Successful US Distance Runners In a recent article in New York Newsday, sports writer John Hanc cited U.S. performances in the New York Marathon as proof that US distance runners are going nowhere. This may be true for in the marathon and sub marathon events, but it certainly is not so in the 100km event. The recent US 100km teams' performance in the World 100km Challenge at Shimanto in Japan are a case in point. The women's team finished third in that competition, and the men fourth. This was no flash in the pan. In 1995 the women's team won the World title in a new world record time, and the men's took the bronze. So why do the US Ultrarunners buck the trend; why are they the most successful US distance running teams? There are probably a number of reasons; however there are several possibilities that occur to me. At the marathon and sub marathon US distance runners are conditioned to think of themselves as second best. Kenyans, Moroccans, and other Africans have dominated US distance running on the roads for years now. The American runners are often left scurrying to grab the minor placings. Effectively the career structure that would bring a young US runner through to compete at world level does not exist any more. Only Bob Kennedy seems to have risen above this and actively sought to confront the Africans where they are strongest, on the European Grand Prix track circuit. Ultrarunners do not face that kind of foreign competitive pressure. There is prize money in US ultras, but definitely not enough to attract the elite competitors to travel to the States. The South African Comrades 90km race which does offer substantial prize money has shown that the marathon and submarathon situation could occur in the ultras if the money was there. This year's 90km race was dominated by the Russians, who finished first, third, fourth, fifth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth. How the South African ultrarunners will react to this kind of competitive pressure, and what the long term effects of South African ultrarunning will be, remains to be seen US ultrarunners are used to winning; they are used to having the freedom to go out and run hard, have problems and still win. They are not conditioned to thinking of themselves as second best Thus we have the situation whereby novice US ultrarunners have the chance to learn their craft in races which are not dominated by foreigner runners, in which they have role models of successful US runners who are winning races. Thus the US 100km team members have a positive background of success to draw upon when they enter the international scene. The trails do offer an additional safety cushion competitively in that familiarity with the course and conditions is a pronounced advantage. But trail running is not the only reason by any means for US 100km success. Although the winning US women's team of 1995 was dominated by trail runners, the men's team that finished third had runners like Kevin Setnes and Jim Garcia who run a lot of road races. This year's third placed women's team at Shimanto was headed by the confirmed road runner, Danielle Cherniak, who finished 8th, with 24/48 hour runner Sue Olsen the third placed scorer. So American distance runners - celebrate the success of the US 100km teams! Before the comments roll in about how elite marathon runners would wipe the floor with these painfully slow ultra runners. The evidence is that fast marathon runners do not often make successful ultrarunners. Ultrarunning is more complex than that. A fast marathon runner may run one fast ultra, but continued success - that is another matter. [And another article!] Copyright (c) 1998 by Andy Milroy