WILLIAMS JUNCTION - The Arkansas Traveller 100 is known for being a test of endurance, but the 23rd running, which started early Saturday and ended just after midnight Sunday morning, turned into an actual footrace.
In a competition that took more than 18 hours to complete, winner Brock Hime (18:05.34) finished exactly 68 seconds in front of second-place runner N. Wesley Hunt (18:06.42).
The closest previous Traveller finish came in 2000, when Scott Eppleman defeated Janice Anderson by 13 minutes, 6 seconds.
Hime and Hunt finished early Sunday morning, just after midnight, ahead of 69 others who completed the event before noon at Camp Ouachita, near Lake Sylvia, about 35 miles west of Little Rock in the Ouachita National Forest.
Their arrival time didn’t matter to race director Chrissy Ferguson, who pointed Hime, 22, and Hunt, 30, both of Little Rock, toward emergency medical technicians.
“All right, let these guys take you inside,” she said. “They’ll check you out and and then you can do whatever you want.”
Hime spent the next hour on a stretcher connected to an IV in the dimly-lighted Camp Ouachita cabin, built in the 1930s by the Great Depression era Works Progress Administration. Hunt limped across the cold floor of the same room, once a dining hall, through the smell of old wood and liniment.
“I’m pleased,” Hunt said. “I did the best I could. I tell that to my kids, to just do the best you can. That’s all that matters. He was better than I was tonight. It’s as simple as that. He ran a great race.”
The women’s division was won by Shelley Egli, 40, of Jenks, Okla., in 22:37.59. Tammy Walther, 42, of Little Rock, finished second in 23:55.00.
Egli and Walther appeared comfortable as they watched the final runners finish. The late-comers jogged, walked, or staggered through bright sunlight and cool, dry air typical of October in Arkansas’ woodlands. All were worn ragged by the hilly, rugged course, and by Saturday’s weather, which offered unseasonable heat and humidity, followed by heavy rain and sudden cold. The temperature dropped from 81 to 55 degrees.
Neither Hime nor Hunt were overly concerned with the elements, the course, or the distance, despite being novices when it comes to ultra distance running. Hime was the only one of the two to go beyond the 26 mile, 285 yards of the marathon, completing a 50K (slightly more 31 miles) three weeks earlier near Memphis.
Hime, a UALR student, and a former All-Sun Belt Conference cross country runner, quit UALR’s track team after pain in his surgically-repaired back became too difficult to manage on hard surfaces. He found relief on softer trails, but his competitive nature remained intact.
“I wanted to win this race,” Hime said. “I told everyone I know that I wanted to win it. It was very important to me.”
Hunt arrived first at the Rocky Gap aid station, 29.2 miles into the race, in 4:37.00. Hime followed two minutes later, with a 15-minute gap to Jeremy Duncan in third.
Their strategies were apparent at this point. Hunt was the better hill runner, and Hime was at his best on the downhill stretches of the trails and dirt roads.
Hime passed Hunt between the Lake Winona and Pig Trail aid stations, roughly 35 miles into the race and reached the Power Line aid station, at 48.2 miles, leading by seven minutes nearly 8 hours into the race.
Hime stopped for a mandatory weigh-in (used to estimate hydration) drank pickle juice, a source of sodium favored by many ultra-distance runners, emptied a tube of energy gel, and sped away.
Hunt lagged as far as 15 minutes behind Hime as they approached the Turnaround Aid Station on the out-and-back course, but Himes’s lead evaporated when Hunt began charging through the hilly section as Hime chose to save his energy for the flatter stretches.
“I could’ve run the hills, but it wasn’t smart for me,” Hime said. “I wanted to save, and make sure I hadn’t something left, because I had a feeling it was going to be a race.”
Hunt reached the 67.7-mile mark of the Power Line aid station in 11:29. Hime came through three minutes later, and sounded amazed by Hunt’s ability after he turned to a friend and nearly screamed, “He’s running all the f hills!”
Hime reclaimed the lead on the flat section where he passed Hunt early in the race, closing in on Lake Winona as night fell. His lead was two minutes when they returned through Rocky Gap with 13.8 miles to go. Hime sped through the stop without pause. Hunt picked up a tube of energy gel, said he was feeling good, averaging about 10 minutes a mile, and resumed his chase after jogging through mud and water.
“I think I can keep that up, but I’m going about as fast as I can go,” Hunt said. “He’ll probably have to slow down a little bit.”
Hunt got to within 100 yards of Hime, but the bright light from his head lamp served as a warning for the eventual winner.
