Sunday, May 3, 2009

We did it! : American Women take 2nd Place at 24 Hour World Challenge!






Photos above:
1)minutes after the start (Jamie is in front-you can see me a bit back w/visor)
2)portion of the course
3)USA's Scott Eppleman running down "crew station alley"
4)me all caught up in the excitment
5)American woman after International UltraRunning Press Conference with our silver medals. (Deb is missing due to travel plans).L to R: Carily, Jen, Jamie and Annette

The 24-Hour World Challenge ended at 10am today, Italy time.
A full life in 24 hours! I will write a report sometime this week, yet for now wanted to share a few photos and results!

France was 1st, USA 2nd and Italy 3rd! (And yes, we worked our butts off to earn this-Yay!!!)

This is the first time the first time the American women have ever earned a spot on the podium in the team competition. It was all very exciting and emotional! It was a tense race for 2nd place between Italian women and American women for hours…yet more on that and more later.

And I had 4 Amazing teammates: Jamie, Deb, Carilyn and Jen and great guys on the Men’s team AND George was there working all night too. Ok. More later!

More info to follow on the World’s men competition!

Bergamo Italy is beautiful! The race fabulously organized and very well executed. An excellent venue for the 230 runners and countless volunteers and staff!

Team USA Women:

Jamie Donaldson: 136.7 miles (4th overall, individual competition)
Annette Bednosky: 129.6 miles (9th overall, individual competition) (not sure of the rest…this is fresh!)
Deb Horn: 128.miles
Carilyn Johnson: 126.7 miles
Jen Van Allen: 109.5 miles

Team USA Men:
Scott Eppelman: 124.9 miles
Phil McCarthy: 122.6 miles
Bob Sweeney: 119.6
Matthew Chaffin: 113.6 miles
Roy Pirrung: 82 miles
Bill Allen: 21 miles

Full results, photos, etc are at the IAU website.

14 comments:

David Ray said...

Congrats!! Awesome running!

Loving the group shot of y'all in the sandals. Showing off the beat-up toes. :)

Sophie Speidel said...

I followed you night and day and saw how strong you were running--you worked your way up the standings as time went on! Congratulations, Annette! I can't wait to read your report. For now, enjoy your time in Italy with George. You deserve it!

xoxo

Rick Gray said...

What an amazing day you had. As I said in your last post, you will Rock Italy and you certainly did that. Not only you, but all of your team ran so amazingly far. And to think that you pretty much decided to go run your 24 hour qualifying run on a whim! Truly amazing. It is now time to relax while you and George enjoy the rest of your trip in beautiful Italy. Rick

Anonymous said...

Nettie-
SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! The USA girls brung it!!!
Carrie

the simple things said...

WAY TO GO ANNETTE!! i know you are so pumped and excited about team usa and your run. hope you and george enjoy the rest of your time in beautiful italy!! mamma gray will be waiting!

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

GO USA !!!!

Congrats Annette and the USA team for Second Place, So sweet!!!! Look forward to the race re-cap!!

Recover Well!

Anonymous said...

As an American Ultra-Running fan, I am so proud of you and Team USA. Great Team effort, way to hang in there and fight for it. I look forward to you report.

As excited as I am for you and Team USA women, I am a little stunned at the Men's results.

raging bull said...

Wow, Annette, awesome work! Everyone in Western NC was pulling for you. Enjoy your stay in Italy.

SteveQ said...

Great job! You and Jen are the only team members I haven't met - I'll have to change that, maybe by making the men's team (guess I can't wait for Roy to retire!)

Looking forward to the full report.

JJ Jessee said...

Holy Smokes. 129+ miles is AMAZING
You've done us proud!
Chill and recover
jjj

Marlin Yoder said...

Great Job Annette! How impressive! Can't wait to hear more about the experience.

Anita A Chauvin~Hurst said...

wow.....Wow...WOW!!!

You awesome, Awesome Woman! I don't even think that I can put a full sentence together to describe what I'm feeling and thinking...

awe, I'm in Awe...........wow ~ Seriously!

Enjoy your time there...but, hurry home, mmmmm'K??? You are Greatly missed! ;)

PS. Let's put the grill to some good use as soon as You and George are up to it!

annette bednosky said...

Thank you for the wonderful congrats and good vibes! Speaking for Jamie,Deb, Carolyn, Jen and myself-we were (are) psyched! It really was a team effort even if only 3 of us could score...
The men's team had all sorts of unexpected and unwanted issues. Twisted hips, chewed up, blistered feet and emergence of reoccuring injuries. The guys had tough times with tough outcomes, yet despite their huge dissapointment, they were fabulously supportive and celebratory about the achievement of the women-and I value and respect that very, very much!

Anne Riddle Lundblad said...

Fantastic job, Annette! A top 10 world performance is something to be very proud of. And we in WNC are very proud of you as well! Have a great vacation, relax and savor this moment.