wf05

Link to finishers, leaders, dnf's page for Wasatch Front 100
Wasatch 100 Mile Endurance Run
10 September 2005
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

The Wasatch Crimson Cheetah stalked its prey as it left checkpoint Kilo just before Brighton and the 75 mile mark. Fleet footed Crimson Cheetah Karl Meltzer stunned onlookers this year pouncing on Nate McDowell's 2002 course record breaking it by 9 minutes and arriving at the Homestead Resort in Midway, Utah, in 19:43:47. To say Karl was “in the zone” is an understatement. “Out of this world,” is more like it. But it didn't start out like there would be a fifth Golden Skull first place award to the multiple Wasatch Front 100 mile winner and multiple Hardrock 100 winner. The lead was grabbed at the first checkpoint station by Jim Huffman who led or shared the lead until Meltzer either put the hammer down (or at least forgot to slow down) near Brighton at mile 75 and kept up the relentless pace building his lead to 14 minutes at mile 87 and over an hour at the finish. Huffman gamely gave it a great effort continuing his strong quest for first until 90 miles when he reached the excruciating painful part of the course commonly called “Earth's Torture Chamber”, but Meltzer had his “zone” safely tucked away good and tight in those experienced feet. Huffman finished second in 20:56:12. Ty Draney took third place in 22:09:50, Paul Sweeney grabbed fourth in 22:43:29, and Derek Blaylock was fifth in 22:53:45. Meltzer ran an astonishing 5 hours and 9 minutes from Brighton (commonly referred to as the “Morgue”) to the finish, the fastest race-day time known to the Wasatch on this difficult last section since McDowell ran a 5:30 in 2002. After a very successful year, Meltzer now owns 3 out of the top four times at Wasatch and the top three times at Hardrock. In awarding Karl his eighth Crimson Cheetah buckle this year, it is felt by many that he has made a good case for strongest 100 mile mountain runner ever. He set a new course record despite vegetation on the course having overgrown, like a jungle, due to heavy early spring rain this year and the technical difficulty of running all those rocks when tired. Of course, he does own a lot of buckles that help keep up his long pants. That must help.

If you don't think those rocks create problems, just talk to Matthew Watts who fell and cracked 3 ribs, suffering trauma to his chest area, and as a result slowly developed an 80% collapsed lung. His gradual onset of shortness of breath due to hypoxia kept him from getting past the Pot Hollow checkpoint, mile 97, and he was taken to the hospital for two days of recovery. Having regained some of his sense of humor about the whole ordeal, he commented, “Rocks don't care!” Most trail runners have fallen themselves would surely agree rocks don't have much empathy with flesh and bone.

In the women's race, Darcy Africa took the lead by the first checkpoint arriving 19 minutes ahead of Betsy Nye and slowly added to her lead finishing in a very strong time for Wasatch in 24:34:53. Nye went on to a new personal record after finishing first woman three years running in 2001, 2002, and 2003, with a powerful 25:26:18. Krissy Moehl Sybrowski, the 2004 winner and Crimson Cheetah, came in third with a 26:34:45. Lorie Hutchison also ran a personal best for fourth place in 27:14:47 and fifth place was taken by Stacey Bunton with a 29:06:57.

Derek Blaylock, Phil Lowry, and Jim Williamson received their thousand mile or ten year rings They also received a great print copy of a Fred Denys oil-on-canvas art work, a landscape with Mount Timpanogas in the background. In addition, Phil Lowry presented his long suffering wife with an enlarged and framed photo of part of the course for her sacrifice in staying home with the family while he is out in the mountains training.

Grand slammers for this year were: Ben Benjamin, 58, OR ; Dan Brenden, 54, AZ Hans-Dieter Weisshaar, 65, GER ; Jim Williamson, 45, UT; Krissy Moehl Sybrowsky(F), 27, WA ;Liz Walker(F), 46, GA; Mark Hartell, 41, UK; Norm Richardson, 50, MA; Rex Stickland, 60, ENG. Mark had the fastest time overall for the men and Krissy led the women.

