2010

Can Lake 50 Results

Results and Race Photographs

Other Years:  2011 Results | 2009 Results | 2008 Results | 2007 Results | 2006 Results | 2005 Results  | 2004 Results | 2003 Results

Other Results:  2003-2009 Fleet Feet Sports Relay |  Prior Canandaigua Lake Ultras ('82, '94-98)

2010 Race Summary / Photos / 50 Mile Results / 50K Results

98% Finish Their First Ultra - The Can Lake 50 Ultras are road races of 50 miles and 50 km around Canandaigua Lake in Western New York.  The 50 mile follows lightly-traveled roads for one big loop completely around the lake, starting at 7am and finishing on the campus of Finger Lakes Community College.   Runners in the 50 km are bused 19 miles around the course for a 10am start which merges them into the 50-mile field for the last 31 miles of the big loop.  Both races are do-able challenges with generous time limits to allow for walking up several major climbs.

It has long been a goal of the race committee to make the Can Lake 50 a major destination race, drawing a significant number of new visitors to the Finger Lakes region for the race.  We met that goal for the first time this year.  In the two races, we had 117 starters (up from 61 last year) from 17 states and 2 countries.  Runners came from as far away as Oregon, California, Texas and Florida.  And, we even had a chap from the United Kingdom who added the race to his business travels in the US.

The key to this growth was a more recent decision of the race committee to make the Can Lake 50 Ultras the best event for first time ultrarunners.   A major section of the race website is devoted to all aspects of training for and running the race.  Once runners sign up for the race, the race director stays in touch with periodic e-mails with news and training reminders.  Ultrarunning Matters (the club that puts on the race) hosts a free discussion group on Yahoo that many entrants also find to be a great source of information about all things ultrarunning.  That focus on supporting first time ultrarunners paid off big this year and accounted for most of the growth in race participation.  In one year we almost tripled the number of first time ultrarunners in our two races. 

About the races… we had a spectacularly beautiful fall day in the Finger Lakes.  The leaves were at their peak of color; the morning was cool and the afternoon was mild.  The 50 km runners were a talkative bunch on the bus ride down the west side of the lake, although it got very quiet as the school bus struggled to get up Bopple Hill, the signature climb on the 50 mile route.   Yusuke Tateno just missed going under four hours in his race winning run.   Greta Ledgerwood was a winner in her first ultra.  All 34 starters finished the run back to Finger Lakes Community College including the 22 who were running their first ultra.

John Ehntholt, our 50 km record holder from Glens Falls in the Adirondacks, stepped up to the 50 mile this year and took that record also, becoming only the second runner under 7 hours in the eight year history of the race.  Justin Weiler and Justin Dore just missed the 7 hour mark, running the 5^th and 7^th best times ever for the race.

Viktoria Szilagyi, up from Miami, didn’t let the cool temperatures and low humidity faze her as she held on for a 39 second win over Sarah Eighmey from nearby Geneva.  Their times were the fifth and sixth fastest in the history of the race.  Overall, 76 of 83 starters finished the 50 miles within the 12 hour time limit, including 33 of 34 runners who made the 50 mile their first ultramarathon (that’s a 97% success rate for the first timers).    The successful first ultra runners included two people who walked the entire course. 

And, notably our final finisher in the 50 mile was Seth Payne.  A native of the area, Payne was All State in high school football and three times All-Ivy League at Cornell.  He was drafted in the fourth round of the NFL draft and played defensive tackle for the Jacksonville Jaguars (1997-2001) and Houston Texans (2002-2006).  Seeing him finish his first ultra was almost as impressive as Ehntholt’s record run. 

-- published in December 2010 issue of Ultrarunning magazine  

Prior Canandaigua Ultras:  The first reported run most of the way around Canandaigua Lake was a 60K in 1982.  Charlie Sabatine (7th overall in 1982) revived the event as a 40-mile "mini-ultra" held from 1994 to 1998.  Tom Perry ran the "mini-ultra" in 1995-1997.  In 2003, Charlie Sabatine, Rick Cronise and Tom Perry brought the race back in its current form as a full 50 miles around the lake.  Click here for contemporary race reports from Ultrarunning magazine.

2010 Photos / 50 Mile Results / 50K Results / Race Summary

2010 50 Mile Results / 50K Results / Photos / Race Summary
 

*Age Graded Scoring:  CanLake50 Standards:  Gold = 65% or better; Silver = 55% or better.
 Age graded scoring can bring proper recognition to the performances of older runners.  Click for online calculator to score your own races.
First ultras:  97% of first ultra starters finished!  87% of first 50 mile starters finished.  92% of all starters finished.  Congratulations to all of you.
Out of state:  Cities are in bold text.  92% of our visitors finished!  Thank you for coming to run our race and visit the Finger Lakes Region.
 

2010 50K Results / 50 Mile Results / Photos / Race Summary

First ultras:  100% of first ultra starters finished!  In fact, 100% of all starters finished!  Congratulations to all of you.
Out of state:  Cities are in bold text.  100% of our visitors finished!  Thank you for coming to run our race and visit the Finger Lakes Region.

This site was last updated 10/12/11