18 Hour Walk 2001 |
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Thirty Crazy Walkers
The third annual 18 Hour Walk kicked off in Vancouver, Washington USA at 6 am, Sunday May 27, 2001. Thirty walkers participated in the walk-till-you-drop (or midnight) challenge. This event is hosted by the Tough Trail Trompers and the VAEA Walk and Run Club at the VA Medical Center, Vancouver, WA. Your Guide, Wendy Bumgardner, is the creator and czarina of the event.
The Course
Walkers have six different trails to choose from throughout the day to lessen the monotony.
- The North Trail was open only in the morning and included neighborhoods and the Discovery Trail greenway - 10 kilometers with some hills.
- The Riverview Trail - 10 kilometers - is our standard trail which includes historic Officer's Row, a great checkpoint at the Homewood Suites Hotel, a walk along the Columbia River and back through downtown Vancouver, WA.
- This year walkers could extend the Riverview Trail to 20 kilometers by going upriver from the Homewood Suites on the Renaissance Trail along the river and back.
- National Heritage Trail - 10 kilometers - explores Officer's Row and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and tours the VA Medical Center.
- Around the VA Trails - these are two loop trails of 1300 meters and 1 mile around the VA Medical Center grounds, great for walkers who want no traffic and to be able to check in at the start/finish every few minutes. After dark the walkers are confined to these trails.
We were blessed with cool but rainless weather for good walking conditions. Our volks-chef Bill Mitchell and assistant Marge Lucas served up grilled Polish sausages for lunch and soup and salad, cheese and crackers for dinner.
"Normal" walkers were welcome to come at any time during the day to walk one or more of the trails for IVV volkssport credit or the patch award. We had about 200 "normal" walkers in addition to the 18-Hour walkers. Each walker received pens and pins from New Balance Shoes and a Tough Trail Trompers club patch. Door prize drawings gave away a pair of New Balance shoes, Starbucks coffee, water bottle clips, and the AVA Starting Point guide to trails.
Our 18-Hour Walkers each receive the patch award, a certificate with their name and total kilometers achieved, and a medal for those achieving 40 kilometers or more.
This year Michele Druschel provided sports massage for the participants - once she completed her own 50 kilometers.
Chelle Hammer was a wheelchair participant, having ripped her hamstring a couple of week prior. We all enjoyed meeting Elysabeth Knapp, a teenager who achieved 57 kilometers before being taken home by her family - she could have gone on much longer.
We cheered as Eric Glosenger achieved the 100 kilometer mark that eluded him last year.
Photo: Top finishers Sam Korff and Darlene Gubele
Our top finishers were Sam Korff and Darlene Gubele with 102 kilometers. Our ironman from BC, John Zuiker, stopped at 99 kilometers this year.
| KM | First | Last |
| 21 | Chelle | Hammer |
| 30 | Julie | Baumler |
| 30 | Rick | Smith |
| 30 | Johndy | Lewis |
| 40 | John M. | Kreher |
| 40 | Glen | Sankey |
| 40 | Karen | Betzvog |
| 42 | Robert | Faires |
| 42 | Patsy | Cobb |
| 50 | Denise | Barkley |
| 50 | Michele | Druschel |
| 50 | Nancy | Melius |
| 50 | Terri | Sankey |
| 50 | Roy | Bauska |
| 51 | Christopher | Mentrum |
| 51 | Heidi | Gleb |
| 51 | Ron | Austen |
| 51 | Debi | Austen |
| 54 | Cari | Krippner |
| 57 | Elysabeth | Knapp |
| 61 | Arline | LaMear |
| 63 | Jackie | Perry |
| 64 | Carolyn | Fort |
| 64 | David | Harris |
| 65 | Jack | Odgaard |
| 84 | David M. | Mellott |
| 99 | John P. | Zuiker |
| 102 | Darlene | Gubele |
| 102 | Sam | Korff |
| 109* | Eric | Glosenger |
(*Eric's kilometers included trail marking previous day)
The future of the event has not been decided - Tough Trail Trompers is going inactive and I am searching for another club to take up the banner of this event.
Photo copyright (c) 2001, Wendy Bumgardner, licensed to About.com
