This year both Kevin McGovern and I were chosen to be on the USATF 100 Km Team, which was to compete in the World Challenge in Winschoten on 12 September. Kevin was coming off a groin injury that hampered him throughout the summer. He kept up his 80 mpw schedule, but could not put in much quality for fear of further damaging his groin.
I was coming off a disastrous Western States 100
miler, in which I royally whacked my back out, on top of
beating on an already injured right knee and ankle. Even
though I was seeing a chiropractor, my back kept popping in
and out for two months after th at race. I tried to put my
effort into speed work, hoping that if I could not go into
the race healthy, at least I would be fast. A 37 mile
training run three weeks before the race, and an easy win at
the Cape Ann 25 km two weeks prior, were good signs. 
Both of us arrived in Winschoten with a couple of days to relax and restup. Kevin was just off his honeymoon with Kate Davis, a CMS member. Race day was 15 degrees C (that's 60 degress F for us scientists), sunny, with a stiff breeze and a high chance of rain. Luckily the sun was out and the rain clouds had blown away for a while.
The Winschoten course is a 10 km loop through town, with many turns and even more cobblestones. As well as roads, the race wound through two parks, along a canal, and a bike trail. At a couple of points in the race, the course doubled back on itself, so it was possible to see other team members as the race progressed. Fortunately, the course provided some shelter from the wind, although not enough to keep from being chilled. Spectators hung out throughout the day, some calling out your name from a runners' list. The best feature about the race was that, being in Holland, there was practically zero elevation change. Altitude sickness was definitely not a problem here.
My game plan was to run 40 minutes per 10 km, hitting 50 km as close to 3:20 as possible. After 50 km, I would try to dole out the remaining minutes in hopes of cracking 7 hours. Kevin was going to go out more conservatively, looking for a 7:15. At the start, everyone bolted to the front. I soon realized that I had a wicked case of the runs. After pit stops at 7, 9, 19 and 29 km, I was pretty much cleaned out. On top of the sports drinks, I ate some beans and GU to try to reload.
The race was otherwise uneventful through 50 km. At that point, I found myself with a group of 10 runners. They would pull me along for a 7 hour finish, I hoped. Wrong. By 60 km, we had lost more time than I had hoped. A couple of guys had gone on ahead, so I followed. From 60 to 70 km I was rolling. By that time I had switched to Coke/water and GU. Then stomach queasiness, along with the relentless wind (it was now 7 PM and cooling off), plus the realization that I was not going to break 7 hours, all caused my will to falter. In the next 10 km, I stopped twice for a potty break, once to put on a T-shirt and hat, and once to change shoes, all in hopes of stemming the hemorrhaging of my race.
By 80 km I was back on board (5:41 through 50 miles), albeit still with a queasy stomach. Except for the additional clothing, all the stops were purely time sinks. I still figured I could break 7:10, but even that goal was slipping by, and I had lost most of my drive. At 88 km, the leader, Sergei Yanenko, lapped me with four motorcycles spewing fumes in tow.
At 90 km, I knew I would not break 7:10 so I just cruised on in. At 97 km, I was passed by the women's leader, Maria Bak, and did not have the power to resist.
Kevin played the pacing game perfectly, reaching 60 km at an average of 42:30 per 10 km before he showed any signs of slowing. Kate was seen shoveling spoonfuls of beans into Kevin's mouth at the aid stations. A bad patch between 70 and 80 km was practically identical to mine. Apparently that was the roughest lap, as it was cooling off, but the wind had not yet died down. He caught Kevin Setnes, the reigning 100 km National Champion (a place ahead of moi) and six-time USA team member, a little before 90 km. They both decided to run in together.
At the finish, Setnes pulled a Dunham and let McGovern score as third man. Tom Johnson, easily America's best ultrarunnner, finished 3rd here two years ago, as well as 5th in last year's Comrades race in South Africa, and first (a place ahead of moi) at last year's USATF National 50 Mile Trail Championship. Tom stayed in the chase pack through 70 km, when he also fell back due to the cold. He held on for 8th overall. Yenenko, a 2:12 marathoner went out hard, burnt off all his followers, and still kept the chase pack at bay, finishing in 6:25.
The USA women as a team did not fare well either. Ann Trason showed up as a Nike-sponsored individual runner, in hopes of bettering her 7:00:49 world record from 1995. She ran 40 minutes per lap for three laps, then called it a day. Not having its top two guns from 1995, Team USA set its hopes on Chrissy Duryea, Janice Anderson, Chris Clark-Setnes and Ellen McCurtin. Unfortunately, all but Chrissy Duryea had various ailments that slowed them down, all of them running 30-60 minutes off their respective personal bests. The slower women had it bad, as it started to rain eight hours into the race. The men's and women's teams each placed seventh overall, a far cry . . .
Ed. Note: There was more to this article than appears on this page. However, the article was received by E-mail and the last paragraph (as seen above) was truncated. Unfortunately, the newsletter staff could not contact Jim before the newsletter deadline. Therefore, a decision was made to go with what we had and hope that the missing material was minimal.
