The UltraRunning link for the U.S.

Arkansas Traveller 100 1999 Report: Jan Ryerse

I nailed the AT last weekend - 26th POA in 23:40. It was a good feeling
after DNFing at Leadville. All the training in preparation for Leadville
and the 47.5 miles I did manage at Leadville plus a few 70+ mile weeks
since prepared me well for the Traveller. I like it warm and it was a
perfect weather day for me - high 40's at the 6 am start and getting up
in the low 80's during the day with clear blue skies and an occassional
cooling breeze - back into the mid 50's during the night.

Arkansas has had little rain and the roads and trails were dry and
dusty. After an initial mile on asphalt road we were off on a hilly
gravelly service road for the first 10 miles. Then 7 miles on the rocky
narrow Ouchita trail - it felt really good to get off the roads onto the
trail. Then it was into Lake Sylvia aid station in 3:30 for 17 miles or
so - a comfortable 12 min/mile pace. Then off on roads and rough service
roads to Lake Winona - still at a 12 min/mi pace. My wife Sheila and a
fellow St. Louis ultrarunner Mark Williams (who would pace me from 49.1
miles) crewed and had supplies set out to keep aid station stops short.
The aid stations and volunteers are terrific at the Traveller - none
better in my experience. I changed into my Montrail vitesse trail shoes
for the climb over Smith mountain and went the rest of the way with them
- they are the best shoes I know for rocky trails and they're light
enough to do well on gravel and dirt roads too. I arrived at the
Powerline aid station at 49 miles in 10:15, Mark joined me and we headed
out on the gravel roads to the turn-around at 58 miles, arriving there
at about 6:15, 12:15 into the run.

Mark is an excellent pacer - he let me set the pace but he would always
be a few steps in front of me adjusting his speed to my pace. Having him
out front resulted in my moving slightly faster and farther during our
running than if I had been alone. We power-walked the uphills and rough
trail sections, shuffled the flats and hammered the downhills and
continued making good time into the night back past Powerline at 68 and
into Drop-Off aid station at 77 miles. It was now obvious that I'd smash
last years time of 27:20 and 8 miles later at Lake Winona I started
doing the math to see if a sub 24 would be possible. If we kept focused
there'd be an excellent chance for the sub-24 hour buckle. The rocky,
rutty section between 94 and about 98 seemed to go on forever. I did a
magnificent face-plant about 96 miles but only my hands, chest and chin
were beat up - nothing important- the legs were OK so once we got on the
smooth downhill gravel road leading to the asphalt road and the big hill
to the finish, I knew the sub-24 was in the bag.

They treat you well at the Arkansas Traveller, from the pasta feed, to
the down-home entertainment to the warmth of the fire in the lodge at
the finish. They even persuaded the State Parks department to open up
the beautiful Lake Sylvia campgrounds solely for the use of the
ultrarunners. I had the chance to run and/or talk with many old and new
friends including - Bob and Rosemary Marston, Kevin Guest, Rod Hammons,
Jim O'Neil and Sue Norwood, Rolly Portelance, Jose Wilke (who finished
his 12th 100 of the year), Josh Miller, Hans Dieter... (who came from
Germany to run 5 100s this summer), Bob Prusaitis, Paul Schmidt, Monica
Scholz from Canada (second women) and others whom I'm not remembering
right now. The AT is a challenging course without being too difficult -
I highly recommend it. Thanks to Charley Peyton and company for putting
on another great ultra.

Jan Ryerse
The Trail Turtle
St. Louis