Thursday, October 13, 2022

35th Ruth Anderson Memorial Ultras

 Capturing 2 reports, one by race volunteer Shiran Kochavi and other by veteran runner Jean Pommier.


Shiran's report as posted on Facebook:

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The 2022 edition of the Ruth Anderson Ultras had some amazing moments. We had Uwe Hollerbach running a 5:23:20 50k (a Uwe Hollerbach all-time record), Marcia Martin making her 50k debut at the age of 70, and Keith Blom doing a 10:02 50 miler looking dashing in his straw hat. We had the Pamakids and the Excelsiors fighting it out for club wins in the MUT Grand Prix(GP), while the GP guru himself, Quicksilver’s Jean Pommier, completed his Jeanaissance with a 3:54:25 50k and the overall 50-59 AG win for the GP 2022 season. We had Steve Jaber, Anil Rao, and Rajeev Patel execute a perfect race day while looking boss (Steve), badass (Anil), and suaver than a tux-clad George Clooney swimming in butter (Rajeev). We had family members running to the finish line together, friends running together step by step for 12 hours, and a girl holding a sign saying “run, mommy run!” We had an [unconfirmed] sighting of a Charles Blackney smile.
We also witnessed some speedy performances, including CJ Albertson’s 2:38:44 50k world record (in which I assisted by ensuring perfect table positioning for his bottles/gus), Fermin Villagran’s US 50k national team qualifying 2:55:20 (in which I assisted by telling Frenando, his support, that he looked handsome in “that shirt”), Verity Breen’s 4:00:04 Australian 50k 55-59 AG record, only three minutes over the world record (I assisted Verity by clapping vigorously after the first lap and yelling “go Verity!” after the fifth) and Chikara Omine’s new 50M US AG40-44 record at 5:05:41, taking four minutes over a record that stood for 41 years (in which I assisted by not distracting his wife with my idle chatter). In this speedy clutter, it was easy to miss 68 year old Angie Woolman’s amazing 4:52:00 50k performance, which was barely a minute over the US 65-69 AG record.
Record breaking or not, each of the day’s performances had its own story with its unique arc and accompanying challenges. They were each heroic and in their own uniqe way and worthy of an irunfar story or at least a Facebook race report. Some were just faster than others.
[I was a race volunteer this year and my job as valet to the “elites” was not particularly demanding so had plenty of time to snap some pics/videos. Below is a sample. The total package can be found at the following link and in the Facebook race album to follow if I can figure out how to upload full quality photos on Facebook šŸ¤·‍♂️].
Link to the complete race album:
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Jean Pommier's report here

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