BARNES HAS RECORDS IN MIND

Contributed by Jimmie Barnes, AURA member
The Endless Mile, 16-18 October 2020, Veteran’s Park in Alabaster, Alabama, USA

The Endless Mile is a 48 hour race with options for 24, 12 and 6 hours and it was held in mid-October at Veteran’s Park in Alabaster, AL just south of Birmingham. The 90-acre park contains picnic areas, picnic shelters, playgrounds, restrooms, soccer fields and a youth baseball complex. The asphalt walking path is flat and winds through wooded areas and past several lakes. The course is a 1.002mi loop with about 20 feet of elevation. The weather was very good with highs in the mid 60s and lows in the low 40s.

This was the 5th year for the race which continues to grow in popularity each year both locally and nationally. This year there were 41 entrants in the 48 hour race compared to 31 last year and a total of 161 entrants in all the races. Some of the increase was due to the lack of races because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Since the race is only 30 minutes from my home I have run it each of the five years it has been held. Last year I had the pleasure of running it with my youngest daughter Rebecca as she completed her first 100mi run.

I had hoped to have a good 48 hour run and even take a shot at my friend Doyle Carpenter’s new world record of 144.60mi which he set in July at Merrill’s Mile under some very difficult conditions. Doyle and I have been competing for over 30 years and in 2016 at this race Doyle came in first with 149mi at the age of 77 and I came in second with 136mi at the age of 78, this may have been the oldest 1-2 finish for an ultramarathon.

In addition to trying to break Doyle’s record I had some other sub-goals: a) I wanted to run my age of 82 in 24 hours, b) I wanted to break 30 hours for 100 miles this would also better my friend Ed Rousseau’s American 100 mile record of 30:07 which he set in February, and c) since I joined the Marine Corps 63 years ago this month I had also hoped to run 126mi.

The race started off well for me with splits of 23mi in 6 hours, 43mi in 12 hours and 82mi in 24 hours. That left me having to do only 20 minute miles for the next 6 hours to break the 30 hour mark (it always looks easy on paper.) However I have lower back stenosis and started having problems after the 24 hour mark which resulted in a painful slight forward lean. I like many older runners am prone to developing a lean in the latter hours of a race. Usually I lean to the right or the left and it is not painful but just difficult to maintain any kind of a normal pace. The forward lean was not only painful but it was difficult to walk downhill without stumbling. I did not fall on the course however I did fall going into the bathroom; luckily the only damage was to my left thumb and my pride. The lean and back pain got so bad that for the last 4mi I was stopping a couple of times each lap to try to straighten up. I finally reached 100mi in 29:27:12, second all-time only to Geoffrey Oliver of England who has a remarkable 24:01:17 for the 80-84 age group. I am also second to Geoffrey in the 24 hour run and again it is not even close 160.7km to 146.6km. After finishing the 100mi I did an additional 1mi as I always do just in case there is some kind of timing error and called it a day.

Currently the 80-84 age group is the strongest it has ever been. I am proud to be part of this group that includes Doyle Carpenter, Ed Rousseau and Don Winkley of the US and Jean Theibould and Christain Mainx of France. Many records have already been set by this group and more will be set in the coming years.

The winner of the race, Ed Ettinghausen, ran 187.38mi the female winner Jean Hotschule ran 152.3mi. One interesting aspect of this race is that since it was the first timed event in the state of Alabama longer than 12 hours there were no established state records for 24 hours or 48 hours. Also state records are maintained on a yearly basis rather than an age group basis therefore after the first year many people learned that they had set state records with surprisingly low mileage. Since there is no one else in my age group I only have to run 1 lap each year to set 4 records! This has led to entire families returning each year to try for records, for example in the 12 hour race 11 year old Teagen Benko won the female race with 55mi and her 16 and 14 year old brothers placed 4th and 5th overall with 55.11mi. The race has become like a big family reunion with many families returning each year to spend a weekend camping out at the park.

In closing I would like to thank my world class crew and wife Deborah for allowing me to do and assisting me in doing these crazy things, I could not do it without her.

If any Australian runners find themselves in the states in October and are looking for a race on a record setting course I highly recommend you come join us. If I do not see you here I look forward to seeing you in Canberra or Adelaide in the coming years.

Pictured: Jim Barnes with Doyle Carpenter in 2016. Photograph – Supplied.