5:44 pace over 56k with two 1000+ foot hills thrown in...amazing. First American ever in the top 10 at this race. Might have been the clean champ as it was all Africans in front of him.
Racist much?
Very impressive wrote:
5:44 pace over 56k with two 1000+ foot hills thrown in...amazing. First American ever in the top 10 at this race. Might have been the clean champ as it was all Africans in front of him.
Camille was 10th here in 2013, I believe.
Her first ultra, thought few noticed.
16th at 50km, moved up to 9th in the last 6km
https://www.sportsplits.com/races/15435/events/1/results/individuals/50150/?search=ornelas
Nice first ultra . Remember him from his NY days . Maybe the next Walms ?
Hounddogharrier wrote:
Nice first ultra . Remember him from his NY days . Maybe the next Walms ?
Not his first ultra. He’s run several the past few years.
Zach’s already a star, winning American River 50M & doing 2:50 for 50K earlier this year.
Looks like 2 oceans course was changed and also of note the elite field was thin this year due to funding in marathons internationally increasing. This is same Zach that came to Europe for Sierre zinal this last year and other years and got beat by top ladies? Wow
Zach here, regular poster under ERS (some can make connections to an old site I had..). First American Male in top 10 ever I believe, was a great day. Devon Yanko has finished top ten before. Sucked at Sierre-Zinal, I have no trails/hills where I live but road hills seem to work well for me. Now just hoping I can run a fast marathon somewhere other than CIM so I can actually count it as a PR here ;) Cheers!
Euroleag wrote:
Looks like 2 oceans course was changed and also of note the elite field was thin this year due to funding in marathons internationally increasing. This is same Zach that came to Europe for Sierre zinal this last year and other years and got beat by top ladies? Wow
Has there ever been a Lets Run thread without someone posting something negative....
Pick It Up wrote:
Euroleag wrote:
Looks like 2 oceans course was changed and also of note the elite field was thin this year due to funding in marathons internationally increasing. This is same Zach that came to Europe for Sierre zinal this last year and other years and got beat by top ladies? Wow
Has there ever been a Lets Run thread without someone posting something negative....
Keeps it interesting! Wouldn’t call it “weak” though, they assembled a bunch of 2:10-2:13 guys from Kenya/SA to chase the course record (1 million Rand) then a last minute course change due to political protests added over 500’ of climb and they still went out at CR pace (5:17 for 56k with lots of climbing on original course too). Imagine hitting heartbreak hill at mile 16 and it keeping the same grade until mile 21, that’s what the mid race climb was (4.3mi 1,000’). Anyways only responding because I’ve had a lot of good South African wine. Back to reading London preview posts
Congrats to Zach! That is a great race for him. I heard they did do some course changes this year...but I believe there was a lot of money up for grabs for a "course record time" so I'm not sure how that worked out?
I do believe some US women have placed pretty well in this race over the years....Maybe several top 10 finishes?
Aside from Comrades this historically has been one of the most competitive ultras in the world (Comrades is usually most competitive). You get more sub 2:10 marathon types because the 55km distance correlates more to marathon speed (despite the net uphill and rolling hills on the course).
Zach has for sure done some ultras (he won the US 50km champs this year) and I remember running with him at North Face 50-miler in SF several years back...guy has really mixed it up and trained and raced a lot with a busy work schedule (in MI winters no less!).
I also believe the world 50km road record of 2:43:48 was set as an "en route" split during this 2 Oceans Ultra race (which is crazy because it is slightly uphill)....guys come through the first marathon split in like 2:16-2:18 and then hit the hills for the last 8-9 miles or so...
update: As I thought (had to confirm). Devon Yanko has been 3rd at Two Oceans before (for US Women).
Still a heck of a run from Zach....and for sure top American male finish there in a long time. 20 hours of flying last minute (and working a full time job) for sure were extra challenges for him.
This year was also interesting because fo the race dates Two Oceans was held quite late in the year (usually it is in March). Looking forward to Comrades in 7 weeks!
Thanks Zach for letting us know!
To win and break the record would have been 120000 dollars there were a number of 2:08 Kenyans but as usual they fell apart after the marathon on the hills. The ladies saw the record which has stood for 30 years missed by 45 seconds by Gerda Steyn who is without doubt the biggest talent in road ultra running at the moment, many are talking she will be the first woman to break 6 hours on Comrades up run this year.
Great job Zack ! Ignore the ultra haters here. They are just plain ignorant .
Congrats Zach! I remember you from your South Jeff days. I don't keep up with running too much anymore, but glad to see a fellow section 3 guy doing well.