Masters Mountain Running World Championships – Janske Lazne, Czech Republic

Guest blog by Dave Dunham

I did not feel ready for this race due to my hamstring woes, but I felt that I’d give it my best.  We had to wait through the morning as the 5 year age groups went off.  We (me, Francis, and TiVO) would be starting at 1:00 PM, just about the worst time to race…it ruins the whole day J

It was warm and dry when we headed out for a warm-up over the first 3k of the course.  It started with a 300’ climb and descent over nice single-track trail then the “real” racing would begin with a 5km+ climb averaging around 10% grade (500’ per mile).  My hope was to survive the up/down part then find a good rhythm on the climb.  I felt okay on the warm-up and had some great pre-race jitters, so I was definitely mentally in the game.

The author takes on Loon Mt, earlier this summer. Courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

We got lined up and I found a spot 3 or 4 rows from the front with TiVO right with me.  Francis lined up in the front row on the other side.  I had heard that it might be very fast and aggressive at the start.  I was surprised to find that it seemed to go out reasonably and I didn’t have to fight for position.  On the first climb I found myself in eighth place and TiVO was a few seconds ahead.  Francis was up front in a pack with the top few guys.  The downhill wasn’t too bad, I just lost one place but my hamstring was not bad and I was looking forward to the climb.

It was really warm during most of the climb and the parts on the dirt road were dusty at times when the wind kicked up.  It was fun reeling in some of the other category runners on the climb and for the first 2K of climbing I could still see TiVO and Francis up ahead.  We hit the toughest stretch (a 25% grade on a ski slope) and I could see all 8 guys in front of me.  Of course at that steepness and clear view, you could see a few minutes ahead.  With 3k to go TiVO was 22 seconds ahead and looking strong.  I felt pretty good right up until we hit the long (500m?) downhill/flat stretch.  My legs just wouldn’t go fast.  At the 1km to go sign I heard someone charging fast and he zoomed by.  We started the final climb and I was able to reel him back in.  We hit the top with 500m to go and BOOM he took off, 200m later I was passed by another guy and had no response.

I crossed the line in 45:31, for the 8.6km (5.4m) course with 3,000’ of climb, taking 11th place.  Francis took 4th place and TiVO got 8th place, both nabbing there best finish at a Masters World champs.  We combined for 23 points which left us 2 points shy of the gold medal.  Germany beat us and I felt pretty bad that it hinged on the two guys who beat me in the last few minutes of the race.  I guess I’ll have to go to Telfes, Austria next year and work harder.  I closed out the day with a warm-down run back down the mountain trying to savor it, knowing it would be my last run for a month.

Results:
1 Paul Sichermann            GER            48            41:56
2 Grzegorz Czyz               POL              45            42:12
3 Rostislav Petrass  CZE              47            42:57
4 Francis Burdett             USA              48            43:31
5 Paul Dugdale                GBR              48            43:36
6 Borek Janick                 CZE              48            43:45
7 Siegfried Krischer  GER              45            44:05
8 Tim Van Orden             USA              45            44:21
9 Jim Jurcik                     SVK              45            45:21
10 Stephen Pyke                        GBR              48            45:36
11 Dave Dunham             USA              49            45:31
12 Kjell Mundal                NOR              49            47:02
13 Bernd Keppler                        GER              48            47:57
14 Ladislav Sventek SVK              48            48:13
15 Uwe Hansch               GER              48            49:10

Teams:
1          GER       21 
SICHERMANN Paul        1
KRISCHER Siegfried             7
KEPPLER Bernd                13
 2         USA       23 
BURDETT Francis              4
VAN ORDEN Tim         8
DUNHAM Dave                 11
 3         CZE        30 
PETRÁŠ Rostislav              3
JANČÍK Bořek                 6
SOUKUP Petr                   21
 4         GBR       40 
DUGDALE Paul                 5
PYKE Stephen                         10
WHITAKER Jonathan             25
 5         SVK       56 
JURČÍK Ján                     9
SVENTEK Ladislav              14
BULIK Milan                   33
 6         ITA        63 
ECCHELI Alessandro           16
TODESCO Fiorenzo              19
SOVRAN Paolo                 28

Follow DD a little more closely by checking out his great blog Double-D Mountain Runner.