JSonline reportsSaturday morning, Milwaukee-area ultra runner Mary Gorski will settle into a front-row seat and watch some of the best athletes in the world compete for a U.S national championship.
The Mad City 100K, 10 laps around Madison's Lake Wingra, offers a rare opportunity for an athlete like Gorski. It's something akin to a weekend duffer playing in a twosome with Steve Stricker or a rec league round-baller taking the court with LeBron James.
Gorski figures to be somewhere in the middle of the pack of runners competing in the USA 100K national championship, but from that spot she'll see up close elite runners performing the incredible feat of averaging a 6:30 mile for 62 miles.
"Any fan of distance running would love to be a part of Mad City -- as a runner, spectator or volunteer," Gorski wrote in anticipation of the race.
The fourth edition of the 100K race, the favored distance for road ultras, serves as an automatic qualifier to the USA 100K World Championship Team and has drawn its best field yet.
Greg Crowther of Seattle, who won the race in 2007 and has been a member of 2005, 2007 and 2009, will be one of the favorites among the men.
Chad Ricklefs, of Colorado, ran some of the top 100K times in the country in 2009 and should be in the hunt over the final laps.
Chikara Omine of California will make his first appearance in Madison with a strong list of bonafides, including five ultramarathon victories in 2009.
Beverly Anderson-Abbs, another California runner, bested that with six first-place finishes. She will compete in the 50K race on Saturday.
Meghan Arbogast of Oregon, who posted the third best time in the country over 100K in '09, will have a great shot to add a national championship to her accomplishments. Annette Bednosky, a specialist in 24-hour races, will provide competition in a stacked women's field.
Race director Tim Yanacheck put his own perspective on the significance of a championship race in his home town.
"It's like the Olympic trials in that it's a one-time shot to make the U.S. Team," he said. "It is a national championship. There's only one national pole vault champ, and one 10K champ and one mile champ.
"There's some glory and pride involved."
In addition to the 100K national championship, the Mad City race offers a 50K and a relay, with teams of two to five runners covering five laps.
The race starts at the shelter in Henry Vilas Park. The course consists of the 10K loop around Lake Wingra.
Michael Wardian of Virginia set the men's course record, 6 hours, 56 minutes, 57 seconds, in 2008. Carolyn Smith, the Marquette University health director, set the women's record that same year: 8 hours, 25 minutes, 26 seconds.
Yanacheck expects the winner will hit the finish line in just under seven hours on Saturday.
Gorski will be a few hours behind, thrilled to be part of the action.
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