Brogan Austin and Sarah Morrison win the USATF 100 km titles at Mad City
Austin ran 6:34:01 on the Lake Wingra loops in Madison; Morrison took nine minutes off Camille Herron's course record with 7:17:01 in her first 100 km.
Photograph: Brogan Austin on the podium after winning the 2018 California International Marathon and USA Marathon Championships, by Nabqhtxs, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe USATF 100 km Road Championships were run at the Mad City Ultras in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday: ten laps of a 10 km loop around Lake Wingra in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, starting at 6:30 in the morning in clear, cold, calm air after a forecast of rain.
Brogan Austin, the 2018 US marathon champion, won in 6:34:01, the second-fastest time the course has seen. Geoff Burns's 2016 course record of 6:30 stood. Austin was third early, moved past Phil Young just after 50 km with seven seconds between them, and had a clear lead by 60 km. Young was second in 6:45:23, Anthony Fagundes third in 6:47:54 and Garrett Eklof of Madison fourth in 6:49:11; the first five men broke seven hours.
Sarah Morrison of Philadelphia won the women's title in 7:17:01, a course record by more than nine minutes over the mark Camille Herron set in 2015. It was Morrison's first 100 km. She pushed on after 50 km when she saw the record was there. Allison Mercer was second in 7:30:52 and Amber Arvidson third in 8:00:53. Only four women started.
The first two men and women earn automatic places on the US team for the IAU 100 km World Championships in Spain in September.
A 100 km road race is ten identical laps and no scenery to hide in. Morrison broke a decade-old record on her first try at the distance. That is the whole story.
Sources: iRunFar; Trail Runner.