On a light note: Dana Miller (Mud & Guts), five time former champion, was at the Homestead walking along with 4 plastic patio chairs in his arms and walking rather slowly since he dropped out at Big Water, mile 65, at Wasatch this year. Someone joked as he was going by, "Man, we are getting so old we need to carry chairs on our runs." Dana laughed at the lame humor and kidded back, "That's not a bad idea. I bet a small portable chair hooked on the back, like a backpack over the rear, would indeed come in handy on my future trail runs.”
226 started, 149 finished (66%) inn

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Kudos to Karl Meltzer with new course record for the 2005 Wasatch 100 Mile Endurance Run-> an unbelievable 19:43:47 !
Kudos to Darcy Africa with the women's Golden Skull award, 1st place female in 24:34:53
Jim Huffman finished second in 20:56:12. Derek Blaylock, 5th place, ran strong with a 22:43:29 and got a ten year ring. Also in the top ten was Tim Spence,7th, with a 23:09:01. James Nelson 26:19:44; Tom Remkes 26:44:39; Lorie Hutchison 4th female, came in at 27:14:47 -> a new PR. Andy Knight 27:43:18; Patrick McMurtry 28:12:12; Phil Lowry 29:08:37, Mr. GPS and MAP cartaker for WF 100 and Bear 100, also a ten year ring veteran. ; 7th place female, Deanna McLaughlin, ran her first 100 miler in 30:14:58; Tim Seminoff 31:03:26; Carter Williams 31:05:30; Dan Haesloop 31:31:14; Rick Gates 32:25:25 finished his 21st Wasatch; Coleen Ford came in with Ed Masters tied in 33:37:13 (I don't think Ed has run this for 20 years); Reyn Gallacher 33:50:32; Charlie Vincent 33:58:46 ; Mandy Hosford ran her first Wasatch in 34:05:07; Jim Knight 34:06:21; Bob Henderson 34:07:03 struggled with back spasms all the way from Big Water and couldn't walk as straight line but like a hardened sailor wove his way up and down trails with a starboard list; Jim McGregor 34:11:57; Kerry Collings 34:15:19; Jim Williamson captured his Grand Slam trophy despite suffering much pain from a lower leg injury the last part of the race (34:17:54) and he also got his ten year ring; Carl Brailsford 34:32:48; Shane Martin 34:50:58; Niels Bigler & Marc Collman ran in together in 35:02:02; Chris Campbell 35:11:57 (sorry if I missed anytone). Kudos to the runners who started but DNF'd: Lambs -> Big Mountain -> John Diroll; Fred Riemer; Big Water -> Troy Olson, Stephen Kissel, Roger Adams, Mud & Guts Miller ; Scotts -> Christian Knight, Susan Anderson-Ayers; Brighton -> David Blaylock, Barbara Elias, Jared Campbell; Pole Line Pass -> Celeste Collman; Pot Hollow -> Cindy Andrus. 226 starters, 149 finishers -> 65.9% finished.
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Monday, September 12, 2005
Meltzer, Africa prevail in Wasatch 100

