Bill Dodson sets NINE pending American Records at Riverbank One Day Classic 24-Hour Track Run
Riverbank High School Track, Riverbank, CA
February 25, 2017
Bill’s M80 American Records (pending)
Distances and times to be announced when official results are posted.
15 km
10 miles
20 km
25 km
30 km
20 miles
50 miles
100 km
24 hours
(Note: Bill achieved the 50 miles, 100 km and 24 hours pending records with 6 hours to spare. He holds the current ARs for 2 hours, 12 hours and 50km set at last year’s Riverbank Run. Also, the 15km, 10mi, 20km, 25km, 30km and 20mi have never been set by anyone over 80, so Jon Olsen (Race Director) and John Brooks (Race Timer) made special efforts to record his times at each. New ARs for these will depend on getting them ratified by USATF.)
As reported by Bill:
“At 9:03 am on Saturday I started running on the Riverbank HS track at a reasonably conservative pace. I progressed (regressed?) from running; to walking and running; then to walking only. In order to set my 24 hour record as high as I could, I kept on walking until 9:03 Sunday morning. During that last 6 hours I took my only breaks – 4 of about 10 minutes each, sleeping in a chair (when I was about to fall asleep walking).
The main aid station was run by the Riverbank Track Team. On my first stop I asked one of the girls to write ‘Bill D’ on my cup and save it for my next stops. Now that they knew my name, they became my own personal cheerleaders with enthusiastic cheering on every lap! That, along with having another record to pursue upon achieving each one, I was highly motivated to keep pushing my limits…
In order to get all of the AR’s, I needed to complete at least 255 laps. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I completed about 307 laps for 122.8 km/78 miles. The previous 24 hour record was just under 102km.
I can’t adequately express appreciation from all of us runners for Jon Olsen, his Family, Riverbank High School and their Track Team, John Brooks, Fazio’s of Modesto, and all of the others who put in an incredible effort and took some high risks to make this a success. Also, I got so much support and ‘high fives’ from many other runners and their support teams – I appreciate all of them with warm memories from a cold night!”