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The BARC of Boston is a 100K Road Race to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund to help fight for a cure in the war against cancer in children. The race consists of 10, 10-kilometer loops, along the bike path on the Esplanade. 

12:15PM EST
American Factoid
Many Americans, while very familiar with much of the American elite field in today's race, may not be aware that there is a newcomer to the ultra distances who chose to make his ultra debut in this race against a renowned international field. That man, Dave Dunham, currently holds third place.  Unknown to the ultrarunning community, Dunham is better known as one of the top US mountain trail runners! He is a 2:19 marathoner who has been a mainstay of the US Mountainrunning team for the last half-decade. His most notable performance is a recent win at the Mt. Washington road race.

Race Update
We are now entering the final two hours of the race with Shaun Meiklejohn still leading for the men. Berces and Shatayeva continue to battle at the front of the women's field, but Berces has looked very strong over the last hour and is starting to pull away.

In the men's race, the real story is Dave Dunham who continues to look strong and fresh, and is just blistering around the 10km course.  He is running his 10km splits about 2 minutes faster than the rest of the field and promises to be a factor in the final 30km.  He has just recently pulled into third position, overtaking Tiupin who is now running 4th.

Meiklejohn has begun to slow, and has is running a good 3 minutes off his average for the event. 

Defending champion Jim Garcia is struggling after looking strong for the first half, and is falling back quite quickly at this time.  Kharitonov is still in the race after having taken a 13 minute break for medical attention, but has not reached 60km yet.  Charl Mattheus has dropped out after completing 60km.

For the American women, Devine has taken a several minute lead over Drach and McCurin, who are now running within seconds of each other.  Holly Neault-Zinzow follows in sixth, an additional few minutes back.

Men at 70km:
4:36:10 Meiklejohn 
4:38:48 Ganiev 
4:39:46 Dunham
4:40:11 Tiupin
4:47:11 Molnar
Garcia
Zealand

Women at 60km:
4:35:30 Berces
4:36:30 Shatyayeva
Devine 
Drach & McCurtin 
Neault

12:25PM EST
5:04:10 into the race: Dave Dunham has taken the Lead! Just past 75km when Mikeljohn stopped to walk. The top three men are now all within 50 meters of each other.

Dunham
Meiklejohn
Ganiev
Tiupin is a minute back

... more to follow ...

12:35PM EST
At 5:04:10 into the race, and just before the 76km mark on the course, the American ultrarunning rookie Dave Dunham took the lead from the faltering South African, Shaun Meiklejohn, to become the person to beat during the last 25km of the race.  Shortly after passing the 75km aid station, Meiklejohn paused to walk, thus showing his vulnerability during the latter stages of the 100km distance and failing to overcome the troubles which have plagued him during his performances at the World Championships.

At close to the same time, Oleg Kharitonov limped into the 60km aid station and signaled that he was finished for the day, giving into his sore left hamstring.

12:50PM EST
Who is Edit Berces?
Edit Berces first appeared on the world ultrarunning stage in October 1997. Her first ultra was the famous Vienna to Budapest 5 Day stage race. She won the first three stages which gave her a big enough lead to stave off a later strong challenge by the experienced German runner, Anke Drescher.  Also that year she won another stage race at Lake Ferto, over two days, with stages of 56km and 50km.

She established herself as a major 100km runner the following year (1998). She ran 7:26:47 to win the Hungarian national championships at Encs in May.  To prove that this breakthrough was not just a one off, she subsequently ran and won the Winschoten 100km in September in the Netherlands, recording 7:45:07.

Injury and illness have dogged her since then. She ran a solid race in the Chavagnes World 100km Challenge in France in May 1999, breaking eight hours with 7:59:19 in 11th place, just behind top American Daniele Cherniak. A month later she ran 8:01 for second place in the Torhout “Night of Flanders” race in Belgium, beating the 1997 European champion, Svetlana Savoskina.

