2010 Minnesota Voyageur Race Report

Dusty Olson

The 29th running of the Minnesota Voyageur Trail 50 was one to remember.  We had a record number of entrants, the winning time was under 7 hours for the first time in 12 years, and our women’s champion notched her fourth victory - more than any other woman except for Debbie Bennett’s five.  It was also our first year as race director for this classic north woods ultramarathon.

The Minnesota Voyageur Trail 50 has been around since 1982, the year that Gene and Barb Curnow, fixtures in the Duluth area running community, created the event.  In fact, the Voyageur is one of the oldest ultramarathons in the nation.  The Curnows nurtured the race and watched it grow into an event that has a special old school feel and is sort of a rite of passage for upper midwest area ultrarunners.  As new race directors, we didn’t want to change things too much.  After the race, our men’s champion Chris Gardner let us know we were on the right track telling us we updated just enough (website, online registration, new maps) but didn’t change the feel of the event.  That was the best compliment we could have gotten, because that’s exactly what we had hoped to do with this race.  The Curnows started a real good thing and we wanted to honor all of their hard work and dedication to the race by keeping it much like it always has been.

Chris Gardner surfing the powerlines

And what a race it was!  Local running icon Dusty Olson started out fast like last year with a very fit Chris Gardner right behind.  John Storkamp, Chris Lundstrom and Brian Peterson were hot on the leaders heels through mile 11 just before entering the infamous “powerlines” section.  By Skyline at mile 22 the lead had changed and Chris Gardner was now running strong in first.  Dusty was hanging strong in second after emptying his stomach on the ski trails.  John Storkamp and Chris Lundstrom were looking really strong only a minute or so back in 3rd and 4th place.

Kim Holak

On the women’s side, Kim Holak had established a solid lead by the Skyline aid station and was looking forward to the turn at the zoo and heading back uphill across the Spirit Mountain Ski Resort.  Heading uphill is what Kim really likes to do.  At Skyline, April Cole was still within striking distance only a couple minutes back with Angie Radosevich and Connie Lutkevich close behind.

About this time, the clouds decided to open up and the rain started to fall.  It rained off and on for a couple of hours at this point, cooling the runners but also creating a muddy clay slip-and-slide for the runners in the powerline section.  The return trip for our leaders was destined to be “fun.”

At the Zoo turnaround, Gardner looked strong with Dusty close behind.  Dusty had also lightened his “load” in the bushes since Skyline and was ready to roll back to the finish.  Chris Lundstrom was now in third with John Storkamp still running strong in 4th.  The top four runners were still very close at this point and it was still unclear who would be the strongest back to the finish.  Dusty remarked as he left the Zoo aid station that he wondered how Gardner could climb.  It was clear that Dusty was still feeling good.  By the time the leaders arrived back at the Skyline aid station Gardner was still in the lead, but Chris Lundstrom had cut his lead to only 2 minutes and had overtaken Dusty in the process.  The race was on!  It looked as if Lundstrom might overtake Gardner before the Beck’s Road aid station at the 50K mark.

At the turnaround Kim retained about a 5 minute lead on April but Angie was right there now as well and looking strong.  Connie remained in fourth running a very smart race.  By the 50K mark at Beck’s Road, Kim had widened the gap slightly to 8 minutes over Angie who was now running very strong.  Could Kim maintain her advantage and stay in the lead?  How far back was Connie and was she surging on her way back to the finish?

Chris Lundstrom

Despite running strongly, Lundstrom, a 2:17 road marathon runner, could not overtake Gardner and the lead remained about 2 minutes at the 50K mark.  At each aid station, Gardner continued to slowly widen the gap on Lundstrom.  By the powerlines, a muddy bottomed Gardner had established a solid lead.  The powerlines were indeed a mess and Chris said he surfed down some of the steep muddy hills in an effort to keep his pace up. 

It seemed that the only question now was whether Gardner could break the seemingly untouchable course record of 6:41 set in 1998 by Scott Jurek.  By Peterson aid station it was clear that the course record would be safe for another year.  However, it was also apparent that Gardner would more than likely finish under the exclusive 7 hour mark.   

Chris Gardner

At the finish line race fans were anxiously awaiting Gardner’s arrival.  Sure enough, just after 6 hours and 55 minutes into the race Gardner burst into view.  With a strong final kick, Gardner crossed under the finish line arch to break 7 hours with a spectacular time of 6:55:52.  Only Voyageur legends Roger Pekuri, Scott Jurek and Jarrow Wahman have finished the race faster.  Lundstrom remained strong to the finish line finishing in a stellar 7:13:14 for second while Dusty Olson ran a race P.R. to finish with the fastest 3rd place time ever in 7:26:14.

Over in the women’s race, things were getting interesting.  Just before the Seven Bridges aid station at mile 37, Kim pulled in to get aid and was told to look over her shoulder.  Not more than 200 yards down the trail, first time 50 miler Angie Radosevich was closing in fast!  This lit a fire under Kim and she headed out quickly to tackle the steep and now very slippery powerlines.  She had no choice now but to hammer this hilly section as hard as she could.  And hammer she did!  By the next aid station at Grand Portage 3 miles away, Kim had once again built a lead of a couple minutes over Angie.  Angie remained strong but couldn’t match the speed the Voyageur veteran maintained over the last 11 miles to the finish.  Kim continued to widen her gap over Angie and finished strong with a winning time of 8:30:09. 

Connie Lutkevich

Meanwhile, Connie Lutkevich was also picking up speed.  Just before entering the last stretch on the paved Willard Munger Trail into town, with less than ½ mile to go, Connie caught and passed Angie to finish second 36 seconds ahead of Angie in 8:44:07.

Tom Bunk

There were many great stories throughout the day.  Many runners were finishing their first 50 miler, some their first ultramarathon on a challenging day.  Tom Bunk notched his 23rd finish while looking strong and comfortable all day as he always does.  Chad Silker from Missouri exemplified the ultrarunning spirit when he got lost while in 5th place overall near the 14 mile mark.  When informed that his misfortune would add about 6 miles onto his race distance he took it in stride, promptly turned around, ran hard back to the point he got off course and still finished the race in 37th place.  We have a feeling Chad will be back and that next time he’ll nail the course! Special thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers.  Already looking forward to seeing all the runners again in 2011!