Firstly, I would like to congratulate Harry Verkuijlen, Huub van den Elzen and all their helpers with this splendid race in Uden. I personally had missed the EC 24 hours in Uden in 2000, and envied the visitors of that race that reported such nice experiences. But now I feel very fortunate that I was able to watch this première of the WC 24 hours in 2003. And both Anton and I are very grateful that we were hosted so cooperatively, and had access to all the information we liked to see.
A lot of internet people were frustrated that there was no immediate result list on the websites right after the finish. However, you might imagine that the organisers were very busy with the final control of all those laps of 400 m on the track during the final hour, plus with the preparations of the podia ceremonies. So the people that really bothered (the participants) came first, and the rest of the world simply had to wait.
The agreement between their website and the UltraNed site was that we of UltraNed would not interfere with their integral intermediate and final results. So please, don’t blame us either for not giving clear final results. Sorry for keeping many of you so long in uncertainty.
There were some connection problems today with the website of the organising club De Keien. It is possibly visited so frequently, that sometimes the server is not able to cope with the interest. So to satisfy all the curious people that long to have an overview of the final differences among the top finishers: here the first 10 females and first 10 males of this thrilling 24 hours in Uden.
The race is already legendary for its strong field, for both the males and the females. We hope that the organization will supply digital files of the full lap recordings (of all participants) to all team managers and interested statisticians, so that a whole series of analyses will follow in the next months. These could help the team preparations for the next WC + EC 24 hours, already within 7 months from today: Apeldoorn (Netherlands), May 21/22 2004 !
(Note added 14 October: all these lap times are now on the website of the organising club, at the very end of the menu Final Results, grouped per 10 laps, use the menu down left for further selection:
http://www.dekeien.nl/docs/index.asp?nav=345
Overall results females:
1. Irina Reutovitsj, Rus 237.052 km
2. Galina Jerjomina, Rus 232.050 km
3. Joelle Semur, Fra 227.279 km
4. Edit Berces, Hun 225.710 km
5. Masae Kamura, Jap 222.895 km
6. Pam Reed, USA 217.048 km
7. Irina Koval, Rus 215.756 km
8. Guija Lee, Kor 215.623 km
9. Ljudmila Kalinina, Rus 214.556 km
10.Colette Musy, Fra 212.849 km
Overall results males:
1. Paul Beckers, Bel 270.087 km
2. Ryoichi Sekyia, Jap 267.223 km
3. Etienne van Acker, Bel 264.967 km
4. Andrej Kasantsev, Rus 258.037 km
5. Lucien Taelman, Bel 256.847 km
6. Dmitrij Tisjin, Rus 255.302 km
7. Valerij Kanarskij, Belarus 254.992 km
8. Wim Epskamp, Neth 251.572 km
9. Mohammed Magroun, Fra 248.170 km
10.Sergio Orsi, Ita 246.150 km
The editors of UltraNed will publish some reflections on the WC/EC 24 hours the coming week(s). And we are open for any stories by the participants or the spectators, either in English or in Dutch. Please send these to redactie@ultraned.org
Martien Baars