MARKET TO MARKET & MORE

Well that certainly was interesting.

I’ll get to the M2M recap in a moment but am going to kick today off with a Big Nod to Megan Zavorka‘s overall victory at the Prairie Fire Marathon in Wichita yesterday. Megan made her 26.2 debut a success taking the title in 2:59:24. If breaking 3 hours was the main course, the $2000 in prize money was dessert. York Thomas also discovered the joys of the marathon, running 2:47:44 to finish 5th overall and pick up some gas money as well. Reports are that the course was difficult to say the least with lots of sharp turns, running between half marathoners and walkers, collisions with other runners, hot and windy conditions, etc. Welcome to the marathon kids!

The 5th annual Market to Market Relay. Want to first of all thank our team captains, Natalie Como, Paul Wilson, and Anthony Oberle. We were attempting the near impossible, trying to win all 3 of the major divisions, Open Male, Open Female, and Mixed teams. Our mixed team finished 2nd, our first loss since we began fielding a mixed team, congratulations to Ndorfopaedic:
1 Ndorfopaedic FIRST 4:12:20 LAST 4:19:21 TOTAL 8:31:41
2 Team Nebraska Mixed FIRST 4:15:42 LAST 4:22:40 TOTAL 8:38:21

We put together our first ever Women’s Open team and they did us proud:
1 Team Nebraska Women FIRST 4:21:10 LAST 4:36:06 TOTAL 8:57:16
2 I Can I Will FIRST 4:30:22 LAST 4:39:56 TOTAL 9:10:17

The most excitement of the morning occurred on the Men’s Open team competition.
1 385 Lrc Racing Six Person 3 3:40:31 5:39 2 3:44:52 5:41 07:25:22 5:40
2 378 Team Nebraska Men Open 2 3:40:10 5:38 3 3:45:13 5:42 07:25:23 5:40

One second difference. One second that led to hours of discussion on the true spirit of the competitive nature of the event. An envelope pushed that will define how the “official” finish of the event will be scored in all future years. One second that defined the character of all those involved, I could not have been more proud of how the mates conducted themselves. It was how that 1 second came about that had everyone wondering what to do. The Questions: 1) Is it the first chip across the timing mat or is it the first team to cross? 2) Is it allowable to transfer your timing chip to another, fresher runner for a final sprint to the finish, or should the person assigned the anchor leg be responsible for bringing the chip to the finish? You can bet that next year these issues will be officially and well described.

One second difference. Reasonable men achieved a workable solution. LRC would be awarded the 6 person team title, Team Nebraska, the 7 person title, and an Official Tie for the Overall, so Co-Champions the end result. That co-champ designation will be like a grain of sand in Team Nebraska’s oyster, and will yield a pearl in next year’s competition.

No such issues in the 50K where Team Nebraska pulled off a clean sweep of the overalls. Ashley Shurrman won the Overall Women’s title. Tim Langdon battled a game Brian Wandzilak for the first 20 miles before pulling away to the win. Todd Nott won the Men’s Masters title and Linda won the Women’s Masters title. Still waiting for the Official Times to be posted. It was Tim and Ashley and Linda’s first attempt at the ultra distance. Proud that our 3 novice ultra runners showed Real Racing translates well to the longer distances.

Ashley Shurrman didn’t surprise me at all with her overall victory. Four hours nine minutes unofficially.

Linda showed that speed is an important factor when it comes to ultra Racing. While the vast majority of participants do these longer events to finish, her goal all along was “In It To Win It”. She finished 4th overall in addition to winning the masters title. Four hours thirty seven minutes unofficially.

Tim Langdon was passed by Brian Wandzilak at mile 17 but never gave up, battled back and took a decent cushion into the finish line. 3 hours 50 minutes unofficially.