I am truly amazed at how well our December 1st KY 50 Miler went this year.
Our numbers made us the biggest KY 50 Miler in our history: of the 85 people who
entered the race, 75 found their way to the start, and 65 crossed the finish
line.
The weather was perfect this year from the runners’ perspective: mid-40’s,
dry, overcast, and not too windy. It was certainly an improvement over last year’s
challenging conditions.
The Men’s race proved to be exciting. Andy Jones pulled away from the
leaders after the 15-mile mark, but chose to drop out at Dover Church. Tom
Possert and the 1999 Champion, John Nichols, ran closely together for the first
21-miles. After the 4th aid station, Tom began to gradually increase
his lead and won the race with an excellent time of 6:08:43, which was a little
more than 4-minutes faster than John. This marks Tom’s 6th victory
at the KY 50 Miler! Andy, Tom, and John are all live in Ohio.
Another Ohioan, Connie Gardner, won the Women’s race. Connie, who was never
challenged during the day, placed 4th overall and turned in a very
fast time of 7:04:00 on our hilly course.
Special recognition also goes to three-time KY 50 Miler champion Debra Moore,
who picked up the 3rd place plaque in the Women’s Open Division;
Brenda Gutmann, who finished well and who was coming off of an amazing 5th
place finish at the 24-hour National Championships at Olander Park in Toledo;
Javier Cendejas, who had a strong race; Hoss Oshrieh, who finished his second
consecutive KY 50 Miler and who did not even look tired at the finish; KY 50
Miler veteran Nick Karem, who bettered his time from last year; and Mark
Webster, who finished his first KY 50 Miler this year. To these runners and to
all others who finished the race this year, I want to express my sincere
congratulations!
There were so many wonderful memories that I have from this year’s race.
Here are a few of them:
1. The sight of 2 powerful locomotives stopped facing each other on the CSX
tracks at the Chamberlain Lane crossing for 45 minutes allowing our runners
to pass across the tracks without delay, like the Israelites crossing the
Red Sea. (Does this mean that Bill Franck reminds me of Moses?) Immediately
after our last runner crossed the tracks, my cell phone rang, and Don McCoy
of CSX asked me if everything met my satisfaction! Thank you Marilyn for
getting this accomplished. How in the world did you ever pull this off?
Offer free landscaping along the tracks between Chamberlain Lane and
Westport Road? This was truly incredible! Kudos to Don, Bob Banet and Bill White
at CSX.
2. Joan and Kim's special aid station, and especially those great clown
costumes.
3. The smiles on those tired runners' faces as they hungrily downed the
wonderful pizza from Papa John's, which as many know the Club could not have
afforded to provide in the absence of their generous donation. Many thanks again
this year go to Rene Kesterson and the great Papa John’s organization.
4. Jennifer Gilbert doing such a great job with the pizza delivery.
5. The perfect running weather, and watching the sun break through the clouds at
the end of the day. As the finish line clock clicked away, we were
treated to such a beautiful sunset which served as the backdrop to Ron and
Diana's surreal finish line tent decorated with all of those twinkling
Christmas lights.
6. Those great home-made cookies. Thanks Dianne, Natalie, Nita, Brenda
(Farrell), Nick, and everyone else.
7. Jim Whaley's wonderful soup; he received so many compliments.
8. Garvin and Barbara's food set-up. It looked as great as it tasted!
9. Joe, Alex, and Kathy's great canopied aid station.
10. Ted and Jim's humorous comments to the runners. Credit to Ted Wathen/Quadrant
for all of his wonderful photos. Thanks as well to Bob Dorzback for his help in
the afternoon, and that great group photo he made of the runners at the pre-race
meeting.
11. Carol and Dave waiving those American flags as the means of showing the
runners where to turn at New/LaGrange Rd./Reamers Ln.
12. Dianne's ability to get everything done and solve every problem!
13. Dick's wonderful organization of the aid station supplies.
14. Stu's intricate placement of the signs along the course.
15. Hearing those heart-felt thanks and praise from our runners about our
wonderful race organization and volunteers, the beautiful area along the
course, and the observations of so many how great Louisville is.
16. Not hearing (as of yet) any complaints about Javier (CRR Ultrarunner of
the year, 2000)!
17.Ken, Marty, Bill, and Susan, and especially Marty's garage, which the club
should consider appropriating if Marty ever decides to move.
18. Donna, Joe, and Anne, with all the CRR tradition that comes along with
them.
19. Eric, Nancy, and Dave's duty at the least scenic and most safety
conscious spot on the whole course.
20. Amy Perry's enthusiasm as a first time volunteer; Rodney's eagerness to
help and calming encouragement to me.
21. Terri's great drop bag delivery service and aid station organization;
John's aid station help and encouragement.
22. Steve's eagerness to help.
23. Nick as the Trekker pacer.
24. My wonderful wife Debra's support through all of this under trying
personal difficulties for her, and her determination to finish this year's
race in spite of these circumstances. Kathy McCarthy did an exceptional job
in crewing for her.
I know I could go one for several more pages, if not chapters. Let me
just say that doing this race means a lot to me. It is my observation and
belief is that it means a lot to you, too. As an organization, CRR can feel
very proud that we put on this wonderful event that has so much significance
for so many runners who seek to push the boundaries of their ability. Thank
you Nita, for providing me that opportunity for the first time in 1983. It
is something that those of us who have participated in the KY 50 Miler will
never forget.
Thank you all for the generous sacrifices that you have made this year
to make the 23rd Annual KY 50 Miler a success. Thanks especially to all the
members of this year’s race committee, who are entitled to a large share of
the credit for this year’s great race.
With your continued help again next year, the 24th Annual KY 50
Miler on December 7, 2001 will be bigger and better than even this year.