Across The Years Ultra Event Review
New Years Eve was spent in a hotel in Peoria Arizona. We traveled out west so Dean could mark off Arizona in our quest for a marathon in all 50 states. He was injured when we went to the Phoenix Marathon in 2023.
This race was the “Across the Years” event. The marathon was the shortest option. However, his watch measured 27.16 miles when he crossed the line after 19 laps. This event is for those who like to go long. There were time-based races including, 6-days, 72 hours, 48 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours, and 6 hours. Distance races included 200 miles, 100 miles, 100K, and the marathon. And then there was the “Last Man Standing”. This consisted of starting a new lap on the 1.42 mile loop every 20 minutes.
The results were impressive. But we will focus on the race.
The course this year was at the Peoria Sports Complex home to the Mariners and Padres training camps. Loops weaved around the ball parks. The surfaces included concrete, blacktop, dirt, and gravel. The website encourages wearing gaiters, but most people weren’t, and he didn’t either. He was very dirty afterwards but had no issues with things getting in his shoes.
There were sharp curves and one incline around a ball field that led to a ramp back down to ground level.
Many tents, RVs, and chairs were along the course. They also had a warming/therapy room near the start/finish and a tent with a buffet.
In early January, the weather was cool at night and in the morning, but it warmed up quickly. Dean had Paula hand him water to pour on his head starting around 10:30 in the morning.
At the end of each lap, a large display showed who just crossed the timing mat, what lap they had finished and how far they had run. (As you can imagine as the hours and days past, there was a lot more walking than running. But still so impressive.). The left column tracked the most recent participants who were in fixed distance races. The right column tracked the most recent participants in the fixed time events.
The distance displayed was incorrect, but the lap count was spot on.
For a course like this with for some athletes hundreds of laps, it’s great to have the bib on the back so as passing occurs, a name can be seen.
Dean spoke with two athletes during the race. James Bennett came from the UK for this event. He ran the 100-mile race on Saturday the 28th in 22 hours. He came up behind Dean during the marathon on Wednesday the 1st and Dean went with him. They sped up to 7:30 pace. Dean struck up a conversation hoping to have company for the rest of the marathon. He learned that James was doing the 100 miler again because he wasn’t pleased with how he did on Saturday. After a few miles at 7:39, Dean told him that he was easing off the pace. James went on. Dean later caught him and didn’t see him again until after showering and returning to the race. James was smiling as he passed the 59-mile mark. He stopped to ask how I did and then continued on. He finished in 19 hours this time to complete his 94th 100-mile race.
Dean came up behind Wesley Smith multiple times throughout his marathon and cheered for him as he went by because his bib was on his back. Dean asked a few times how many miles he had accumulated. It wasn’t until after Dean finished that he learned Wesley was in the Last Man Standing event. Three men and a lady remained.
On Thursday morning Wesley was the last man standing as the others couldn’t continue. The last person to drop was just feet away from the start/finish when the 20-minute timer expired.
Overall, this was a fun event and well organized. Dean would not recommend racing a marathon here because of the crowd and extra mileage. But he may have to come back for one of the ultramarathon events. The prize for finishing was a nice beer mug.
PS, we heard from two people that if you accumulate 1,000 miles at this race over the years, you earn a jacket.
