Untitled Document
Masters Mountain Running World Championships – Janske Lazne, Czech Republic
I did not feel ready for this race due to my hamstring woes, but I felt that I’d give it my best. We had to wait through the morning as the 5 year age groups went off. We (me, Francis, and TiVO) would be starting at 1:00 PM, just about the worst time to race…it ruins the whole day J
It was warm and dry when we headed out for a warm-up over the first 3k of the course. It started with a 300’ climb and descent over nice single-track trail then the “real” racing would begin with a 5km+ climb averaging around 10% grade (500’ per mile). My hope was to survive the up/down part then find a good rhythm on the climb. I felt okay on the warm-up and had some great pre-race jitters, so I was definitely mentally in the game.
We got lined up and I found a spot 3 or 4 rows from the front with TiVO right with me. Francis lined up in the front row on the other side. I had heard that it might be very fast and aggressive at the start. I was surprised to find that it seemed to go out reasonably and I didn’t have to fight for position. On the first climb I found myself in eighth place and TiVO was a few seconds ahead. Francis was up front in a pack with the top few guys. The downhill wasn’t too bad, I just lost one place but my hamstring was not bad and I was looking forward to the climb.
It was really warm during most of the climb and the parts on the dirt road were dusty at times when the wind kicked up. It was fun reeling in some of the other category runners on the climb and for the first 2K of climbing I could still see TiVO and Francis up ahead. We hit the toughest stretch (a 25% grade on a ski slope) and I could see all 8 guys in front of me. Of course at that steepness and clear view, you could see a few minutes ahead. With 3k to go TiVO was 22 seconds ahead and looking strong. I felt pretty good right up until we hit the long (500m?) downhill/flat stretch. My legs just wouldn’t go fast. At the 1km to go sign I heard someone charging fast and he zoomed by. We started the final climb and I was able to reel him back in. We hit the top with 500m to go and BOOM he took off, 200m later I was passed by another guy and had no response.
I crossed the line in 45:31, for the 8.6km (5.4m) course with 3,000’ of climb, taking 11th place. Francis took 4th place and TiVO got 8th place, both nabbing there best finish at a Masters World champs. We combined for 23 points which left us 2 points shy of the gold medal. Germany beat us and I felt pretty bad that it hinged on the two guys who beat me in the last few minutes of the race. I guess I’ll have to go to Telfes, Austria next year and work harder. I closed out the day with a warm-down run back down the mountain trying to savor it, knowing it would be my last run for a month.
Results:
1 Paul Sichermann GER 48 41:56
2 Grzegorz Czyz POL 45 42:12
3 Rostislav Petrass CZE 47 42:57
4 Francis Burdett USA 48 43:31
5 Paul Dugdale GBR 48 43:36
6 Borek Janick CZE 48 43:45
7 Siegfried Krischer GER 45 44:05
8 Tim Van Orden USA 45 44:21
9 Jim Jurcik SVK 45 45:21
10 Stephen Pyke GBR 48 45:36
11 Dave Dunham USA 49 45:31
12 Kjell Mundal NOR 49 47:02
13 Bernd Keppler GER 48 47:57
14 Ladislav Sventek SVK 48 48:13
15 Uwe Hansch GER 48 49:10
Teams:
1 GER 21
SICHERMANN Paul 1
KRISCHER Siegfried 7
KEPPLER Bernd 13
2 USA 23
BURDETT Francis 4
VAN ORDEN Tim 8
DUNHAM Dave 11
3 CZE 30
PETRÁŠ Rostislav 3
JANČÍK Bořek 6
SOUKUP Petr 21
4 GBR 40
DUGDALE Paul 5
PYKE Stephen 10
WHITAKER Jonathan 25
5 SVK 56
JURČÍK Ján 9
SVENTEK Ladislav 14
BULIK Milan 33
6 ITA 63
ECCHELI Alessandro 16
TODESCO Fiorenzo 19
SOVRAN Paolo 28
