24-Hour World Competitors Announced

The competitors in the 24-Hour World Challenge have just been posted on the website of the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU). The race is getting more real as I can now focus on who will be running and what the competition will be like.

This year, 65 women from 18 countries are on the list, which is 10 more women than last year. It is good to see the sport growing on the women's side. Also, in addition to more individuals competing, more country teams are also entered for women. This year 14 women's teams are represented compared to 11 teams in 2008. The countries bringing women's teams this year are: Austria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Sweden and United States.

I also noticed that there are 7 women who are older than me. So I have no excuses whining about being the "old lady" on the team :)

In 2008 at the World Challenge in Korea, the French women blew out the field, followed by Japan. Looks like this year Japan is only sending 2 women - since 3 individuals are necessary to compete for team placement, Japan will not eligible for team medals.

Last year in Seoul, the third team spot was hotly contested between Germany and the U.S. We were neck and neck and actually ahead until the last few hours of the race. The Germans, however, pulled ahead eventually and ended up with 7.728 kilometers or 4.8 miles more miles than us.

We have five women on the U.S. team this year, with Jamie Donaldson and Carilyn Johnson returning. New on the team -- and both incredibly strong runners -- are Annette Bednosky and Jen Van Allen. It will be interesting and exciting to see how the race shapes up between the women in Italy. I think the U.S. women will be a force to be reckoned with and I am proud to be on a team with such talented runners.