Heat expected to be factor during Traveller

WILLIAMS JUNCTION -- The recent routine of uncomfortably warm and humid race courses for the Arkansas Traveller 100-Miler is forecast to continue Saturday and Sunday.

Another near constant will no longer be in place for the 100-mile footrace. Wesley Hunt, winner of the past four Travellers, has moved with his wife and children to Denver. Race director Thomas Chapin said Hunt told him that he was unwilling to commit to long hours of training in light of the typical stresses of a move.

"He said, 'I just can't do that to my family. Move them off and then just train super hard the whole time,' " Chapin said. "He's trying to get them all settled in in that new town."

Last fall, temperatures reached into the 90s as runners and walkers wound their way along dusty roads and trails through the Ouachita National Forest. The race is scheduled to start Saturday at 6 a.m., near the Girl Scout Camp close to Lake Sylvia, about 50 miles west of Little Rock. The National Weather Service predicts a high Saturday near 87 degrees. Top runners will finish around midnight Sunday. The race will continue until a cutoff set for noon.

"For the runners, it's always, 'Is it going to be hot or cold or rainy?' " Chapin said. "It's always going to be one of them, but we're probably looking at it not being as hot last year, but it will be hot and humid."

Hunt finished second in the 2013 Traveller in his first attempt at 100 miles. He won the race in 2014-2017 and set the course record of 15 hours, 36 minutes, 33 seconds in 2015.

Chapin said this year's race should be wide open.

"Wesley is not going to run again, so now everybody else has a chance," Chapin said. "As far as who do we have and who can win, there'll be a lot more to watch and a lot more to figure out."

In Hunt's four-year run, no one finished closer to him than 1:07:59.

Chapin became the full-time Traveller director last year when former directors Stan and Chrissy Ferguson gave up their reign after presiding over 16 races in 2001-2016. Chapin's primary responsibility is to supply nearly 250 volunteers with what they need to support entrants through a 30-hour grind.

Hunt's streak of four consecutive Traveller victories is the longest for men since the race was founded in 1991. Ray Bailey of North Little Rock won three consecutive in 1994-1996 and Joe Hildebrand of Champagne, Ill., won three in 1997-1999. Chrissy Ferguson of Maumelle won the women's division six consecutive times, in 1992-1997. She also won in 1999 and 2004.

Ferguson, a retired firefighter, enters the Traveller with an entirely different mindset from her days as a frontrunner. Now she is content with the common struggle to merely finish, the goal of most 100-mile race entrants.

"I would love to say to everybody, don't give up," Ferguson said. "It's so important, and I will continue doing that as long as I can. Some people can't do that. They say, 'If I can't win, then I don't have a goal.' For me, my goal is just to do it."

Sports on 10/05/2018