We’ve only just begun. There’s a mix of excitement, determination and patience among the competitors. All 6-day participants started at 9am this morning (December 28th) but there is also a contingent of 24, 48 and 72 hour runners.
Chavet Breslin leads the 24-hour women, about two laps behind the overall. With her December 9th 16:46:21 2nd place finish at Daytona 100 she knows she’s asking a lot of herself but she also knows the course and has been 3rd and 1st in the last two editions of the 24-hour. Chavet is looking at the Camelback Ranch Across the Years course record of 127.03 miles as her “A” goal. Still a lot of time left on the clock and miles to run but with 75 miles in 12:48:43 she’s on pace.
Andrei Nana is leading the men in the 24-hour. Andrei understands both sides of this event: running and race directing as he directs the Icarus Florida Ultrafest. Andrei has a 10+ mile gap on 2nd place (currently – there are still 5 more days of 24 hour races to come) and has logged 77 miles in 12:53:04.
The 48-hour saw 28 starters this morning which included prolific 100 and 100+ mile runner, Davy Crockett. For those of you who think running on a 1.0498 mile loop over and over again sounds monotonous, Davy recently completed a treadmill 100 mile in 18:11:56. He is currently 2nd in the 48-hour field in his quest for 150 miles! Currently leading, and 2 laps ahead of Davy, is Mark Dangerfield who is going after 100-miles so it is yet to be seen if he will be stopping once he receives a buckle. Mark has accumulated 64 miles in 12:52:02.
Diana Sigrist leads the ladies in her goal of 100-miles at her first Across the Years. Diana is already 53 miles in at 12:49:53 on the clock so going to throw it out there that she may have undercut herself with that milestone unless she just plans on stopping once reaching the 100 mile mark.
Another notable to watch in the 48-hour is 81-year-old Joe Dana going after the stout 80+ WBP for 48 hours of 125.85 miles that was set back in 1998 by Belgian runner Robert Lardinois.
Only 9 runners started the 72-hour this morning but already Melissa Soper is on her way to a goal of 200 miles and leads overall with 62 miles in 13:00:28.
Now to delve into the 6-day. Of course, only being 13 hours into a 144-hour race doesn’t do much for predicting the remaining 131 hours but it’s fun nonetheless.
Australian Annabel Hepworth leads the women and is looking for 400 miles. At the Ultimate Circuits 6 day earlier this year in South Africa Annabel ran to a 381.5 mile finish, which gave her the overall win, 130 miles ahead of 2nd place. Annabel has 63 miles completed in 13:06:55. She is currently followed by last year’s #1 female in the 6-day, Liz Bauer (418 miles in 2016/17). Liz has the ambitious goal of 475 miles and she looks fantastic, as one would hope, early in the race and is 6 laps back of Annabel. The “walker” Yolanda Holder seems quiet and determined in her quest for 436+ miles and is currently tied for 3rd and steady as usual. Tied with Yolanda is Germany’s Edda Bauer. Edda ran EMU 144 hour earlier this year and finished with 356 miles. Her stated goal for Across the Years is 300 miles but is definitely racking up some early miles.
Liz Bauer
Top 4 men in the 6-day are no surprise at the moment. Canadian Dave Proctor has 85 miles in 13:14:12 and is looking to break the Canadian 48, 72 AND 6-day records. Dave already holds the Canadian 24-hour record holder with 159.75 miles. Anthony Culpepper is approximately 14 laps behind Dave and has the same mileage goal of 550 miles so expect this to be fun to watch. Anthony says he is the most rested he has ever been before this event and in previous years has helped, even worked the race, while also trying to get in miles so this seems like the first true indication of his 6-day capabilities. Ed Ettinghausen (The Jester) is half a lap behind Anthony and expect him to put up some big miles early as he looks toward intermediary records in the 48 and 72-hour (same as Dave) on his way to 144 hours. Iso Yucra won Across the Years 72-hour last year with 248.8 miles and set a new course record and is currently 4th and 2 laps behind Ed. Similar to Dave and Anthony, Iso is after 550+ miles.
Dave Proctor
The Dan Baglione Memorial bib is also a hot commodity with people waiting for their turn to take a lap in Dan’s honor. Dan sadly passed away this year on his 87th birthday, September 8, 2017. Dan was a veteran runner at Across the Years and first joined the ATY family in 1989. The memorial bib was setup so runners may checkout the bib and timing chip to run a lap in Dan’s name. Runners must turn in their bib and timing chip (laps cannot also count toward the runner’s personal total) for the laps they do in Dan’s memory. The goal is to reach 100 miles in memory of Dan Baglione. If reached, Across the Years will send the 100 mile buckle and bib to his family from his Across the Years family. 100 for Dan.