World 100 Km Challenge    Torhout, Belgium 8.8.93    by Trevor Jacobs
I was very keen to participatein this race to make it 4 out of 4 championships. Thanks to support by the ACT Office of Sport and Recreationin particular, I was able to make it AURA selected the largest team ever to contest the event, with 6 men and 4 women included. There were 32 countries and 363 runners participating
Upon arrival in Belgium, we soon discovered that the race organisers were seriously contemplatingcancelling the event because their King (Boudewijn)had recently died and the funeral was on race day. It was incredible to witness the love that most Belgians had for their king and the profoundimpact that his death had on the country. It was agreed to postponethe event to the day after his funeral. As resting on the bed was the plan for the day before the race, we saw on TV hour after hour of funeral processions and services. All channels telecast the funeral, and later in the day and evening there were replays. This was a memorablepreparationfor the race.
Weather on race day was fine and cool to start with, but it soon warmed up after the rather late 8 am start. The course consisted of 10 x a 10 Km loop, which was very convenient for our handlers and spectators, and OK for runners because you knew what was coming without getting bored. T had decided beforehandto set out at just under 4 min /Km and hold this for as long as possible, with the aim of getting well under 7 hours. As it turned out if I had achieved this it would have placed me in the top 10 finishers. There was a high dropout rate in the second half, and although I slowed significantly also, I managed to finish OK. Most of those retiring did so due to cramps, probably due to excessive sweating and stress from the very humid and warm to hot conditions as the day wore on.
Nicole Carroll from Qld was the first Aussie to succumb at 30 Km, followed by Safet Badic from Vic after 50 Km. Safet ran with the race leaders early, passing through 50 Km in 3hr 9min. He was stopped by severe cramps. Don Wallace pulled out at 70 Km after he realised that he was slowing and was not going to beat his National Record of 6hr 39min. I think he passed 50 Km in about 3hr 15min. Anne Stauntonfrom the ACT retired at 70 Km, after a great effort (she had been sick), when it became obvious that she would not complete 100 Km within the time limit
I ran with Don Wallace for the first lap ( 38min 52sec) then let him go because I felt that the pace was a bit too fast The next two laps went to plan with 10 Km splits of 39.32 and 39.14, but after a toilet stop things slowed a little for some inexplicable reason giving splits of 41.40 and 42.10 to yield 50 Km in 3.21.08. This was still very close to my original target of 3.20.00, but the last splits were a bit of a worry to me at the time. The slowing trend continued unfortunately, and subsequent splits were 43.36, 45.18 and 45.54, to give 80 Km in 5.35.52. Consequently! revised my plan to try and get in under 7 hours, but even that fell foul The last 2 laps took 46.20 and 45.43 to give 100 Km in 7hr 08min 55sec (an average of 14 Km per hour), for 25th spot, 3 mins behind the 1st Kiwi (Russel Prince, who was 2nd in 1990), 9 mins behind the first American and 10 mins behind the first Pom, but ahead of the 2nd Kiwi, American and Pom. Don Ritchie retired and I beat for the first time Roland Vuillemenotfrom France who won in 1990. Twelve of the 32 countries had their first runner finishing before me. I was pleased to be the first Aussie home for the 4th year in a row (albeitthe only Aussie in 1991).

Of the teams, many seemed to get annihilated, probably none worse than the British men’s team who had only 3 finishers. The race was won by Konstantin Santalov in 6.26.26, for the 2nd year in a row. The first woman was Carolyn Hunter-Rowefrom Great Britain in 7.27.19 (44th outright). Even Konstantin suffered from cramps towards the end of the race and actually came to a completestop with ahout200m to go, but soon got started again to win by 2.33 from Jean-Paul Praet from Belgium. Third was Peter Hermannsalso from Belgium in 6.36.26. The second woman was ValentinaShatyaeva from Russia in 7.27.39 (45th), and another Russian, Valentina Liakhova, was third in 7.38.01 (49th).
Bruce Cook from Qid (formerly ACT) was the next Aussie in 7.56.21 for 73rd place, then Geoff Boasc also from Qid in 8.19.16 (104th). Andrew Law came in 135th with 8.42.57 after battling severe stomach pains for most of the race due to excessive wind (what did you cat Andrew?); this was a gutsy effort just to finish. The Yanks gave him some pills to expel the gas which worked so well that when Santalov was nearing the finish he sat in behind Andrew fora while (which was very brave as Andrew was literally ripping along at this stage) and Andrew received a caution from the officials for pacing Santalov. This was a hit rough on Andrew I believe, because you cannot control who runs behind you very well, and it could be argued that Santalov should have been cautioned for sitting on Andrew. It was an interesting talking point, however, but even more interesting was the fist-fight between Jean-Paul Praet and Charl Mattheus from South Africa.
I asked Charl what had happenedafter the race and his version of the incidentwas that he stopped briefly to use the toilet and sprinted to rejoin the lead pack. Praet accused him of cheating as he could not believe that he could have caught them back up so quickly. As they ran along Pract repeatedly called for the officials to remove Charl from the race, which they did not. Later, at a drink station, Charl accidentally splashed Praet and that is when Praet apparently snapped and he and an assistant got stuck into Charl, who suhseyuentlywithdrew. Santalov stepped in to keep them off Charl. After the race the South Africans lodged a protest but it was dismissed. This seemed pretty weak to me if the incident was as described above, and perhaps the appeal was dismissed because they could not verify one version or the other?
Another interesting comment I gleaned from the South African coaches was that their runners that competed in the Comrades race on 31 May did not fare very well in this race. Probably there was not enough recovery time (2 months). It was also interestingto see the fantastic level of support most of the other countries gave their athletes. The South Africans were easily the best organised and equipped, which included team suits and ties, travel, their own bus and accommodation etc. The British team runners had everything supplied (airfares, coaches, accommodation costs, walkie talkies for their assistants, kit etc), and likewise for other countries such as USA, Russia, Belgium, France, Germany etc. All the assistance we got, apart from what the individuals could rustle up, was one airfare and US$1 5130 from the IA U shared amongst 11 people. It is a pity that this prestigious event is not recognised as such by Australian officials and supported to the extent that many of the other countries enjoy. Nonetheless, Athletics Australiahave been very helpful with all other aspects of getting Aussies to the event.

Tags: Belgium, Ultrarunning

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Tags: Belgium, Ultrarunning