U.S. 24-Hour Run Team
Announcements
(1) The top American Male and Female finishers in the 2008 World 24-Hour (pending achieving the minimum distances of 135.0 miles for Men and 120.0 Miles for Women) will be automatically selected for the U.S. Team to the 2009 World Championship 24-Hour, which will be held in Bergamo, ITALY on May 2-3, 2009. [Note: Phil McCarthy and Jamie Donaldson were the top Americans, met the standards, and are the initial members of the 2009 team]
(2) The top American Male and Female finishers in the 2008 U.S. National 24-Hour Run Championship (pending the same standards of 135.0 Miles for Men and 120.0 Miles for Women), to be held at The Ultracentric Experience 24-Hour in McKinney, Texas on Nov. 15-16 of this year, will join the top American World 24-Hour finishers as automatic selections to the 2009 team.
(3) Remaining positions on the men's and women's teams (up to a total team membership of 6 men and 6 women) will be filled based on 24-hour performances on certified (or otherwise known to be accurate in cases where certification is impractical) courses or tracks, in rank order, achieved between July 1, 2007 and January 1, 2009.
(4) Once team members have been notified of their selection, and acceptance confirmations have been made by the athletes, public announcement of the team members will be made as soon as practicable in year 2009.
===================================================================
DONALDSON SHINES AT 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 24-HOUR
Jamie Donaldson of Littleton, Colorado, was the U.S. star at the World 24-Hour Run held in Seoul, Korea on Oct. 18, 2008. Donaldson, who earlier this year had set a new women's course record at the Badwater 135-mile race (from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in California), finished 5th among women with 136.75 miles. Donaldson led the U.S. women (Deb Horn, 125.66 miles; Carilyn Johnson, 122.22 miles) to a 4th place national team finish, falling just a few miles short of the Bronze medal. The top 3 national teams were France, Japan, and Germany. The women's race was won by France's Anne-Marie Vernet with 148.35 miles.
In the men's race, Phil McCarthy of New York City led the U.S. men for the second straight year, finishing 17th with 145.29 miles. The U.S. men finished 7th, with Alex Swenson (134.27 miles) and the 60-year old Roy Pirrung (133.12 miles) backing up McCarthy. The race was won by Japan's Ryoichi Sekiya with 169.28 miles. Sekiya led Japan to the team victory, followed by France and Russia.
Summaries of the competition, photos, and final results may be found on the website of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ULTRARUNNERS (IAU).
AUA © 2004 All Rights Reserved.