LOST 118 Mile Endurance Run

LOST 118 2010

February 27-28, 2010

The Fourth Annual Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail 118 Mile Run

Updated March 9, 2010

Race Report from

TCPalm.com March 1,2010

OKEECHOBEE — Despite cold, rainy and windy conditions, two course records were set Sunday in the fourth annual Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail 118-Mile Endurance Run that began at 6 a.m. Saturday, a counterclockwise circumnavigation of the lake footrace that begins and ends at Okeechobee’s Okie-Tante Campground.

Jamie Donaldson, a 34-year-old middle school math teacher from Littleton, Colo., smashed both the men’s and women’s course records in a winning time of 18 hours, 36 minutes, 15 seconds, a pace that averaged less than nine and a half minutes per mile for the entire distance. Donaldson was recently named to her second Women’s U.S. National 24-Hour team and last year she placed fourth in the world and led the U.S. women to a team silver-medal finish in the World 24-Hour Championships. She’s also a two-time winner and women’s course record-holder of the Badwater 135, a race in Death Valley, Calif., that begins at Badwater, the lowest point in the continental U.S. at 282 feet below sea level, and finishes 135 miles later at the start of the trail to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S.

Chris Petit, 37, of Cummings, Ga., won the men’s race when he finished second in 19:10:05, a men’s course record. Toronto’s Rob Gryfe, 43, finished third in 25:16:13.

The old course record was set in last year’s event by Garth Peterson, 46, of Hinesville, Ga., who finished in 21:52:25. Alissa Springman, 34, of Mercersville, Penn., set the old women’s course record of 24:45:15 in 2009.

Strong breezes brought a cold rainstorm during the early afternoon on Saturday, and the wind strengthened during the late afternoon and into the evening. Coupled with temperatures which dropped into the low 40s, runners were buffeted all night long, and the final quarter of the course turned into the teeth of the wind, further compounding the struggle to finish.

.Sebastian’s Joe Ninke, 40, was the lone local finisher. The former winner (2008) ran 26:41:59 to finish in sixth place. Twenty-eight runners from 14 states and Canada started the race and a record-high 15 runners finished, and two two-person relay teams also ran and finished. Nine out of 16 runners to start the race finished in 2009, five of 11 starters finished the inaugural race in 2007, and five of 15 starters finished in 2008.

The course is run on top of the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee, and begins with 34 miles of rough two-track dirt-and-rock road from Okeechobee around to Moore Haven. From Moore Haven around south through Clewiston, South Bay, Pahokee, Canal Point, Port Mayaca, and back to the finish line, the course is a flat, wide, smooth paved surface ideal for running.

RESULTS OF THE 4TH ANNUAL LOST 118-MILE ENDURANCE RUN HELD FEBRUARY 28, 2010

1. Jamie Donaldson, 35, Littleton Colo., 18:36:15

2. Chris Petit, 37, Cumnings Ga., 19:10:05

3. Rob Gryfe, 43, Toronto, Ontario, 25:16:13

4. Claude Hicks, 49, Fort Worth, Texas 25:56:17

5. Bob Oberkehr, 55, Northvale N.J., 26:25:20

6. Joe Ninke, 40, Sebastian, 26:41:59

7. Shane Sampson, 46, Greenville, Ohio 27:44:00

8. Monica Scholz, 42, Jerseyville, Ontario, 28:11:30

9. Michael Whelan, NA, California 29:35:18

10. John Turner, 51, Burlington, Ontario, 29:50:17

10. Sharon Zelinski, 45, Toronto, Ontario, 29:50:17