By Alix Shutello
Mike Morton
Few will ever say that they ran in the Badwater Ultramaraton, but those that do are part of a special community of people. The race, which started Monday at 8am with three start waves, continues on as Tuesday comes to a close. So far, we have our winner, Mike Morton of Florida. As of right now, 27….no, now 28 as of a few seconds ago, have finished the race. The 28th was the 4th female, Hannah Robbers (25) of Hawaii. About an hour before her, 27th place finisher, Alan Webb (70) years old, who’s done Badwater 10 times, beat his course record by 51 minutes. What an incredible finish.
There are more superstars who’ve finished the race as well. Of all of the nine men I interviewed for the Badwater issue of Endurance Racing Magazine, three have finished. Mike Morton (who won), Chris Roman (18th) and Dave Carver (21rst). Two, Frank McKinney and Brad Lombardi DNFed. Four more are still moving forward. I cannot wait until I see their finish times in the next day.
Sumie Inagaki of Japan was the first woman who finished in 11th place, right before Dean Karnazes, the world renown ultramarathoner, who crossed the line a little over 4 minutes behind Inagaki. Pam Reed (51), a veteran of Badwater, came in 17th. Maggie Beach (41) came in 26.
With so many left out there, we at Runners Illustrated and Endurance Racing Magazine are thinking about them. In particular, we are thinking about Cheryl Zwarkowski and Marshall Ulrich, who will be continuing on after the Badwater race is complete for other personal endeavors. Marshall will be joining race medic, David Heckman, on an epic 500-mile journey around the perimiter of Death Valley. This circumnavigation of the area will start on July 21. See the blog post at http://tighthams.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/the-circumnavigation-of-death-valley/
Click here for race results.
Alix,
Has Ken Posner finished? A friend of mine (who is very good friends with Marshall Ulrich as well) is crewing for Ken.
Phew. Thinking of this thing makes me faint. Today, 90-degree weather in the Hudson Valley seem luxuriously cool.
rich