|
|
|
Rocky Racoon winner Jim Garcia |
One of the best ultra runners in the United States, Jim Garcia, (CMS) made his third ever racing venture in Texas a most successful one. Starting at 6:00AM, running throughout the day under clear skies with temperatures in the 40's and 50's, and finishing some two hours after sunset, the Westford, Massachusetts master crossed the Huntsville finish line in 14:35:27.Running in a field with over 140 starters, Garcia took the lead at the two-mile mark and by the 10-mile mark had "only" a three minute advantage. Wanting to end the race early, he pushed the pace and gradually extended the margin to ten minutes at the 20-mile mark and twenty minutes at 40-miles. By the 60-mile mark, his lead had increased to 40-minutes and the race was all but over when last year's winner, Joe Hildebrand of Illinois, dropped out. From that point, it was just a matter of finishing. Thoughts of breaking 14 hours ended at 80 miles when his pace began to slow. Running in darkness on the trails continued the slowdown.
In his two previous Lone Star State races, Garcia had finished 5th in the 1991 Dallas Marathon and 2nd in the 1996 Sunmart Trail 50M. Although he has now completed eight 100-milers along with numerous 100K's, 50-milers, 50K's and marathons, he has never run, other than in the weeks of the eight 100-milers, more than 100 miles in a single week.
By virtue of the win, Garcia becomes the first person to finish a 100-mile race in the 21st century.
Of the 146 official entrants, only 36 were from Texas. It was a Texan, however, Scott Eppleman, who finished second. Eppleman's time of 15:21:45 placed him a little over 40 minutes behind Garcia.
Two or three time USATF 100K national team member Janice Anderson of Georgia toured the multi-loop course in 16:03:30. This was good not only for an easy women's competition win, but for third-place overall as well.
The last official finishers ended their odysseys in just under 30 hours. They began the race in the dark at 6:00AM on Saturday morning and continued on all through the day Saturday. It was back into darkness for some twelve hours through Saturday night. Finally, this was followed by five hours or so of daylight running on Sunday morning.
Sunday, January 07, 2007 01:59 PM