After this race,  injury again restricted her racing and training but she came back to run a steady race and win last year's inaugural Chancellor Challenge in 8:01:02. 

The new millennium saw Edit Berces emerge as one of the world's leading women 100km runners. She ran 7:53:12 to win the European title at Belves, France, in April, and then improved slightly to 7:52:16 to win the Torhout race in June.  She then capped her championship season in spectacular fashion by taking the World title with 7:25:21, a new personal best.  She is no stranger to the United States, having won a couple of marathons here in 1996.

Race Update
Being caught appears to have brought Meiklejohn back to life, but he still appears to be struggling slightly. Ganiev looks strong and is stalking Meiklejohn from behind, only a few seconds back.  On this last lap, Berces has taken a commanding lead in the women's race, increasing her lead to close to 4 minutes over the last 10km.

Men at 80km:
5:20:53 Dunham
5:22:30 Meikeljohn
5:22:33 Ganiev
5:26:35 Tiupin

Women at 70km:
5:22:35 Berces
5:26:30 Shatyayeva

1:15PM EST
Who is Farid Ganiev?
Farid Ganiev seems to have emerged on the international scene when he was third in the Russian 100km championships last year. The 35 year old Russian has made a major impact on the world scene this year, winning the European title in 6:33:36 in Belves, and then improving to 6:33:19 at Torhout in June.  At Winschoten at the World 100km, he failed to maintain his earlier form, slowing to 6:38:57. 

Race Update
At 85km, Dunham continues to lead the race, now over second place Ganiev, by close to three minutes.  The real question now concerns Dunham's lack of experience at this distance and whether or not he'll be able to gut out the final 15km.  Ganiev is running strong and confident, and is running with much more confidence than Dunham at this point in the race.  Meiklejohn has fallen into third place, but continues at this time to have a comfortable lead over fourth place Tiupin.

Men at 80km:
5:20:53 Dunham
5:22:30 Meikeljohn
5:22:33 Ganiev
5:26:35 Tiupin
5:36:53 Garcia
5:40:53 Molnar

In the women's race, Berces and Shatyayeva continue comfortably ahead of the women's field. Devine, the California trail runner, has taken sole posession of third for the women and appears to be running herself onto the 2001 USA National team, reminiscent of Luann Park last year.  The race for 4th and 5th remains tight, but McCurtin looks much stronger than Nancy Drach and has finally pulled away for a slight advantage at 70km.

Women at 70km:
5:22:35 Berces
5:26:30 Shatyayeva
5:42:06 Devine 
5:56:40 McCurtin
5:57:05 Drach
Neault-Zinzow

1:35PM EST
Who is Mihaly Molnar?
Mihaly Molnar seems to have first come on the ultra scene in 1997 when he won the low key Yugoslavian 100km in Palics in 6:59:34. However it was in the multiday race from Vienna to Budapest in October that year that he showed his potential finishing second in 24:43:38, in the 96km/120km/60km/21km = 357km/221 mile race.

He won the Hungarian Dunamenti Szupermarathon in March 1998, and then in May he finished second in the Hungarian 100km National Championships at Encs in 6:54:03.  He improved his marathon best to 2:25:29, winning the Szombathely Marathon. Then, in September, he was reported as running 6:28:34 at Palics on an uncertified course, beating Janos Bogar, the Hungarian No.1 at 100km.  His good form continued through the autumn of 1998, recording a marathon in 2:26:15 in Budapest in October, and then running 3:15 for a 50km race, again in Budapest, in November.

He ran in the Madrid 100km in March of 1999, and recorded a time of 7:20 on the 10km loop course, to finish fifth. Later in the year he finished third in 3:13 in the Szombathely 50km.

He was not selected for the Hungarian team for the World 100km this year, but ran 143.296km/89 miles to win a 12 hour race at Szombathely in August. His 12 hour performances indicate Mihaly Molnar has considerable potential at the 100km. 

Race Update
A thick cloud cover has moved into the area and the wind has picked up again, after subsiding for much of the morning.  It is once again extremely cold and windy, and this could be a factor as we move into the final stages of the event!

