Blue Flame a 'Risin'
Kansas UltraRunners' Society
3rd Annual 24 Hour UltraMarathon
Camp Hiawatha Wichita, Kansas
April 25 &26, 1998

By Eric Sharpe

As with all of our other events, such as previous years' 24/48's and Flat Rock 50k's, there was plenty of good natured entertainment provided by RD, Eric Steele, and the merry band of KUS pranksters and plenty of good vittles provided by the Stone Soup Kitchen. There were scattered groups of children playing throughout the camp area and spouses of the runners, themselves, involved in various discussion groups, lining the sides of the course near the lap counting table. There was music, there was a dog… and there was Dave Dinkel.

Although we had a somewhat smaller field of entrants this year than what we are used to, we were ecstatic to see a handful of other familiar faces to our events including Phil "Skippy" Sheridan, Dennis "I'm on my way to Leadville" Haig and Earl "Does anyone have a thermometer?" Blewett. Aside from all of the KUS regulars in attendance, we saw runners enter from three different states this year to round out the field of participants to eleven.

Mother Nature was kind to us again this year, despite some of the forecasts given for weekend rain late Friday night. Other than a few clouds that appeared late Saturday and hung around until finish time Sunday, the event was unblemished by moisture. The wind and heat, however, weren't as enjoyable as the blue sky.
Temperatures peaked Saturday afternoon in the high 80s, 15 degrees above the average for that time of year. With a hot Southern wind in the face of the runners, it wasn't long before we heard all about it. One by one the paces slowed, water bottles were filled and we began looking for more salt tablets. By mid-afternoon it was obvious that the heat was a problem.

Jodee d'Avignon was the first to clock out at the 40.22 mark and was followed not long after by Craig McIlvain with 48.56. Mother and son team, Jeanie McDaniel and David Seres, both logged 50+ before politely saying that they had seen enough. Pulling over at the 50.03 mark with Jeanie and David was Earl Blewett, who had graciously bestowed upon us some zesty little cheese snacks all the way from Canada. Janice Harms and Arland Wallace turned in their coat checks at 51.99 and 52.48, respectively. Tony Bridwell separated from the course with 55.42 leaving Dennis, Phil and Dave Dinkel to fight it out.

Sometime after dark, hours after all of the playgroups had dispersed and the conversations had become hushed, Dennis Haig signed off, peaking this year with 67.68 miles. Just behind him was our "Flat Rock Guru", Skippy Sheridan who, with sights on Old Dominion in the near future cried "uncle" with 76.51. That left only Dave "Blue Flame" Dinkel to wrestle the night and the ever growing chance that this could indeed be his year. And his year it was. On the anniversary of his seventh straight KUS event, Dave Dinkel wound up alone on the course by 8:00 Sunday morning to finish hobbling with 81.42 miles in 24 hours. Dinkel, who kept a steady Clydesdale pace in contrast to Phil Sheridan's quarterhorse-like strides, had a remarkably strong finish, and shared smiles with everyone when he was told there was still time left for another lap. After seven KUS events and a constant show of support for the organization, Dave won one for the ripper. He was one of our first registered members and has continued to be among the most dedicated. He deserved this one and we salute him!

Although our entrance numbers weren't huge this year, there was still a lot of work put into this event, and none of this would have been possible without the help of a lot of many unselfish people who donated at least part of their weekend to the cause. So, piles and piles of thanks go out to Stacy Sheridan, Anne Friesen, Chad "Wicki" Flint, Mike and Marge Hickman, MaShona Steele, the families and spouses of all of the runners and Camp Hiawatha. Most of all, we'd like to thank all of the participants for spending their weekend with us. These events have become so much more than mere races for most of those involved and every tear it gets better. It is in wishing all a productive summer that I close this edition. See you in September at The Rock!