Uden, EC 24 hours
October 21st 2000, 24:00
Almost at the end of Saturday, Gerard Stenger will give some comment on the race from his point of view (for our French speaking readers in French of course):
we know all can understand FRANCH LANGUAGE. les 24h des Championnats Europens a UDEN ont parfaitement debute et resrevent a tous les passionnes de l’ultra des resultats merveilleux. C’est pourquoi il vous faut rester attentifs aux resultats que nous transmettons regulierememt. Pour l’avenir, nous esperons vous retrouver tous pour un championnat MONDIAL que nous preparons activement.
La nuit est belle, les coureurs vont gaillardememt, nous esperons vous voir tous tres bientot en notre vieille EUROPE, riche de traditions ancestrales.
The leading runners are still close together, where I do believe most runners in the top have found their right pace already early in the race. The rule of thumb would predict a final winning distance of about 245 or 250 km, but I am quite sure the winning distance will be more. But what is more interesting for a championship is the fact that it promises to be a race with a competition during the full 24 hours. None of the runners in the men’s field is superior to the others. If we look to the intermediate results for women, Reutovich has a clear lead in the race, but the situation is a little bit different. Helga Backhaus had some problems with her health the last weeks, and antibiotic is not good for good performances as we all know. That is why she started very carefully, which means that she might grow during the race! At least we see a Helga with a continuous big smile on her face, so at least she is enjoying it.
An medical wonder might be the French champion, Alain Prual, who had an open fracture after an accident only a few weeks ago. Now he is running in third position which is quite surprising knowing the background information.
You might miss the name of Ron Teunisse from the Netherlands; he stopped, as well as Wim-Bart Knol. Two Dutch prominent runners. However Wim Epskamp is performing very well, with his seventh position at the moment. We know Epskamp has the legs for a 240 km performance, maybe this will be the day it will happen. Guus Smit is also still able to cross the 200 km treshold in the Dutch championship.
Some people might come to the front during the second part of the race. For instance Sandra Brown from the UK; a walker who is able to cover 200 km during 24 hours. It is a well known fact that walkers have a smaller split in these kind of races than runners do, so we are stil facing a championship with many possibilities for the next hours to go.
Anton Smeets (with the help of Gerard Stenger).