“Every time he saw my light, he would speed up,” Hunt said.
That cat-and-mouse game ended when Hunt chose to turn off his lamp when the runners reached the pavement of Arkansas 324, less than a mile from the finish.
Hunt was invisible in the pitch black of the overcast night, but Hime said he knew better. He turned around, and used his light to find Hunt.
“I didn’t blame him,” Hime said. “I would’ve done the same thing.”
By the time Hime turned off 324, the race was his. He sprinted the final downhill stretch to the finish near the Camp Ouachita cabin, family and college friends cheering him on.
“What they did was very rare,” said three-time Traveller winner Robert “PoDog”Vogler, 47, who finished eighth in 21:33.28, more than three hours behind the top two. “It’s incredibly hard to do, but somehow he stuck it out.”Arkansas Traveller 100 resultsPL. NAME TIME 1. Brock Hime ..........................18:05:34 2. N. Wesley Hunt ....................18:06:42 3. Chas Kabanuck ....................20:18:41 4. Donald Hellen .......................20:45:12 5. Mark DenHerder ..................20:59:40 6. James Holland .....................21:30:58 7. Michael Poole ......................21:30:58 8. Robert Vogler .......................21:33:28 9. Jorge Rasillo ........................22:01:21 10. Matthew Victoriano............22:03:47 11. Troy Potter .........................22:20:23 12. Doug Cassiday ...................22:35:36 13. Danny Ponder ....................22:36:29 14. Shelley Egli.........................22:37:59 15. Aaron Scrimager ................23:08:23 16. Malcolm Smith ..................23:20:40 17. Paul Turner.........................23:22:40 18. Stephen VanDenburgh ......23:29:29 19. Bill Coffelt ...........................23:31:22 20. Paul Tidmore .....................23:40:28 21. Tammy Walther..................23:55:00 22. Derek Dowell ......................24:20:30 23. Sarah Miller ........................25:02:25 24. Christopher Baldwin ..........25:11:59 25. Tina Ho ...............................25:14:2926. Corbin Freeman .................25:18:25 27. Stan Ferguson....................25:23:10 28. Russell Allison ...................25:35:10 29. Reginald Harper .................25:43:04 30. Butch Allmon .....................25:55:16 31. Max Roycroft .....................25:55:16 32. Brian Cockrell .....................26:17:58 33. Sharon Zelinski ..................26:20:07 34. William McKinney ..............26:33:43 35. Jeff Potter ..........................26:33:43 36. Deb Baker ..........................26:36:24 37. Brian Kuhn .........................26:41:28 38. Tyler Wilkerson ..................27:03:15 39. Dale Humphrey ..................27:08:08 40. Belinda Jared .....................27:08:35 41. Nate Smith .........................27:19:02 42. Chris Goodreau ..................27:25:46 43. Jason Armitage ..................27:44:37 44. Howard Baade ...................27:47:16 45. Noora Alidina .....................28:00:47 46. Jenny Wilkes ......................28:10:04 47. Patrick Barker ....................28:14:38 48. Keith Gates .........................28:17:05 49. Monica Scholz ...................28:18:49 50. Lauren Pasley ....................28:26:02 51. Eunika Rogers....................28:27:1452. Isaac Espy ..........................28:28:03 53. Bernita Lovelace ................28:37:17 54. David Stafford ....................28:43:27 55. Rob Ulm .............................28:48:28 56. Tammy Sieminowski .........28:48:30 57. Johnny Eagles....................28:55:15 58. Vincent Swendsen .............28:57:00 59. Kelsey Regan .....................29:02:57 60. Marty Regan ......................29:02:57 61. James Crowe .....................29:09:41 62. Kathy Hoover .....................29:12:30 63. Russell Bennett ..................29:12:30 64. Mark Roth ..........................29:30:09 65. Victor Serrano ....................29:39:29 66. David Hirschfeld ................29:42:02 67. Angie Stewart.....................29:44:30 68. Letha Cruthirds ..................29:48:12 69. Hiromi Hatta .......................29:50:48 70. Andi Stracner .....................29:51:11 71. Leonard Martin ..................29:59:50 72. Cliff Ferren .........................30:01:56 73. Ian Maddieson ...................30:26:00 74. Randy West .......................30:38:09 75. Elizabeth Kimble ................30:48:27 76. Joshua Berry ......................30:58:38 77. Katsuyuki Hatta ..................31:09:59
Sports, Pages 22 on 10/07/2013