As we entered our sixth year here at the Rock we had no idea what was in store for us.  Then again, that is the beauty of ultras...the unknown, the unchartered, the unbelievable, the women.  Huh? Yes, the women.  Returning past Flat Rock 50K Womens Champions Gwen Heist(’97,’98) and Mindy Wilson(’99) battled for nearly six hours and when the dust had settled, both were overall victors of this years race.  Gwen took the lead near the halfway point and never relinquished it.  Mindy was undoubtedly smelling blood the entire time while Gwen was constantly looking over her shoulder.

Impressive was Gwen’s determination to regain her place as women’s champion at Flat Rock, however, equally as impressive was Mindy chopping nearly twenty minutes off of her winning time from last year.  Not to mention, both of them fragged the entire mens field.  Really, not to use worn out cliches or anything, but: "what’s up with that...ultradudes?   Now paging Mr. Clifton and Mr. Campbell!  What are we going to have to do, turn this into a 100K before you guys will bite, or what?  Come show us you’ve got what the ladies of the rock have.  Mettle, heavy mettle! 

Duane Grigg came in, in a little over six hours for the Overall Mens title and was shortly followed by Duane Frichtl who claimed the Mens Masters Champion title.  Less than ten minutes later another past female champion of the Rock, Theresa Wheeler(’96) came cruising in, all smiles.  And in a little under an hour later, returning Female Masters Champion, Nancy Davis, strolled in with her husband Jim to reclaim the Female Master Champion title for another year.  Rock on ladies!

In the 25K, Lindon Bontz set a new course record as he breezed to victory in what initially looked like a pretty tight footrace heading out onto the trail.  Lindon has completed the 50K a couple of times before, needless to say, he had a distinct advantage, though not to take away from his superb performance.  Less than forty minutes later Gail Leedy finished to claim the 25K Overall Womens award. 
 
All afternoon the cowbells rang, the people cheered, and the infamous "blue horn  was blasted as runners made their way down the gravel road and through the finishing tent.  Looks on the runners faces ranged from a pure exhaustive exhilaration to one of wanting to kill somebody.  That somebody probably being me, which is why I am always there to greet the runners upon their finish, so just in case any swinging goes down we can get it out of the way early, while they’re still wiped out!

With less than twenty minutes to spare before the ten hour cutoff, Dave "Blue Flame  Dinkel rounded the corner of the gravel road with his classic "weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down  running style, to the roaring of the crowd as we cheered him into the tent and sighed with relief that the Blue Flame had not sputtered out on his sixth consecutive finish here at the Rock.
 
This year we decided to kickoff our festivities one half hour later than we normally do by starting our 50K at 7:30am and our 25K at 8:30am.  Even though we heard a few grumbles from some runners about the later than "nationally advertised  starting time, we held firm to our original decision to push the start time back for the sole reason of the runners safety.  When we first started this race six years ago we originally started at 8am for the 50K, however, after several requests to push it back an hour (to try and avoid more afternoon heat) we did.

After the last two years of nearly dark 7am starts, which included one broken ankle, we decided to push the start time back this year for the overall safety of the runners.  All future years "nationally advertised  start times will be 7:30 for the 50K and 8:30 for the 25K.  Aside from this little glitch, it was, once again, a fantastic ultra-experience for all involved, from runners through volunteers.

The Kansas UltraRunners  Society is nearly six years old now and the solid infrastructure that this event (Flat Rock 50 & 25K’s) has built for our society is irreplaceable, to say the least.  None of it could have been pulled off without the dedicated service of several key individuals/organizations and the participation of the valiant souls who return to the rock year after year and the timid newbies who really have no idea what in heavens sake they are getting themselves into, but push on and become part of Kansas ultrarunning history. 

Even the three, six time finishers of this event continue to remark about how this course never gets any easier or tolerable. The rock indeed continues to show "no mercy  and in that sense has helped to establish what is starting to become known as KUS-Courses and KUS-Measurements, or KUS-Standards.  Seems like a subculture is starting to gel.  Right Skippy?

When I first picked up the phone and called Scott Demaree nearly seven years ago and suggested we start an ultrarunning organization, my end vision was a regional ultrarunning community that would flourish and host ultra-events for most distances.  Now, with the addition and successful first completion of the Heartland 100, we (KUS) have four events on the annual ultra-calendar and I feel as if my original vision has been achieved, or as the Native Americans would say, "it has come to pass.   The cornerstone being, of course, the Flat Rock 50 & 25K’s.  The lessons that have been learned, the friendships that have been formed, the sweat and blood that has been shed, all started here.  The development of our special little KUS family has been tested through fire here at "the Rock  and out of our sacrificial pyre the Phoenix of our organization has now risen to a clearly defined part of Kansas and ultrarunning history.  My sincerest thanks and admiration to each and every one of you who have made it happen, you know who you are and you will always be loved and deeply appreciated.  See ya  next year, if not sooner!