Utah runners embrace tests of strength and endurance

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    By Bremen Leak

    While the Wasatch 100-mile Endurance Run celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend, registration for another race, the Wasatch Back Relay, is about to kick off.

    Home to Utah”s longest foot race, the Wasatch range draws hundreds of competitors each year, a rare body as colorful and changing as the area”s autumn leaves. Into the mountains they go, over peaks and passes, through storms and starlight. Boundless and bold, Wasatch runners have proven that they are as remarkable as the mountains themselves.

    “We had some real fine runners this year,” said Wasatch 100 race director John Grobben, of the athletes who competed Sept. 11-12 in the 100-mile race from Layton to Midway. “There”s a lot of tough people, and good people. It”s really a treat to work with them.”

    Friends and family members rang cowbells and cheered as exhausted, mud-splattered competitors crossed the finish line Sunday at the Homestead resort in Midway. Last year, of 230 runners, 130 finished. This year the odds increased, but not by much; 131 runners crossed the tape.

    BYU student Todd Bonner, 25, first competed in the race two years ago. A senior from Midway, majoring in mechanical engineering, Bonner said he did it for the challenge.

    “It”s trying to test yourself and see what you can do,” he said. “I”m pretty competitive, especially with myself.”

    Bonner, who has run the Boston marathon-a feat in itself, had good reason to repeat the grueling gig. Two years ago, he lost his way at mile 93-just seven miles from the finish-and went home head in hand.

    “I have to finish,” Bonner said before the start of this year”s race. “Now it”s a revenge type of thing.”

    Outfitted with hydration packs and energy gels, runners began at 5 a.m. Saturday and ran through the day and night, refueling at aid stations every 10 miles. Sustained by soup and other quick meals, Bonner and others sacrificed sleep to reach the resort by 5 p.m. Sunday, the official cutoff time for the finish.

    Race officials called this year the hottest in the event”s history, despite a cool, light rain that freshened Midway”s mountain air late Sunday. The heat took its toll on Bonner, who dropped out at mile 75 near Brighton early that morning.

    “I couldn”t keep anything down,” Bonner said in disappointment. “Eventually, I was puking up blood.”

    Bonner”s name was posted with more than 90 others on a computer printout of dropouts and their ailments: pulmonary edema, heat nausea, a blown calf. The list went on. Even finishers suffered grape-sized blisters and dehydration, but the smiles on their faces were radiant.

    “I like the ultra[marathon]s; I like the trails, but anything over 50 miles is crazy!” said Jeffrie Parker, 55, a newcomer to the distance event. Beating the cutoff by about an hour, Parker earned a coveted prize. “I get a belt buckle of a badger for this!” he said.

    A truckload of trophies awaited finishers in Midway. Instead of medals, finishers earned solid brass belt buckles; the brass Badger Heart belt buckle for finishing under 36 hours; the Spirit of the Wasatch buckle with inlaid turquoise for a sub-30-hour finish, and the prestigious Crimson Cheetah buckle with inlaid coral for the elite 24-hour-or-less finishers.

    Karl Meltzer, recipient of the Golden Skull, won the race in just over 20 hours.

    Like the runners themselves, the brilliant leaves will soon retreat for a season. Spring will bring new life to the Wasatch range, but the old runners will likely return.

    “It”s a selfish sport,” said top-ten finisher Ken Jensen of Salt Lake City, thanking his family and friends for always being there, even when his long training runs kept him away. “Wasatch has a lot of great people in it,” he said.

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