IAU 100km Race Report by Dave Criniti
From AURA
The Crawl Before The Walk
An account of Australia's performance at the World Cup 100km race in Winschoten, The Netherlands, on September 11, 2004, by participant David Criniti
Australia had performed magnificently at the World Cup (then World Challenge) 100km race hosted at Lake Saroma, Japan, in 1994. With Australian ultra-running icons Tim Sloan (6.43.02) and Don Wallace (6.51.14) both cracking the 7hour mark, and formed Australian 100km record-holder Trevor Jacobs (7.13.32) not too far behind, the team came 6th overall, in the extraordinary time of 20.47.48.
Since that time, Australia has really struggled to perform well as a team at the World 100k. We've often failed to field the full-team of 6 (of which the first 3 times across the line count in the teams competition), and in some instances, have actually failed to get the minimum 3 members required for a team result.
Perhaps this is not surprising. For starters, running 100km doesn't appeal to a lot of people. Even the world's best are out there on their feet for more than 6hrs, and if things don't go to plan, it can be a lot longer. Secondly, with limited funding available, Australia has often had to search for athletes who not only had the talent and desire to do well over the distance, but also in a position financially to get themselves to a race which was often on the other side of the world.
However, the past couple years have seen some hard work go into recruitment of members for the Australian 100km team, and despite the fact that tight budgets meant we could only send 4 team members and a running-reserve in 2004, we looked, on paper, to have a solid, though not world-class, team for the race in Winschoten, The Netherlands.
The Team
The Team consisted of Warren Holst (Team Captain); a former sub-2.30 marathon runner with a 100km pb of 7:42:11, run in the World Challenge in Belgium, 2002; Jo Blake; the current Australian 100km Champion, with a 100km pb of 7:31:36, and 3rd place getter in this years' prestigious 6 Foot Track Marathon; Mike Wheatley; who ran his 100km pb of 7:32:31 at Winschoten in 2000; myself, with a 100km pb of 7:51:12, run at the Gold Coast 100 in 2003; and our running reserve Mal Grimmet; who was headed to Winschoten hoping to complete his first 100km event.
Helping us along the way was our star-studded support crew, comprising of Mike's wife Donna, Jo's wife Shelly, my sister Christina, and Mike's friend, Phil Sly and partner Naomi. With a 2.15 marathon pb, we were harassing Phil all weekend to turn his talents to ultra-running. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
The Expectations
Essentially, I was hoping for a sub-7hour time; Jo, Mike & Warren had set their sights around the 7.30 mark, and Mal Grimmett wanted to go sub-8. As a team, we'd anticipated that if we could get it together, we might be able to crack it for a top-10 result, which would be our best result since 1994.
The race
The World Cup, which has been contested annually since 1987, is hosted by an established 100km race each year. This year Winschoten, in the north of The Netherlands, hosted the event for the 4th time, after hosting it in 1995, 1997, and 2000. The Winschoten event has been held annually since 1976, with the fastest time each year being a sub-7 hour performance, making it a world-class event regardless of whether or not it is hosting the World Cup.
The race is held over ten 10km loops on a pancake-flat course which starts and finishes in a large community centre known as de Klinker and in between, winds its way through the streets, parks and canals of Winschoten. The race starts at 1.00pm, and with sunset around 8.00pm in that part of Holland in September, and a cutoff of 12hrs, ends for many runners well after dark.
Despite threatening skies, we were spared any early-afternoon rain, and instead encountered a mild dose of heat, humidity and wind. All-in-all, however, conditions were relatively good for running, and also conducive to good spectator numbers, which helped buoy our spirits when times were tough. A lot of the local kids took great delight in handing soaking sponges to the runners, and following them with expectant hands, until they'd cooled themselves off and discarded them, whereapuon they'd be promptly re-soaked and recycled. It was a practice that didn't rate too highly on the hygiene scale, but after half a dozen laps, there weren't too many runners complaining or refusing a wet sponge!
There was also lots of support from people who'd set themselves up in their driveways for an afternoon (and evening) of eating, drinking, and cheering on increasingly weary runners. In many cases, the more tired; and in need of support; the runners became, the merrier and more willing to provide encouragement, the spectators became!
The results
Well, that says something of the course and the race's atmosphere, but what of the performances of the Aussie team? On one hand, none of us did as well as expected. Aiming to do an even-paced race going out at 42 minute laps (14 kph), I was about half a minute off per lap from the start, and slowed more as the race wore on, until picking up the pace in the final lap. After taking half an hour off my pb, I certainly wasn't unhappy. I simply didn't have what it took on the day to go sub 7.
Likewise, things didn't pan out as expected for the other members of Team Australia, with none of the team reaching their time-goals for the day. However, all of us ploughed on, despite our races not going to plan, and we ended up with three runners under the 8 hour mark for the first time since 1994. Of the 329 starters, the Aussies finished as follows:
- David Criniti 28th 7:23:30
- Jonathon Blake 45th 7:47:42
- Mike Wheatley 49th 7:56:37
- Warren Holst 95th 8:41:39
- Mal Grimmet 170th 10:29:04
As a result of this, things were pretty high spirited in the Australian camp in the hours following the race. Spirits were, however, improved markedly the next day when we realised with a very pleasant surprise, that our efforts had earned us 4th place in the teams division; the best placing ever by an Australian team in the World 100k!
Where to from here?
As much as I, like the rest of the team, was absolutely ecstatic with this result upon hearing the news, I feel that now, as I write this report, in the weeks after the event, it is time to look with less emotion, and a bit more objectivity, about what it means for Australian Ultrarunning.
Firstly, I think it means that some of the hard work by the AURA committee, led by our President, Ian Cornelius, to resurrect the Australian 100k team, is beginning to pay off. I'm optimistic that this success will begin lay the foundations for bigger and better things in the future. Perhaps it will strengthen our case for funding for travel expenses from bodies such as Athletics Australia, so the best athletes can compete without being out of pocket for their troubles. This is the type of incentive that is needed to lure our fast marathon runners (who have the potential to become great ultra runners) beyond the marathon.
However, I think it is also important to realise that there is a lot of work to be done if we are to have a legitimately world-class team. The results below indicate that while we were 4th, we were still an hour and a half off 3rd place and more than 3 hours behind the Italians at the top of the podium.
- Italy 20:06:38
- Japan 20:59:32
- Belgium 21:31:55
- Australia 23:07:49
So in sum, while not running the time I'd hoped for in Winschoten, I came away a happy man. I, along with Jo, Mike, Warren, and Mal, had come away with a credible team result, and we'd all made a contribution to improving the status of the Australian 100km team, and the sport within Australia. After a few years of the Australian 100k team lying dormant since our success in 1994, we're now crawling again. Now's the time to start to walk.
