San Diego, CA, Nov. 6-7, 2004 American National 24 Hour Race -- Update after 24 Hours The standings at 24:00 into the American National 24 Hour Championship are:  Results just in from John Metz, RD of the San Diego One Day, The American 24 Hour Championships: 1. Steve Peterson, 42 143.79 Miles 2. Danny Ripka, 47 136.79 Miles 3. John Geesler, 45 135.43 Miles 4. Roy Pirrung, 56 135.00 Miles 5. Rebecca Johnson, 35 130.11 Miles (1st Women) 6. Brenda Klein 123.84 Miles (2nd Women) 7. Akos Konya 118.19 Miles (Hungary - Non American) 8. Leon Rothstein, 47 116.69 Miles 9. Janet Runyan, 41 116.39 Miles (3rd Women) 10. Mark Totman, 50 115.90 Miles  (Totman was misspelled on an earlier posting)  Near ideal conditions for the American 24 Hour Championships, except for a downpour of about one inch during the 23rd hour greeted the 24 hour runners from around the country, according to John Metz, the Race Director.  Boulder, Colorado resident, Steve Peterson ran to the lead around 50 miles and never surrendered it. A very close race however, occurred for 2nd as Danny Ripka, barely edged out World 24 Hour Team members, John Geesler and Roy Pirrung. Geesler and Pirrung were coming off strong World 24 Hour performances only two weeks prior these American Championships in Bruno, The Czech Republic.  Rebecca Johnson of Lafayette, Colorado ran an amazing debut at 24 hours, by turning in a remarkable 130.11 miles, besting Brenda Klein by close to 7 miles. Janet Runyan a close friend of Johnson's would take the bronze medal.  Interesting to note, that since the American Ultrarunning Association raised its Masters minimum age to 45, the average age of the top six US men was just shy of 49 years of age. This clearly justifies the raising of the masters age group for ultrarunning, says Kevin Setnes, President of the American Ultrarunning Association.  Full results are at: http://www.sandiego1dayrace.com/results/2004results.html