As she is wont to do this time of year, Mother Nature showed some tough love at the 2009 Sun Valley edition of the 11
th Annual Titus Van
Rijn Invitational One-Hour Distance Classic. An evening of abundant sunshine and temperatures in the 50's was a welcome break from the preceding fortnight marked by deluge after deluge and temperatures in the 40's. Still, she seemed to revel in the near gale-force south by
southeast wind that tested the determination of each runner on each lap but also rewarded him and her on the other side of 60 minutes with a victory both physical and mental. It was a great time.
Four stalwart runners toed the line around 5:45pm on Thursday, May 7: Jeff
Ealey, Liv Jensen, Hank Dart, and Andy Jones-Wilkins. After a little trash talking on the line and around the first turn, things turned pretty quiet and pretty serious as everyone tried to find the groove
that'd work for the full 60 minute test. Things broke pretty cleanly into two groups, with Jeff and Liv as well as Hank and Andy staying within a lap of each other throughout, which provided some nice motivation within the stark landscape of a one hour time trial.
When time elapsed, everyone enjoyed black cherry soda and beer and spun epic tales of the previous 60 minutes.
Posted Distances (60 minutes):- Liv Jensen 12,770 meters (7.93 miles)
- Jeff Ealey 13,150 meters (8.17 miles)
- Hank Dart 15,000 meters (9.32 miles)
- Andy Jones-Wilkins 15,100 meters (9.38 miles)
So what is the
TVR? It's basically an international festival of local one-hour running events, now in its 11
th year. See the specifics at the bottom of the post, but the "rules" are really quite simple. Grab some friends and hit the track sometime in May, record how many laps you completed in 60 minutes, and send the results to the event director. You've always wondered how far you can go. Now you'll know.
Smiles on the line (photo: Cash Dart)
800 meters in. Hank (right), AJW, and Jeff (photo: Cash Dart)
800 meters in. Liv (photo: Cash Dart)
Wild man, wild shorts, wild black cherry soda
Ditto
Post-TVR party. Down coats optional
11th ANNUAL TITUS VAN RIJN INVITATIONAL ONE-HOUR DISTANCE CLASSIC
WHAT: A one-hour footrace
WHERE: Your local track
WHEN: Anytime between May 1st-June 1 st, 2009
GUIDELINES
* Your performance must take place on a standard 400 meter/440 yard
track. Include partial laps in your final total; estimate distances
as accurately as possible within reason.
* Send results to by midnight, 1 June 2009.
In your results, please note name, total distance completed (in meters
or yards), age, date, and location. We encourage you to include a
brief report of your experience for the official race report.
* You may run the event more than once if desired, but only submit
your best mark.
* You are encouraged to invite others to participate in the event. In
many cases, our address list of past participants is incomplete, so we
especially appreciate your forwarding this invitation to past runners
not included in the original mailing.
* Complete results and race report will be sent to all participants.
TRADITION
World champions in football and baseball celebrate with champagne; the
victor at the Indy 500 gets a bottle of milk. At Titus Van Rijn, the
celebratory beverage of choice for all participants is black cherry
soda. We encourage you to maintain the tradition.
ONE-HOUR TRACK RECORDS
World, women: 18,517 meters (~11.5 miles)
Dire Tune (Eth), Ostrava, Czech Republic 6/12/08
http://youtube.com/watch?v=W6OZPV98Hxo
World, men: 21,285m (~13.2 miles)
Haile Gebrselassie (Eth), Ostrava, Czech Republic 6/27/07
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e5fgejdS4gQ
U.S., women: 17,273m (~10.7 miles)
Nancy Conz, Amherst, MA 6/25/81
U.S., men: 20,547m (~12.8 miles)
Bill Rodgers (GBTC), Boston, MA 8/9/77
TVR, women: 12,800m (~7.96 miles)
Kate Jennings (WA), Winthrop, WA 6/2/2007
TVR, men: 18,115 (~11.25 miles)
Greg Crowther (WA), Seattle, WA 5/27/2006
Please see the attached Excel spreadsheet for the All Time TVR
Performance List. Since 1999, TVR competitors have amassed more than
2.3 million meters of distance and countless gallons of black cherry
soda. Join the fun!
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS?
Please contact Andy Roth (andyleeroth@gmail.com) or Mike Persick
(mpersick@comcast.net), TVR Race Directors.
With lawns going to seed, children neglected, and pets striking lonesome poses, it must mean one thing: training for early-summer ultras is reaching fever pitch. So, with time quite precious, here's my 60-second race report from the Pocatello 50 Mile Trail Run. 
