The Global Telegraph - September 2002
brought to you by Run The Planet / September 2002 edition / 14
The Global Telegraph is published 12 times a year
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Run The Planet.
Editor
Indro Neri
Associate editor
Jennifer Walker
Contributors
Luis E. Arribas
Franco Civai
Hélio A. Fontes
O. Atakan Tekin
Tero Töyrylä
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this month's
featured nation This month we feature running news from: Brazil, California (Usa), District of Columbia (Usa), Jordan, Mauritania.
• CALIFORNIA (USA) / Female runner dominates world's toughest ultra
Seventy-nine runners from eight countries ran 135 miles non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney on July 23-25, 2002, in the 25th "Badwater Ultramarathon". Pam Reed, 41 years old, of Tucson (Usa/Arizona), beat all her female and male competitors, winning the race outright with a time of 27:56.47. She broke the women's course record by an astounding one hour and 52 minutes, and beat her nearest competitor, a man, by four hours and forty-two minutes. This second finisher, and men's division champion, Darren Worts, completed the distance in 32:38.57. The second female finisher was Linda McFadden with a time 36:50.17, while the second male finisher was Dave Hannaford with a time of 33:16.46. The international field of athletes, ages 31 to 68 (16 women and 63 men), ran a blistering 135 miles through temperatures of up to 126 °F. The ultramarathon course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13000 feet of vertical ascent and 4700 feet of descent. It is the most demanding, extreme, and prestigious ultramarathon in the world. A total of 58 of the 79 runners completed the distance within the 60 hour overall cutoff. Of these, thirty-six received the coveted belt buckle for completing the course in under 48 hours. The first man to complete the course, in a solo, against-the-clock effort, was Al Arnold in August of 1977. Arnold, now aged 75, returned to Death Valley this year for the first time in twenty years. He was honored by becoming the first inductee into the Badwater Hall of Fame and was on hand throughout the race to lend encouragement to the runners and hang finisher medals around their necks at the finish line. Badwater, Death Valley marks the lowest elevation in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at nearly 8300 feet. The Portals are the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Competitors travel through places or landmarks with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil's Cornfield, Devil's Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Keeler and Lone Pine.
• BRAZIL / Record field at Rio de Janeiro International Half-marathon
The hot weather and high humidity were not enough to scare the more than 11,000 runners that took part in the sixth "Rio de Janeiro International Half-marathon". The competition was dominated by the Kenyans, who won both the male and female races. Among the men the winner was Philip Rugut, who led all the race, with a time of 1:03.03. Brazilian Marílson Gomes dos Santos was second with 1:03.35, followed by the Kenyan Simon Biwot. Anne Jelagat won the female race in 1:13.49. She left behind Brazilians Maria Zeferina Baldaia (1:14.22), Marcia Narloch and Selma dos Reis. Source: www.copacabanarunners.net
• MAURITANIA / Adventure at your feet in the African desert
Between April 13 and April 30, 2003, the "Mauritania 200k Race" will be held in the African desert. It is a non-stop ultramarathon of two hundreds kilometers at your own pace with control points at 20 kilometers intervals. The time limit for completion is 100 hours. The runners are provided with water at each control point, but are responsible for their own food, which the organization carries to the specified control points. The departure and arrival of the race are from the Ilij Oued, which is situated in the little village of Azougi, not far from Atar. This part of Mauritania boasts extremely varied scenery, a combination of rocky plateaus and deep ravines ("dhars" and "guelbs"), chains of little dunettes and stony patches ("ergs" and "regs"), palm groves, villages and encampments, life postings and blazed trials from ancient caravans. The Mauritanian desert is a true desert where, "one can listen to the hours falling into eternity" and where one enters into this world as if into a sacred place. For those who cross this hostile environment, there is first of all the overpowering silence followed by profound meditation. And then there is also the quasi-unreal natural beauty of the desert, the feeling of total liberty and escape which comes from spending days and nights out of time, where man gives up on the never-ending horizon before him and aims instead towards the sky. Info: Jean-Pierre Delhotal, 19 Rue de la Mare, F - 91590 Mondeville (France), tel. +33 (0)1 64 98 33 37.
• JORDAN / Running with camels and Bedouins
The World Humanitarian Marathon and Ultramarathon Foundation supports the charity runs worldwide. One of these events will be the "Dead Sea 50k Ultramarathon" on October 18, 2002 held in Jordan to collect money for operations for neurological patients. To maximize the fund raising effort of this event, the World Humanitarian Marathon and Ultramarathon Foundation decided to organize on October 20 the inaugural edition of the "Jebl-Ishrin Marathon". The marathon course has been exactly measured by GPS. Director Dr. Holger Finkernagel assures that "this marathon will be one of the most beautiful runs in the world. The view of the mountains and the wonderful desert, the camels, the bedouin camps, are unforgettable". For more details contact hfinkernagel-marathon@t-online.de.
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (USA) / Slots for the Marine Corps Marathon
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's "Team for Life" training program has 8 slots available for the "Marine Corps Marathon" held on October 27, 2002. If you are interested, please contact Karen Fink at +1 (301) 657-8444 or +1 (877) 657-8444 or kfink@cff.org. Karen will provide you all the necessary materials to meet the fund-raising goal. Whether you wanted to run the "Marine Corps Marathon" but could not get in, or
you are already in a fall marathon and you want top-notch coaching, join this program. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States only. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation leads and supports research to conquer the disease.
• Worldwide charity run celebrates fourth year!
"World Run Day", the annual charity run celebrated worldwide, will be held November 10, 2002 this year. Charitable organizations, schools, running clubs, and other inspired groups around the world all help plan for this event. New interested groups are asked to register their large or small event on the runday.com event website - which also provides tools for hosting an event. The event website contains hundreds of charity links. It also has an assortment of running-fundraiser tools for charities to gain needed funds. Instructions on planning the event, sponsorship templates, tips and techniques assist "World Run Day" event directors year after year. The original "World Run Day" event was a small event held in Long Beach, New York in 1999. Now, over 20 locations worldwide are running with the idea. Leading the pack last year was the "World Run Day - Twin Cities" event which played host to over 850 runners! A free-style "World Run Day" event accommodates runners unable to travel to a group event. For this event, runners follow a registration process made available starting in September, and are then mailed the official "World Run Day" T-shirt. For additional information about "World Run Day" visit www.runday.com or call +1 (917) 626-9623.
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