2004 Wickham Park Marathon and 50, 100, and 200 mile fun runs. Melbourne FL May 30-June 2, 2004. The tenth running at Wickham Park included a new trail route on the east side of the park. The 3.75 mile loop (same distance as before) is a bit more shaded, less sandy, and included a water faucet at 2.5 miles. It was also hillier, crossing the undulating 10 ft. ridge north of the soccer field 3 times in each loop. As usual the course was clearly marked with paper plates and arrows drawn on the ground with flour directing runners down narrow, overgrown sandy trails, hurdling or ducking under fallen trees and bushwacking through palmetto scrub. Thirty runners gathered at the start of the first of four 50-mile stages. Among them, Mark Henderson, the only runner ever to finish either the 100 or 200 mile fun runs, drove 1100 miles from Houston to defend his 100 mile record. He would be running against Scott Maxwell of Melbourne, whose PBs are 2:28 in the marathon, 6:25 for 50 miles and 20:35 for 100 miles, and Scott Sturtz from Palm Beach Gardens, last year's 50 mile winner, who was intent on collecting the only race award, a fake rock for winning the 200 mile fun run. The weather was hot and humid as usual, sunny with a dewpoint of 68 F, a high of 91 F, and a UV index of 10. Henderson took the lead and ran a steady pace to win the marathon in 3:56, unknowingly missing the course record by only 6 minutes. Scott Maxwell was second in 4:24 and I was third in 4:54, foolishly throwing out my pacing plan with several runners close behind. Altogether, 17 of the 30 runners finished the marathon within the 12:30 cutoff. Henderson went on to smash his own 50 mile course record of 10:20 in a time of 8:55:40. He had already decided about 20 miles ago that he would not be back to run the next day. Maxwell was also under the old record with 9:29, with no plans to compete the next day except to run a couple of loops to keep his running streak going. I paid dearly for my fast marathon, and did not run a step from mile 26.2 to mile 45. Sturtz quickly passed me and built a 3 mile lead. By now the only other runner making a serious attempt at 50 miles was Mich Michael of Palm Bay, who was attemping his first ultra, but was well behind the cutoff. He made 37.5 miles. I was rejuvinated by the cooler evening weather (low 80's) and almost caught Sturtz. He finished in 11:49:50 leading me by 1 minute and 43 seconds going into tomorrows's stage. Stage 2 was brutally hot, sunny, 99 F with a dewpoint of 73 F and a UV index of 10. The heat index was 112 in the shade and 127 in the sun. These conditions go well beyond the normal threats of dehydration and hyponatremia. Heatstroke is a real possibility. At this point it is not possible to maintain normal body temperature by sweating and body temperature rises. The extreme fatigue and weakness that accompanies fever is an emergency backup mechanism to maintain a safe body temperature, but it does not result in fast times. I got a quick start to beat the coming heat and built a 13 minute lead on Sturtz after 2 laps, but the fatigue in my legs was showing. On the next lap I had to take walking breaks and Sturtz passed me. Last year Sturtz could not run at all on the second day, but this year he was much better trained. He continued running strong with a good, evenly paced marathon split of 5:49 while I was reduced to a death march by lap 5. After a 7:44 marathon, with no hope of finishing the 50 mile, I spent the next hour cooling off in the lake. Sturtz still held out hopes of finishing on his 8'th lap, but it would be close. At his pace, now one hour per lap (16 minute miles), he would have 6 minutes to spare. But on the 9'th lap he fell apart in the heat. We took a long break, then walked a lap together discussing how pointless all this was. STAGE 1, 50 MILES Sunny, low (and dewpoint) 68 F, high 91 F, heat index 97 in shade, 112 in sun. UV index 10. 