Saturday, September 5th was the 5th running of the
ULTRAMIDWEST Weekend of Racing - which is more like 24 hours of racing and 7
days of planning, painting and setting up! It averages out to a Weekend, more or
less. The event actually consists of three events, the 24 Hour Challenge, a UMCA
Ultracup race, the Dawn to Dusk 12 Hour, and the Buffalo Bill Stampede, a six
hour race. All three events are run simultaneously on a three loop course(67,19
and 8 miles); the 24 hour race is a time trial, whereas the 6 and 12 hour races
allow pacelines.
First I would like to thank the volunteers! We had a few concerns this year
since one of our old reliable helpers, Jim Hanson, had passed this summer and
Dave Parker had broken a few ribs shortly before the race weekend, but a last
minute plea brought out more volunteers than we have ever had! A special thanks
to Wendell Hyink who did not feel up to racing, but drove from Michigan to offer
his services as a gofer and photographer, and to Bill and Deb Kulwicki who spent
the night at the timing station after they had done the Buffalo Bill Stampede
earlier in the day. Some of Wendell's pics are online now - see the Photos link
- with more to come. He's sending a CD full, so check back!
Because of Dave's injury we had to move the Friday pasta feed to a local pizza
joint that was not quite prepared to supply 'all you can eat' pasta to a
group of ultracyclists who were primed to carbo-load. But with a bit of
encouragement from Joe they were able to satisfy most of the riders!
The weather was near perfect - temps in the low 60's to mid-fifties at night and
up to about 80 Saturday afternoon, with a light wind. The race brought in riders
from Canada to Texas and Missouri to New Jersey, several recumbents, including
local rider Larry Ide on a Baschetta, and our first team a mixed pair from North
Carolina, Rick Hays and Caroline Eastburn.
In the six hour event nearly everyone medaled, with Dessa Paris and Terry
Crompton taking top miles - 124.2 and 124.4 respectively.
The 12 hour riders maintained a fast pace throughout the day with a paceline
that wouldn't quit - made up of members of the Indianapolis Ultra Team BlueTop
and Missouri's Stephanie McCreary logging 225 miles and more. The top 12 hour
riders were John McCarthy and Daryl Kunz at 235.9 and 234.3 miles.
Then there were the 24 hour riders. Larry Ide on his 'bent premier event was
doing well until he went down at about 100 miles on a 25mph downhill curve. They
cleaned Larry up as much as possible at the checkpoint and Larry continued on
for another 150 until darkness and probably a bit of pain made him dropout.
Bryce Walsh burned uo the course for most of the day and into the night, but he
may have burned more than the course; by two AM he was getting pretty wobbly and
had to catch some shuteye, which cost him the lead. Mahomet's Jay Yost was in
pursuit of Walsh for most of the day but his fast pace appeared to cause him to
fade in the last hours of the 24 and he ended up taking 2nd place in his
category. At about 5AM the riders fund themselves suddenly cooled off by a
surprise morning shower that lasted about 30 minutes, but it did not develop
into any more than a gentle rain and was over by the time the race ended.
There were 3 RAAM qualifiers in the 24 hour, Lee Rohlf who rode an amazing 430
miles to take first place overall, Paul Carpenter (planning to compete in RAAM
in 2010) riding 414 miles and Mike Dunlap with 410 miles on a creaky bike!
And lets not forget the two young riders that showed up! Joshua Pritchard rode 160 miles in the 22 hour group and is 16 years old! And Rachelle Cobb, a twenty year old student at Rose-Hulman, drove from Terra Haute to ride a recumbent supplied by Dennis Grelk to finish the 6 hour with 117 miles! Congrats to these young riders.
All times are now posted in the online Results. Hope everone had a great time
and it will be better in 2010! Thanks - UltraMidwest!
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