Luverne’s David Duffy hosted an “ultra” running event Saturday, Oct. 16, that challenged athletes to complete 100 miles in one day.
The event, Duff Dog Backyard Ultra, was staged in the Blue Mounds State Park Saturday, Oct. 16, and it attracted seven hardy competitors.
“We are getting very good reviews in the ultra world.” Duffy said after the event. “Blue Mounds is the perfect venue.”
The official start time was 9:02 a.m. and it ended at 2:52 a.m. Oct. 17, when only one runner remained in the race.
Seven runners started, but none of them reached the 100-mile challenge.
Tim Fryer, 42, of Hendricks ran 75 miles, completing 18 loops of the 4.1667-mile trail in under an hour per loop.
The way the competition is staged, runners have one hour to complete the loop. If they finish in time, they can rest until the start of the next hour. If they do not finish the loop in an hour, they are eliminated.
Duffy staged Saturday’s event to coincide with race founder Gary Cantrell’s world championship “backyard ultra” over the weekend.
The event originated 10 years ago in Cantrell’s backyard in Tennessee. The backyard loop was 4.1667 miles and if they ran each loop in under an hour, they’d total 100 miles in 24 hours.
In Duffy’s version of the “backyard ultra,” Fryer was the only remaining runner after the others eventually were eliminated when they didn’t make the one-hour time limit on a 4.1667-mile loop.
Kennedy Hoffman, 24, Luverne, completed one loop (4.1667 miles) in 57.33.
Berty Stearns, 35, Luverne, completed one loop in 46.28.
Paula Gonnerman, 41, Luverne, completed three loops for 12.5 total miles.
Darrin Pater, 55, Adrian, completed seven loops for 29.167 total miles.
Andrew Campbell, 34, Wadena, completed nine loops for 37.494 total miles.
Eva Gut, 38, Sioux Falls, completed 17 loops and started the 18th loop but didn’t finish. She ran 70.839 total miles.
Duffy said after the first several runners were eliminated, the only ones remaining at the park for the final eight hours with him were volunteer Audrey Claussen and the two hold-out runners, Fryer and Gut.
“These two were dialed in. No support people, no fans, no one,” Duffy said. “They continued striving to find greatness in themselves — self motivation.”
He said Gut recorded a personal best and her longest run ever.
“I was hoping she would have finished her 18th lap. We all were, even Tim,” Duffy said.
“That would have made Tim have to start and finish No. 19. This would have tied his backyard record.”
He said all the ultra runners checked in Saturday with four to seven pairs of shoes, one or two watches, a couple of headlamps with extra batteries, two to three backpacks of clothes and family-size coolers with food and beverages.
Local hikers complete Grand Canyon Rim2Rim
Duffy also shared information from a trip to the Grand Canyon where he and Audrey Arends-Claussen hiked the Rim2Rim trail and the Rim2Rim2Rim trail Oct. 23.
Claussen, 60, Magnolia, completed her first Rim2Rim of the Grand Canyon on Saturday, Oct. 23.
She started on the North Rim and hiked down North Kaibab Trail to the bottom and back up Bright Angel Trail to the top. It was about 17 miles down and 10 miles up and took her 13 hours and 33 minutes.
Luverne’s Dave completed his first Rim2Rim2Rim over the weekend as well. It was 10 miles up, 17 miles down and 10 miles back up for total of 37 miles.
He solo hiked south to north, slept a few hours and joined Claussen on her Rim2Rim.
Duffy’s Rim2Rim2Rim took him 9 hours 59 minutes from the South Rim to the North Rim and 13 hours 33 minutes from the North Rim to the South Rim.