Rain, Rain Go Away
It was not rain on race day that presented challenges for
the inaugural Ad Astra Ultras & Relay, but rather the rain the week
before. Much of North Central Kansas
received several inches of rain leading up to the day of the race. Therein lies problem; a lot of this rain is
collected by Arkansas River. This is
the very river that the Ad Astra course loops around. The course was certified in March at a little over 4 miles. It was to run on both sides of the river and
stretch from the 13th Street Bridge to the Seneca Street Bridge, a
very scenic loop. However, when we
inspected the course on Friday evening we saw something, which gave us great
concern. The river level had risen to
the edge of the sidewalk on the west side.
We thought maybe, the river had crested; after all it hadn’t rained
anywhere upstream for about a day. We
decided to be on the safe side and mark a course that only used the high side
of the original course.
Race day morning rolls around. I make my way to the potential problem area. It looks like we will be making use of the
alternate course. The sidewalk is ankle
deep for 50 feet in this one section alone.
We go into high gear and get the alternate course starting lines
marked. This, unfortunately, wound up
to be a high stress time also, as we later discovered that these were the
incorrect starting points for all three races.
We recalculated the race distances and then wheel measured what would be
the final course. This was done as the
race was proceeding. Every participant
I talked with was very understanding about the problems that we had
incurred. Finally, with all course
corrections made and feeling confident, I turned my attention to the race
itself.
In the 50Km Eric Steele took control of the men’s race and
didn’t relinquish control during the event.
He won easily, gapping the field by nearly an hour by race end. In the women’s race, it was a matter of
just “plugging away”. Jan Shirk edged
out the steady walking pace of Cynthia Ehret of Colorado.
Dianne Holper displayed her strong will and determination by
finishing her first 50-mile. She was
one of the few competitors that had a smile on face the entire day, whether it
was the 10th or 40th mile. She was bound and determined to finish. She was our only 50-mile entrant. Richard Ehret also finished 50-miles in just under 13 hours, but
was originally a 100Km entrant.
The 100Km was a competitive group. Joe Gaebler and Janet Runyan stuck together for nearly 45 miles
until Joe pulled away and grabbed the men’s title. Janet soon followed and took the women’s crown. Dann Fisher came through the finish line
snagging third overall. (He later
revealed that this was a PR by a couple of hours!) Chris Jarvis of Nebraska was also one who kept plugging away and
finished in about 12 and one-half hours.
Jim and Nancy Davis again displayed their amazing ability to stick
together and run the entire race with one-another. They finished side-by-side in just over 13 hours.
The 100Km relay turned about to be a bit different than what
I had thought. It was a team building
effort for all individuals, but what I was surprised by was the competitiveness
each team had. It was a good spirited
competition among the teams that made for a great day. “The Veterans” of Boulder, CO came out on
top in the men’s division with a time of just over eight hours, barely edging
out “Just Six Guys” by only 47 seconds.
The co-ed division was even closer.
“Team Wichita” won by just over one-half minute. 62 miles of hard running, and it still comes
down to seconds!
Despite the course-related difficulties, we at KUS still
consider this event a success and we will be back next year. We hope that all of this year’s entrants
will be back to join us.
Marc Friesen,
Dann
Fisher adds:
Any time I direct a race; I generally toss and turn the
night before the event. I stress about
what I can and worry about what I cannot control. When I arrived on a beautiful race morning, I found Marc Friesen,
the race director of inaugural Ad Astra Ultras and Relays, fretting about the
hand that nature had dealt. The
rain-swollen waters of the Arkansas River had risen over night, rendering half
the course unusable. Marc and his crew
responded quickly and soon a modified course was in place. To his credit, Marc was out among us during
the early laps, measuring for accuracy. Like all KUS events, this was a great
race. KUS is known for taking excellent
care of their runners. We had a great
aid station, friendly lap counters and a tasty lunch. Crew was welcome, but not necessary. Despite requiring multiple loops, the out-and-back course had
enough scenery to keep one amused and allowed for good camaraderie among the
runners. The relay runners kept the
course active and provided the ultra runners with lots of encouragement.
For anyone who can tolerate running on pavement, the Ad
Astra race provides a great opportunity to run a PR for 50K, 50M or 100K. If you need proof, I lowered my 100K best by
more than two-and-half hours!