4 years - it was a good run

Last weekend Ultraman Canada was held in and around the Penticton area. I always knew my record of just over twenty-three hours would be broken, just as I knew my run record for the third day would fall eventually (which it did last year). Congratulations to Kevin Cutjar of Penticton who now owns the record in a time of 21:49. Kevin has also won Ultraman Hawaii and someone told me he won Ironman Canada back in the '90s some time. At 44 this guy is in pretty okay shape I would say. The number two finisher for the men, Mike LeRoux, finished in 22:36 so he actually beat my time too!
Now that UMC is a qualifier for UMH, you're going to see better and better talent showing up in Penticton to do this event. And, we just found out that there will be an Ultraman UK in September 2011 which our friend, British endurance superstar Ian Mayhew, signed up for. I see another crewing adventure in my future.
Here is the final write up of this year's race:

Ultraman Canada Day 3 Final Race Report
The 10th Ultraman Canada event hosted the largest field ever and brought a higher caliber of athletes to the
event. This year’s field also included the highest number of female athletes ever in an Ultraman event and was a
hotly contested event. The final standings of Day 2 provided racers and staff with lots of suspense going into
today’s 84.4kmdouble marathon. Those involved were rewarded with tremendous performances from the 35
athletes that lined up at the start. The athletes were rewarded with near perfect weather conditions for the
run.
In the men’s division, the excitement stared when Penticton’s Kevin Cutjar , the leader going into the run, set
off in the front and never looked back. He ran a spectacularly consistent pace throughout the entire course to
post a time of 6:37:41 for a total overall time of 21:49:45. Cutjar broke the previous run course record by over 6
seconds set last year by Benat Zubillaga and demolished the previous course record by 1:10:50, set in 2006 by
Darin Bentley. Cutjar becomes the only person to have won both the Ultraman World Championships in Hawaii
(1995) and Ultraman Canada.
Mike LeRoux , of Australia, maintained his second place overall standing by running a 7:17:31 double marathon
for a 3 day total time of 22:36:54, also beating the previous overall record time and claiming the second fastest
time overall. Rounding out the top three on the men’s side wasMike Coughlin of Sudbury, ON who started the
day in same position. Coughlin posted a negative split on the run completing it in 7:36:41 for an overall total
time of 23:33:03. His time was good enough for the fourth fastest overall time at Ultraman Canada.
The incredibly competitive women’s field started the day with only 13 seconds separating the first and second
place positions. Tracey McQuair of Penticton, BC, was leading Australia’s Alice Clark at the start and blazed
herself to the overall win in the women’s division by posting an 8:37:46 run for an overall time of 26:08:24.
McQuair’s time was quick enough to claim the second fastest run and overall times ever. Kellie Smirnoff, of
Jacksonville Beach, FL posted the second fastest run with an 8:40:18 which moved her into fifth place in the
overall women’s standings and give her the third fastest women’s run time ever. Consuela Lively ofWinter Park,
FL,posted the day’s third fastest women’s time with a 9:07:28 to finish third place overall. Andi Ramer came
back strong from issues on the bike yesterday to post a 9:25:02 run which boosted her into second place overall
with a total time of 28:09:49. Alice Clark who had dominated the bike course for the last two days completed
the course in 11:45:28 for an overall time of 29:16:19 and fourth placing in the women’s race.
Overall, there were 32 official finishers, 18 men and 14 women that wrapped up the three day adventure
through the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. Seven athletes were unable to complete the event due to
various medical, nutritional issues and time cutoffs.
Ultraman Canada 2011 will take place on July 30-August 1, 2011.

"A higher caliber of athletes"? "Demolished the old record"? Ouch. I've never been demolished before.