WILLIAMS JUNCTION -- Two significant milestones were within reach.
Little Rock's Wesley Hunt started the Arkansas Traveller 100 Miler on Saturday with a chance to become the first person to finish first overall in four consecutive Travellers.
Chrissy Ferguson of Maumelle, who won the women's division six consecutive times in the 1990s, began with a hope for her 20th finish in the footrace run through the Ouachita National Forest since 1991.
Both goals were met, complete with all of the imaginable obstacles inherent in extreme ultramarathons.
Hunt, 34, won in 16 hours, 43 minutes, 55 seconds, finishing ahead of Richard Stigall, 49, of Overland Park, Kan., (19:30:50), and third-place runner John Muir, 39, of Whitefish, Mont., (19:59:20).
Russellville's Bailee Wilkerson, 27, won the women's division in 22:20:00. Little Rock's Elizabeth Kimble, 31, was second (24:17:23) with Little Rock's Michele Posey, 47, finishing third (24:31:36).
Ferguson, like the vast majority of ultra-distance racers, simply wanted to finish.
More specifically, she wanted to finish without the extreme discomfort she experienced in 2016 when she reached the finish line in 29:19:08.
Ferguson, 56, met both of her objectives when she completed the race Sunday in 28:57:48.
"I'll tell you this," she said, smiling as she reclined on a cot while hooked to an IV to compensate for dehydration "I feel a hell of a lot better than I did last year."
Hunt entered the Traveller with an emotional burden familiar to many parents.
His 4-year-old son Evan broke his left elbow, an injury that required surgery, in a fall six days before the race.
Hunt said a full recovery is expected, but the pain Evan experienced from the fall continued throughout the week, and Hunt's wife Diana stayed at home with Evan and their two other children.
Previously, Hunt's family had formed the foundation of his support crew through his previous three victories.
He ran without a crew from the start, which didn't seem to affect him early. Hunt rushed through the Lake Sylvia aid station, 16.4 miles into the race, far in front of the other 161 in the field. He sounded confident.
"I'm right where I was in 2015," said Hunt, who set the course record of 15:36:33 in 2015. "It's going well."
Fatigue uncommon to Hunt crept in and grew as he progressed.
By the time he reached the Lake Winona Aid Station for the second time, 31.9 miles from the finish line along the out-and-back course, Hunt's confidence seemed rattled.
He said he was burdened physically by an inability to tolerate food and emotionally with concern for his injured son. Hunt splashed a 12-ounce container of ice-cold water across his uplifted face. It had no apparent effect.
"I wish I could wake up," he said. "I don't mean I'm sleepy, I just can't -- I don't know. I just don't have any energy."
Hunt's pace gradually increased from a slow walk to a jog that perhaps approached a 10-minute-a-mile pace, slow by his standards. The possibility of a course record, even a finish under 16 hours, was gone, Hunt thought.
As darkness arrived, labored breath was evident in Hunt's voice. He wondered aloud if he could still win.
"I've had a kind of a sloshy stomach, and that's kind of changed things a bit," he said. "Everything's getting heavier, you know."
"I had a 76-minute lead at Turnaround," he said. "I really want to win this. It's been a pretty emotional day. Part of it is my son's cracked elbow, which has been hard on my wife. It's just been kind of a stressful week, and it's kind of been an emotional week. It was a bad break. He had to have surgery. And you know, ultra running is hard on families. Should I even be out here, you know?
"This is a good time to think, but sometimes the thoughts are complex."
Hunt continued on at 10 minutes a mile, his free-flow of thoughts interrupted by silence for exactly six seconds before he moved onto a new topic.
"So who won the game?" he said.
Hunt's struggle to maintain a slow jog and his curiosity about the outcome of an Arkansas Razorbacks football game linked him to a million or more Arkansans. He learned that Arkansas had lost as he turned up a service road toward Rocky Gap aid station. He started to walk.
Hunt sat in an old Girl Scout camp cabin after he finished and said he thought about the ease of his march toward Rocky Gap and then on to Electronic Tower aid station, which is about 8 miles from the finish.
At that point, Hunt said, inspiration was provided by a hand-written good-luck note from his 7-year-old daughter Sophia. It gave him the will and strength to accelerate to the finish.
"I was motivated by thoughts of my children," Hunt said. "I thought I owed it to everybody to give it my best effort. This is going to sound cheesy, but my daughter wrote that she wanted me to have fun and win, and I didn't want to let her down."
Sports on 10/09/2017