25th IAU World Championships

Notes: Michael Wardian, the day before stepping to the line, was awarded the 2010 IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) Athlete of the Year Award. He gratefully thanked his wife and family, his sponsors and all the volunteers who continue to improve ultrarunning events. Winschoten is a community-based event, with every neighborhood trying to outdo the others, in decorating their homes and their streets, as well as cheering on passing runners on the 10K loop course.

Wardian, 38, of Arlington, Va. showed his gratitude in another way on Saturday when he and teammates, Andrew Henshaw and Matt Woods, went out hard, as part of their strategy to shake up the field and put the pressure on the other teams. Their knowledge of the composition of Team USA, and their significant depth, worked. Had one of the top 3 faltered the others would have been close by to fill in the top spots.

The only runner they couldn’t catch or intimidate was the eventual men’s winner Georgio Calcaterra of Italy, a former 100K world champion. Calcaterra ran away from the field to notch his second victory of the season, having won Italy’s famous del Passatore 100K, on May 28, breaking his course record in the process.

Calcaterra, 39, who said he was heat trained, dealt with the unusually high humidity and powered to a 6 hour, 27 minute, 32 second gold medal finishing time, followed by Wardian’s 6:42:49 (silver) and Henshaw’s 6:44:35 (bronze). Many in the field suffered heat related issues and left the course either at 70 or 80K.

The 100K team gold for the U.S. men was the first-time they topped the Worlds podium. Also appearing on the podium was multi-time team member Chad Ricklefs, taking a gold medal in the 40-44 World Masters Association-segment of the events of the day.
(From competitor.com website)

michael wardian: Best Performances · Performance Summary

UjENA Fit Club members in this race.

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