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JULY 2009
PENCIL IN YOUR 2010 RACE CALENDARS!
PALM100—100 mile, Six Runner Team Relay, Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach and back: tentative date for 2010 is March 27**. Get those teams ready, folks!
KEYS100—Prostate Cancer Benefit Races: 100 and 50 mile Individual Races and 100 mile, Six Runner Team Relay. Tentative date is the weekend of May 15-16.
These race dates will be finalized and confirmed very soon.
PALM100 RACE DATE—your opinion, please:
**March 27th appears to be the most logical date for the 2010 PALM100; it is the same calendar weekend as the 2009 inaugural race just 4 months ago. Earlier dates have been suggested for next year, however, primarily for cooler weather. While we are still in the formative years of this race, we want to be open to your suggestions to make the race as fulfilling and popular as possible. That is why your opinion as a PALM100 “Veteran” is important and would be greatly appreciated. The suggested earlier 2010 dates are January 16th (the week after the Disney Marathon), January 23rd (the week before the ING Miami Marathon) and February 13th (eight days before the A1A Marathon). Please take a moment and let me know if you think one of these earlier dates would be more likely to increase participation or decrease it, and how it might affect your own decision to race on a PALM100 relay team again. Thanks.
KEYS100 VETERANS—your feedback requested:
Your response would be greatly appreciated to the following ideas that have been suggested by other runners for next year’s race. We won’t make any changes unless there is a consensus in that direction, so your voice does count. Many people were unable to stay for the post-race Awards Party this year because it was held so late in the afternoon on Sunday. A major problem in Key West is finding a large enough facility that is appropriate for this kind of event and that is willing to host us at an earlier hour. Most restaurants there have a brisk brunch/lunch business on Sunday and won’t sacrifice business from local clientele to accommodate us once-a-year. (This past May, even at 4:00 PM, the restaurant was unable to deliver adequate seating for our group as they had promised.) However, assuming that we can find a suitable location, we will attempt to move the party to an earlier hour, somewhere between noon and 2:00. With hotel check-out times typically at 11:00 AM, this will allow people leaving Key West on Sunday to attend the party without having to hang out for hours. Please let me know if a change to an earlier hour would be helpful and create a greater likelihood of your attending the celebration.
In order for later finishers to complete the route in Key West and have time to kick back a little prior to the post-race Awards Party, a suggestion was made to start the 100-mile individual race at midnight on Friday night rather than at 6:00 AM, Saturday morning. (Starting time for the team relay race would remain unchanged at 6:00 AM Saturday, as would the 50-miler at 10:00 AM.) The earlier starting time for the “100” would mean up to six fewer hours of running during hot daylight hours for some racers. Early comments have suggested that the heat is the major challenge of this race and should not be de-emphasized by moving the starting time. A little democracy is a good thing, though, so what’s your opinion? If there is sufficient support for a change, we will consider it, but will otherwise leave starting times intact. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.
PALM100—Adding an individual 100 mile race to the team relay format:
The “Press” page on the race website includes links to the many press reports about this year’s race from around the country. If you are aware of press coverage not listed there, please let me know about it and we will add the reference. And, if you have any newspaper clippings or news recordings about the race, please send me a copy for the race record. Thank you.
KEYS100—Runners must provide own crew:
This is not a change in the rules, but is a partial adjustment in practice. For the first two years of the race we had attempted to accommodate those few out-of-town 100 mile racers who needed help finding volunteer crew. While we were glad to assist, it became increasingly difficult to fulfill some runners’ expectations. In many cases, locating crew was unavoidably VERY last minute, and that was stressful for all concerned. The intention to be genuinely helpful unfortunately created its own issues. Because of this experience, the Race will no longer provide volunteer support crew. Each runner will continue to be responsible for arranging his/her own volunteers. However, we do expect to create an online forum as part of the KEYS100 website where runners in need of crew, and volunteers willing to crew, may identify themselves and connect with each other directly.
RELAY TEAMS needing additional members, and individuals looking for a team:
For 2010, websites for both KEYS100 (www.keys100.com) and PALM100 (www.palm100.com) will include a new forum that will allow teams and individuals to indicate their interest in finding additional runners, or in joining an existing team, respectively. As in the case of crew volunteers for individual racers described above, we will provide the medium for people to connect with each other directly. We believe that the forum approach will be a much more efficient way of accomplishing the intended goal for both teams and individuals wishing to participate.
BADWATER 135 FINISHERS—KEYS100 Veterans:
Well-deserved congratulations are in order to finishers of last week’s 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, CA. The race starts at the lowest point in the Western hemisphere—282 feet below sea level at Badwater, CA—and ends at the Mt. Whitney Portal, at 8,500 feet, with two additional climbs of nearly 5,000 feet en route. With temperatures in excess of 120 degrees, Badwater is one of the very toughest races on the planet. We want to especially recognize the achievement among our own KEYS100 veterans of completing Badwater:
Nattu Natraj |
Bill Andrews |
Alisa Springman |
Frank McKinney |
Hung-Kwong Ng |
Anthony Portera |
Other KEYS100 veterans provided vital crew support to these and other 2009 Badwater racers:
Brian Krogmann |
Lisa Smith-Batchen |
Jen Vogel |
Karen Bonnett |
Lane Vogel |
Heather Griffith |
Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd |
Nilsa McKinney |
Great job, everyone, and apologies to anyone we may have missed!
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SANCTIONED EVENT