3.75 7.5 11.2 15.0 18.7 22.5 26.2 30.0 33.7 37.5 41.2 45.0 48.7 50.0 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- Mark Henderson, 44M, Houston TX 0:34 1:06 1:38 2:11 2:44 3:18 3:56:50 (1st mar) 4:42 5:29 6:16 7:07 7:53 8:41 8:55:40 (1st 50, CR) Scott Maxwell, 54M, Melbourne 0:34 1:10 1:46 2:24 3:01 3:41 4:24:35 (2nd mar) 5:08 5:53 6:41 7:30 8:18 9:13 9:29:47 (2nd 50) Scott Sturtz, 38M, Palm B. Gardens 0:41 1:21 2:03 2:49 3:36 4:24 5:16:40 (7th mar) 6:12 7:09 8:08 9:11 10:19 11:29 11:49:50 (3rd 50) Matt Mahoney, 48M, Melbourne 0:44 1:22 2:03 2:45 3:27 4:11 4:54:30 (3rd mar) 6:21 7:50 8:55 9:55 10:54 11:40 11:51:33 (4th 50) Chase Squires, 36M, Zephyrhills 0:46 1:23 2:04 2:46 3:30 4:17 5:11:49 (4th mar) 6:21 (50 km in 6:39:30) Craig Munshower, 18M, Sebastian 0:46 1:21 1:58 2:44 3:24 4:18 5:12:00 (5th mar) Jeffrey Stephens, 37M, Palm Springs 0:40 1:25 2:10 2:56 3:42 4:32 5:15:00 (6th mar) Geoffrey Carroll, 40M, Winter Park 0:39 1:21 2:06 2:56 3:51 4:49 5:47:30 (8th mar) George Haddad, 44M, Melbourne 0:39 1:17 1:58 2:44 3:27 4:33 5:50:30 (9th mar) John Feasel, 48M, Sebastian 0:46 1:32 2:15 2:59 3:50 5:02 6:00:45 (10th mar) Greg Guzman, 37M, Gainesville 0:39 1:19 2:03 3:02 4:02 5:13 6:21:00 (11th mar) Stu Gleman, 59M, Titusville 0:46 1:59 2:54 3:49 4:57 5:56 6:59:40 (12th mar) Mich Michael, M, Palm Bay 0:39 1:59 2:59 3:58 4:54 5:55 7:00:30 (13th mar) 8:35 10:00 11:18 Russell Cheney, 62M, Torrence CA 0:45 1:35 2:33 3:39 4:49 6:06 7:19:40 (14th mar) David Scharf, 53M, Vero Beach 0:53 1:48 2:47 3:53 5:22 6:36 7:48:55 (15th mar) Beth Terry, 38F, Valdosta GA 1:10 2:08 3:23 4:30 5:50 7:20 8:54:25 (1st female mar) 10:33 Nanci Levake, 45F, Alachua 1:11 2:21 3:47 5:39 7:20 8:55 10:33:15 (2nd female mar) Sheryl Beach, 42F, Lake Worth 0:40 1:25 2:11 2:59 4:32 David Howe, 55M, Ocala 0:59 1:57 2:50 3:48 4:42 Warren Caputo, 35M, Melbounre 0:39 1:16 1:53 2:32 Linda Smith, 44F, Indian Harbour B. 0:39 1:17 1:58 2:44 Art Anderson, 44M, Melbourne 0:39 1:17 1:58 2:44 Stevel Wilson, 45M, Titusville 0:45 1:46 3:01 4:18 Kelley Espindola, 40F 0:52 1:50 3:05 4:24 Sean Black, 36M, Melbourne 0:52 1:28 2:05 Carla Rowland, 50F, Houston TX 1:11 2:28 4:27 Gary Castner, M, Melbourne 0:37 1:19 Jack Castner, M, Oak Ridge TN 0:37 1:19 Rick Suarez, M 0:42 1:27 Warren Parsons, M 0:46 STAGE 2, 50 MILES Sunny, low 72 F, high 99 F, dewpoint 73 F (in afternoon), heat index 112 in shade, 127 in sun. UV index 10. 3.75 7.5 11.2 15.0 18.7 22.5 26.2 30.0 33.7 37.5 41.2 45.0 48.7 50.0 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------- Scott Sturtz 0:42 1:30 2:19 3:09 4:01 4:54 5:49:10 6:57 8:31 10:18 Matt Mahoney 0:38 1:17 2:19 3:19 4:37 6:16 7:44:45 10:18 Scott Maxwell 0:38 1:30 Mitchell Hait, 42M, Melbourne 0:38 1:17 (unofficial) Warren Parson 0:48 (unofficial) STAGES 3 AND 4, 50 MILES PER DAY No qualified starters. I want to thank Rich Czarnowski and Tom Wells who gratefully volunteered their time to record times, set up an aid station, and fix the water faucet at 2.5 miles when the handle stripped during the race. Rich also made up T-shirts for all the runners and gave them out free of charge. Race director, Matt Mahoney