Photos by Jubilee Paige
Across The Years just reached the end of day 5 and runners are currently moving into their 122nd hour of the race.
Ed Ettinghausen has officially taken the lead in the 6-day with 386.31 miles. Ed is a big numbers guy so he will know he needs 53.47 more miles minimum in order to hit 3,000 lifetime miles but if he keeps moving his lead is solidified. Iso Yucra took a 10 hour break and is now back on course with 329 miles. He has been battling a sore hamstring but should still surpass Dave Proctor’s 373.72 miles for 2nd place. 71-year-old Bill Heldenbrand is at 303 miles and still projecting somewhere in the 350 realm. John Geesler who has yet to take a break longer than 1:26:34 is at 294.98 miles and Kenneth Arble is only one lap behind John. There will definitely be battles for final standings over the last day.
Annabel Hepworth has 334.87 miles and has moved ahead of Iso to put her 3rd overall at the moment and still leading the women. 73-year-old Edda Bauer has 286.53 miles for 2nd and Martina Hausmann is at 279.24 miles for 3rd and needs 26 more miles for her 4,000th lifetime mile at Across the Years. Ila Brandli is still earning miles and should be on pace to overtake the 2nd most recorded miles of her age group for US women in a 6-day with another 16 miles to go. Ila is at 201.5 miles at the moment.
Jeff Venable
In the 72-hour Sean Gavor finished this morning with 174.26 miles which is for 2nd place. Eric Moreno stopped at 151 which left him 9 laps short of the podium. There is no top-3 movement as of yet in any of the other events; however, watch throughout today for Thomas Jackson in the 48-hour. Thomas needs a minimum of 170 miles to qualify for Sparthahlon and is 26 hours into his race with 118.62 miles accumulated. At the 2016 Pulse Endurance Runs Thomas ran 188.58 miles in the 48-hour. 170 miles would put him 3rd overall and the 188 would win him the race.
On the last day of a 6-day it is always interesting to see what runners gain their 2nd (or 3rd or 4th….) wind. The end is in sight, competitors start counting how many turn-arounds are left (at Across The Years runners switch direction every 4 hours), or it even feels manageable to count down hours. A slight uptick in pace can happen and depending on how close the standings are there may be more people out overnight to hold onto or overtake a position. Watch for the last in-race update this evening to see how today unfolds!
Mike Melton on a break from timing, in the hunt for 1,000 lifetime miles