Men at 90km:
6:03:25 Dunham
6:07:00 Ganiev
6:10:35 Meiklejohn
6:14:01 Tiupin

Women at 80km:
6:10:50 Berces
6:16:40 Shatyayeva
Devine 
McCurtin
Drach

1:50PM EST
Who is Igor Tyupin?
Igor Tyupin, perhaps the least well known of the top Russian 100km runners, grew up in the small town of Belogorsk in Siberia, situated at about 800m above sea level. Later, he moved to Omsk, which is also in Siberia, where he now works as a fireman. As a virtual unknown, his second place in the 1998 World 100km in Shimanto, Japan was a major surprise to most observers. Tyupin has said that he decided to run ultras when he felt he had reached his limit at the marathon in running his personal best of 2:20:18 for the distance.

Tyupin was dropped from the Russian team at the last minute at the Shimanto World 100km Challenge in Japan.  This drove the tough Siberian runner to new heights.  In an extremely competitive Russian battle at the front of the Shimanto race, Tyupin came through into second place, in 6:34:10, ahead of national team members, Ravil Kashapov and Antoly Korepanov. Only the superb 6:30:06 performance of Grigoriy Murzin on the mountainous course, which  has to be worth at least 6:12 on a flat course, denied Tyupin the gold medal and the title of world champion. 

The strong Tyupin was not selected for the 1999 World 100km at Chavagnes in France, but showed he was in good form this year with second place in the largest trail race in the world, the highly competitive 78Km Swiss Alpine Marathon at Davos, where he ran 6:02:45 for second place on his debut in the event.  He had yet to show much form this year, when he lined up for the World 100km in Winschoten in September, but being based in Siberia, news of his performances does not always filter through. He finished 8th in Winschoten, in 6:43:40. 

Race Update
As the race for the finish concludes, we want you to know that we will continue to provide updates throughout the afternoon as the remaining runners finish.  Even though we have had to limit our coverage to the top few places (logistics and limits of the course and manpower prevent us from providing en-route results for all runners), we will continue to update the pages and the results. 

At 95km, Dunham's lead is almost 5 minutes, and continues to run with a spring in his step.

Men at 90km:
6:03:25 Dunham
6:07:00 Ganiev
6:10:35 Meiklejohn
6:14:01 Tiupin

Women at 80km:
6:10:50 Berces
6:16:40 Shatyayeva
6:33:20 Devine 
McCurtin
Drach

2:02PM EST
Men's winner: Dave Dunham, USA, 6:46:39. Course record by about 9 minutes.

Men at 80km:
5:20:53 Dunham
5:22:30 Meiklejohn
5:22:33 Ganiev
5:26:35 Tiupin
5:36:53 Garcia
5:40:53 Molnar
5:48:10 Godale
6:00:57 Mikel
6:01:03 Vertiz Pani
6:01:12 Ricklefs
6:02:23 Torrence

Men at 90km:
6:03:25 Dunham
6:07:00 Ganiev
6:10:35 Meiklejohn
6:14:01 Tiupin
6:24:53 Garcia
6:31:55 Molnar
6:37:50 Godale

Women at 80km:
6:10:50 Berces
6:16:40 Shatyayeva
6:33:20 Devine 
McCurtin
Drach

2:10PM EST
6:53:48 Farit Ganiev, RUSSIA

2:15PM EST
7:00:01 Shaun Meiklejohn, SOUTH AFRICA

Women at 90km:
6:59:32 Berces 

2:30PM EST
Since many Americans, while very familiar with much of the American elite field in today's race, don't know Dave Dunham, I've reprinted here what I said earlier in the day. "Unknown to the ultrarunning community, Dunham is better known as one of the top US mountain trail runners! He is a 2:19 marathoner who has been a mainstay of the US Mountainrunning team for the last half-decade. His most notable performance is a recent win at the Mt. Washington road race."