By Stephen Speckman
Deseret Morning News
      MIDWAY, Homestead Resort — Huguette White stands on one leg as she waits Sunday morning at the finish line of the Wasatch 100 Mile Endurance Run.
      Cancer claimed White's left leg at the tender age of 15. Her boyfriend, Dan Brenden, 54, will carry White across the finish here, 100 miles from where he started near Kaysville on Saturday, at 5 a.m.
      White recalled one race when she wasn't at the finish line when Brenden was ready to cross — he stood there and waited for her, despite the urging of a race official to finish.
      "He said, 'No, it's a tradition,' " White recalls in a French accent.
      She leans on crutches with orange crocheted cushions for under her arms, waiting here amid the chill of 9 a.m.
      Much earlier, at about 12:45 a.m., Karl Meltzer, 37, recaptured the course record with a time of 19 hours, 43 minutes. For the past two years that record belonged to friend, Nate McDowell, 33, who tweaked his back earlier this year while trying to keep up with a 15-year-old while rock climbing. This year's Wasatch 100 win is Meltzer's fifth first-place finish in 2005 and his fifth victory at Wasatch. The course record was only in the back of his mind until close to the finish.
      "I got it back," said Meltzer, who runs about six or seven miles every day in the mountains above Alta.
      Meltzer described this year's cold but dry weather as perfect running conditions. Others recalled with contempt temperatures that dipped below freezing in the wee hours Sunday morning.
      "Some people just can't handle the cold," said race director John Grobben, who every year greets runners at the finish. The race weather was cold and dry — described by some as perfect running conditions.
      "It's not the Wasatch 100 'fun' run," said finisher Patrick McMurtry, 46. Dozens each year declare "dnf," did not finish, long before this place. Like tough-talking New York truck driver Nicholas Palazzo, 58, who after 75 miles bonked at a place called "The Morgue," known to skiers as the Brighton Lodge. Still, Palazzo has found the grit and determination to complete this race seven times.
      Guys like Phil Lowry, Tim Spence and Derek Blaylock have conquered this race 10 or more time. What brings runners back, even after failing?
      "It's in your blood — it's an addiction," Palazzo says.
      It's a race dominated in numbers by men, but a handful of women are right there with them and, in fact, beat most of the men. Darcy Africa, 30, won the women's division with a 24:34. Behind her was the 2001/'02/'03 winner, Betsy Nye, at 25:26. Then came last year's women's winner Krissy Moehl Sybrowsky — who this year finished with her husband, Brandon Sybrowsky, in 26:34. In fourth place was Lorie Hutchison, who put up a personal best of 27:14 — she, too, is no stranger to those three letters, dnf. For those strong enough to finish, male or female, the feelings here at The Homestead far outweigh the many trials along the way.
      "Was it worth it?" Grobben asks John Hallsten, 48.
      "Oh yeah," replies Hallsten, who posted a 27:52.
      "Was it fun?" Grobben asks Brian Harward, 31.
      "Yeah — it is now," Harward says.
      "That's all that matters," Grobben answers.
      Last year Harward just missed finishing under the official 36-hour cutoff — this year he cruised in just after Hallsten.
      "Thank you very much, that was a fine race," Mark Fisher, 38, says to Grobben as the two shake hands. Fisher finished in 28:10.
      White waits, but not for much longer. Sure enough, Brenden crosses the stretch of grassy field here as White yells, "Faster, Dan, faster!" He stops just feet away from the finish, picks up White and her crutches and crosses, his legs wobbling a bit after running on mountain trails and dirt roads for over 28 hours.
      As Wasatch 100 race director John Grobben would put it, White "gets" it, that is, what goes into a runner making it this far.
      "This lady epitomizes the spirit of the Wasatch," Grobben says in front of White. Last year race officials even gave White an award for supporting her boyfriend of seven years.
      It's a selfish endeavor, training for a 100-mile race, as the runners will tell you. Then again, it's as much a selfless act — just ask Brenden why it's so important that he carries his girlfriend across each finish line.
      "I run for her," he says, arm around White. "She's a runner at heart — she experiences races through me.
      "It's important I do well in these things," Brenden adds.
      He will also tell you the race brings families together. "Look around, you see more non runners than runners."
      Collectively, Brenden adds, the whole group is one big family.
      Motioning toward a small crowd of people waiting in chairs and on blankets in the grass, he says, "We will do anything for each other."
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Bob Henderson adds: "OK, I've had a week to lick my pride, even slept without drugs last night. Sooooo, what went wrong? I was cruising per usual to Upper Big, not that bad even to Brighton. Running down the road from Scott's Pass I noticed I could not run a straight line, and was listing to the right. My balance was bad. This led to missteps and wrenching of the back, followed by low back spasms, followed by spasm of the psoas muscle (I didn't even know I had one) below the right rib cage, which led to nausea and very difficult breathing and much laying down in middle of trail over next 13+ hours to go 25 miles. So, again, what went wrong? The troubling thing is, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure it stemmed from not having enough clothes on and getting chilled along the ridge line after the Desolation Lake checkpoint. If I had it to do over I'd have worn a short sleeve T under my long sleeve and Gortex, and I would have worn pants until the Ant Knolls checkpoint. Also, I think I went out a little fast. Next year I'm going to walk at the start until I get a good warm-up. Maybe I can break 34 next year.
   My advice to everybody except the elite is to go out of Lambs with 3 layers on top and bottom, plus stocking cap and gloves. You can tie extra clothing around your waist if you do not need them. I don't think I'll go out with 2 layers again. I should have known this, but I got greedy for speed."

Bob
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