Midnight Madness 50 Mile – 2010 Race Results

Posted by David Hanenburg on 07 Jul 2010 at 10:55 am | Tagged as: race news

100 degree daytime highs and 80% humidity doesn’t stop (may slow us down a bit) the TALON region from enjoying ultra endurance sports during the summer months. Instead of butting up against nature, we try and work with her and take our endorphin desires to the nighttime hours.

Over the weekend, the TATUR’s Midnight Madness 50 miler provided 178 nocturnal ultra athletes hours of pavement bliss on the River Parks trail system in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Weather conditions included a bit of refreshing and blister producing rain and temps in the 70s.

Course

The course consists of a counter clockwise 10.3 mile loop along the shores of the Arkansas River. The event over delivers as you enjoy five loops for a total of 51.5 miles.

The route is mostly flat but does provide a couple opportunities to work a few different muscles with a climb at around mile five and a comfy downhill starting at mile six.

A few photos of the area. – Give a basic idea of what the course will be like.
Course Map

Results

50+ miles is a heck of a long ways. 129 runners were willing and able to complete the entire distance. Simply starting – Amazing!

The male race saw the top three all finish under eight hours. Stephen Richard had a bit more spunk at the front to win with a time of 7:20:11 (avg 8:33 min/mile). Eighteen minutes later Ryan Loehding finished with a strong second place showing in 7:38:12 (avg 8:54 min/mile).

Top 5 male:

Stephen Richard (TX) – 7:20:11
Ryan Loehding (TX) – 7:38:12
Clark McLemore (MO) – 7:46:36
Stan Berry (OK) – 8:11:45
Tony Clark (KS) – 8:52:49

The female race had two ultrarunners finish under 8:30. Christine Tokarz was able to run an average of 15 seconds per mile faster than the next chaser, Katie Kramer. Chris crossed the finish line in 8:12:15 (avg 9:34 min/mile) and fifth overall. Katie kept it going to finish a strong second place in 8:25:17 (avg 9:49 min/mile) and sixth overall.

Top 5 female:

Christine Tokarz (TX) – 8:12:15 (*5th OA*)
Katie Kramer (OK) – 8:25:17 (*6th OA*)
Lisa Butler (OK) – 9:02:52 (*9th OA*)
Lori Davis (OK) – 9:07:37
Jacqueline Wiese (OK) – 9:47:28

Complete Results

The Tough-as-Nails Award

nails1 The final finishers of an ultra distance event are some of the toughest athletes that are willing to stick with it to the best of their current ability and cross that darn finish line.

The Tough-as-Nails award recipient:

Vicky Grisham persevered through the night and morning hours, to finish the 51.5 mile journey in 13:58:03.

Video and Race Reports

Local Sports reporter, Jason Shackelford, put together this cool video summary of the event.

(If you can’t see the video, check out the event website.)

“My time was a little slower than I thought, but I finished. My back has been out of whack ever since, but I finished. My feet sustained the worst blisters I have ever had, but I finished.” - TZ @ …miles to go before I sleep…

If anyone else has a race report or experience to share, feel free to mention in the comments link below.

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(Photo: Courtesy of robertdx.)

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