Men at 100km:
6:46:39 Dunham, 1st
6:53:48 Ganiev, 2nd
7:00:01 Meiklejohn, 3rd
7:02:47 Tiupin, 4th
7:11:41 Garcia, 5th

Men at 90km:
6:03:25 Dunham
6:07:00 Ganiev
6:10:35 Meiklejohn
6:14:01 Tiupin
6:24:53 Garcia
6:31:55 Molnar
6:37:50 Godale
6:49:03 Vertiz Pani
6:49:50 Torrence
6:52:48 Ricklefs
6:53:45 Mikel

Women at 90km:
6:59:32 Berces
7:08:?? Shatyayeva

Women at 80km:
6:10:50 Berces
6:16:40 Shatyayeva
6:33:20 Devine 
6:54:09 Drach
6:54:56 McCurtin
6:59:56 Zinzow

2:40PM EST
As I receive results from the race site, I'm going to load them onto their own page.  You will be able to access the results by following this link.

I'll continue to update the women's race, and make general comments, here. 

In the men's race, we've just had our 6th finisher: 7:18:07 Mihaly Molnar, from Hungary

2:50PM EST
To give everyone an indication of what the weather is like in Boston this afternoon, I asked Dan Brannen (who is providing the updates to me) what the weather was like.  It's sunny and very windy, with temperatures not much higher than about 50F/10C degrees.  It feels much colder because there is still a brisk wind coming off the river, forcing the runners to run directly into the wind for about 2 miles.

Our seventh place men's finisher is Mark Godale, of Aurora, OH, finishing with a time of 7:26:16.

On the women's side of the race, we currently have only three women over the 90km mark.  Berces and Shatyayeva will almost certainly finish 1-2 overall, followed by American Jennifer Devine in 3rd.  Devine's 90km time makes her likely 100km finish time the second best American time for the year, second only to Deb Bollig's time of 8:08:00 at the World Championships last month.

Women at 90km:
6:59:32 Berces 
7:08:?? Shatyayeva
7:26:58 Devine

3:00PM EST
Updated men's results on the finisher's page!

3:06PM EST
We now have our first women's finisher!

Women's Winner: EDIT BERCES from HUNGARY in 7:50:51!

Women at 90km:
6:59:32 Berces 
7:08:?? Shatyayeva
7:26:58 Devine
7:50:35 McCurtin
7:51:20 Drach

3:20PM EST
The real story in this women's race has not been the battle for the gold or the silver places; it started out early as a battle among the American women for the bronze, and has recently been the ongoing battle for 4th place overall.  Nancy Drach continues to hunt Ellen McCurtin over the last revolution of the course, but it hasn't been that way for the entire afternoon.

Women's 2nd Place: Valentina Shatyayeva, RUSSIA: 7:58:49

McCurtin trailed Drach after 80km, but led after 70km.  Let's look at their battle over the last 30km (before this they were running together as a pack):

70km:
5:56:40 McCurtin
5:57:05 Drach

80km:
6:54:09 Drach
6:54:56 McCurtin

90km:
7:50:35 McCurtin
7:51:20 Drach

3:40PM EST
Women's 3rd Place: Jennifer Devine, USA: 8:22:58

Now that the top three women have finished, the final battle for 4th & 5th can take center stage!  Who will emerge as the stronger woman?  Nancy Drach?  Ellen McCurtin??

We only have another 15-20 minutes to go to find out!!!

4:25PM EST
This is the moment that we've all been waiting for!

Women's 4th: 8:47:43 Ellen McCurtin
Women's 5th: 8:53:16 Nancy Drach
Women's 6th: 8:58:07 Holly Neault-Zinzow

Thank you ladies, for an exciting finish!

At this time, we are going to take a break from the remaining coverage so that we can shuttle some of the top finishers back to their hotel.  It's a cold afternoon and they are getting tired.  We will follow up on the remaining finishers in a couple of hours -- and let you all know when Henri Girault, from France, finishes his 438th 100km run.