Posted on the Ultralist:
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:35:37 -0500
From: Dan Brannen
Subject: Re: 24 Hour Team
Ray K asked:
Does anyone know who is on the US team for the World 24 in Canada next month?
Below is the press release that went out on the Running USA Wire Service last week. Since the team was announced, Garth Peterson has been diagnosed with a hernia and has had to withdraw from the team.
We are currently in the process of going down the alternates’ list to see who is the next qualified candidate who can join the team on short notice.
-Dan Brannen
24-Hour Run Championships and National Team Announced
The Ultracentric 24-Hour Run U.S. National Championship will be =20
staged Nov. 16-17, 2007 in Grapevine, Texas for the second =20
consecutive year. Race Director Robert Tavernini=92s offer of $12,000 =20=
U.S. athlete prize money will again, as in 2006, be the largest award =20=
purse for an American ultramarathon. Also for the second consecutive =20=
year, the event will serve as the selection race for the following =20
year=92s National 24-Hour Run Team.
Last year=92s Ultracentric event, won by Alex Swenson of Vashon, =20
Washington and Carolyn Smith of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the =20
selection venue for this year=92s National Team, which will represent =20=
the USA in the 5th annual World 24-Hour Run Championship, to be held =20
next month, July 28-29 in Drummondville, Canada. This year marks the =20=
first time this longest annual world title event will be held in the =20
western hemisphere. U.S. teams have made it onto the awards podium =20
every year but 2006, when the event was held in Taiwan. The best =20
individual finish ever by an American was Stephanie Ehret=92s =20
individual bronze medal, achieved by running the #3 all-time U.S. =20
women=92s performance of 140.16 miles, in the 2004 event in the Czech =20=
Republic. For the 2007 national team, the top 3 American men and =20
women from the 2006 Ultracentric National 24-Hour Run Championship, =20
held in Grapevine, Texas in November, were automatically selected. The remaining 3 men and women, plus alternates, were selected based on other 24-hour run performance rankings during the previous year. The members of the 2007 U.S. National 24-hour Run Team are:
MEN
Scott Eppelman, 40, Coppell, Texas
John Geesler, 47, St. Johnsville, New York
Phil McCarthy, 38, New York, New York
Garth Peterson, 44, Beck Row, ENGLAND (U.S. Air Force)
Roy Pirrung, 58, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Alex Swenson, 42, Vashon, Washington
WOMEN
Connie Gardner, 43, Medina, Ohio
Debra Horn, 47, Shaker Heights, Ohio
Rebecca Johnson, 37, Lafayette, Colorado
Laura Nelson, 41, Woodstock, Virginia
Pam Reed, 45, Tucson, Arizona
Carolyn Smith, 41, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Geesler, Pirrung, and Reed are the only athletes to have been named to the team all five years of its existence. Pirrung, at age 58,
breaks his own record as the most senior athlete ever to be named to an open U.S. national team. He also doubles, as he has every year, as team manager.
The 2007 team is a mixture of veterans and newcomers, as McCarthy, Peterson, Gardner, Johnson, and Horn will all be running in their first World 24 Hour. Peterson, an air traffic control specialist with the U.S. Air Force, recently completed a tour of duty in
Baghdad, Iraq.
Phil McCarthy came in 4th place overall at the 24 hour run in Canada this weekend. He was the highest placing US runner.