23-year-old Spanish phenom Kilian Jornet did the big double this year, adding a win at The North Face Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc (20:46:43) to match his first place at the Western States 100, arguably the two most competitive 100+ milers in the world. Fellow Spaniard Iker Karrera Aranburu (20:48:30) came in just a few minutes later with Frenchman Sebastien Chaigneau (20:55:51) not far behind. I wonder - is the double enough for Jornet to win UltraRunning Magazine's Ultra Runner of the Year, or will Dave Mackey prevail with his wins at Bandera 100k (CR), American River 50m, Miwok 100k, Where's Waldo 100k (CR), and 8th place sub-17 at States? That's a tough choice!!!
Britain's Lizzie Hawker repeated her 2010 victory by finishing in 25 hours and change, notching her fourth win here. Nerea Martinez from Spain finished second nearly three hours later (27:55:34), with Darcy Africa taking 3rd (28:30:28). Bryon Powell, per usual, did an excellent write-up of both races on iRunFar. He also has interviews with Jornet and Hawker.
North Face did a great video of the race course above.
I bet Usain Bolt wish he had the calm consistency of Jornet, but instead he false-started and disqualified himself from the 100m World Championships (or did he?).Whoops.
Oscar Pistorius, however, managed to be the first amputee to make a World championship semi-finals with his incredible finish in the 400m. Check out how fast he gets going in the straights...amazing!
Britian's Mo Farah and Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jelian made the most of Bekele dropping out (his first non-win at a world championship ever) to duke it out in the 10,000m, with Jelian outkicking in the last 50 meters for the win (27:13). Lots of great running going on in Daegu!
Hey Scott, I agree with your comments on Killian and Mackey for UROY, but just wanted to clarify that it was Nick Clark who won the Speedgoat 50k this year (Mackey was not entered). Should be interesting to see who prevails in the voting this year.
ReplyDeleteHope the Wasatch prep is going well, see you on the start line,
Christian
Corrected! Thanks for pointing that out.
ReplyDeleteNick Clark is another one who could be a contenda for UROY with all his top finishes, although I suspect the RD-heavy voting squad of UR Magazine won't take to kindly to blaming race organizers for a DNF at UTMB. Too bad there isn't an award for "best ultrarunning season in a household with a newborn". He would win that for sure.
Bolt did not false start (or at least someone else should have been DQed instead of him): http://www.letsrun.com/2011/falsestart-0828.php
ReplyDeleteHey Scott - check out letsrun.com for the story on Bolt's false start being triggered by Blake. That should create some interesting dialogue.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the letsrun tips - very interesting video. False start from the guy who goes on to win!
ReplyDeleteScott, I've been racking my brain and going through the previous UltraRunning UROY magazines. I thought the magazine only counted athletes that lived in US/Canada to be eligible in their voting. You don't have to be a citizen (which is why Nick Clark can get votes). Last year Kilian didn't get a single vote, and he wasn't listed in the top 100 mile times, even though his 3rd at WS100 easily was fast enough. I can't find any rules anywhere, so maybe I'm just mistaken?
ReplyDeleteBrian, you could be right. I had never considered that UROY might be limited to US runners, I had always assumed this was the outcome since all voters are US-based. That would be good news for Mackey! ;-)
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