediately replied reassuring him that I knew who he was and encouraged him to join us for what would inevitably be a wonderful weekend.

One explanation of the low finish rate for the 100 km might be found in the statistic that six of the top ten runners through the first 12.5 km lap did not go beyond 62.5 km. None of the four women finishers were in the top ten at 12.5 km yet all four of these women were in the top ten at the finish. Maybe the race needs a warning label, "Running faster than the recommended pace (overdose) may cause finish damage. In case of overdose, get pacing help or contact a race official right away."

Local Cicero runner, Edie Zajac, read that warning. After being the first woman through 12.5 km, she immediately reset her pace for a successful race. Another local woman, Jill Perry, rushed the pace through 25 km under 10:00/mile. Perry may have run more conservatively had she known a 10:54/mile pace would win the race and that the temperatures would soon bump up into the mid-80s. Meanwhile, a few minutes back, the New Jersey women, Elizabeth Carrion and Zsuzsanna Carlson were getting to know each other. Carrion would soon say good-bye to Carlson as she went nearly 10 minutes ahead of Carlson through 50 km and was then within seven minutes of Perry who was racing the first time beyond 50 km. Carrion took command of the race on the sixth lap and Carlson wisely settled into a steady race saving pace for the last 50 km, but it was not enough to catch Perry who kept up some fast running until the final difficult lap. Carrion, now the first woman through 62.5 km, would find herself 3rd overall as talented runner Mark Siegers, then in 2nd withdrew from the race. Carrion, the most evenly paced runner in the entire race, remained in 3rd to the finish and now holds the women's course record.

The men's race was of course dominated by the world champion Valmir Nunes (I think the only runner to hold both a 24 hour and a 100 km world championship). Everyone appreciated Nunes and the sportsmanship that he and his wife and friends brought to the event. There are many things beside running to learn from champions like Nunes.

Two local 100 km men Timothy O'Shea and Danny Hayes had great races that should not be overshadowed by this day of international competition. O'Shea ran his own race-- letting Seigers go ahead and spent most of the time on the trail by himself. This triathlete proved himself an ultra runner-- making good judgments in difficult conditions. Hayes had what would be the 2nd best paced 100 km of the day. He had been close behind Carrion by only a few minutes throughout the race, and it wasn't until the final 25 km that the two would spread out to 10, 15, and finally 17 minutes apart. Great running by both. There were other stories of wonderful performances in the 100 km race. One such story is about the irony that was mentioned earlier. Not only did Nunes of Brazil, the 100 km winner, include this race in some other travel plans-- Maurice Lee III of Oklahoma City, the final runner through the 87.5 km cut-off, included the race in his unrelated travel plans as well. The two runners, brought to Green Lakes by our good fortune, proved to be the quality bookends to a wonderful day.