Eva Clarke put in a stunning performance to win the women’s Solo Canyon race at the 2014 Salomon Wadi Bih run.
Darryl Chiles was the overall winner on Friday, triumphing in the men’s category (50km) with a time of 04:14.00 but Clarke came second overall, being not only the fastest woman but the second-quickest person of either sex.
The Australian went round the Omani run in 04:26.07, two minutes faster than the men’s Canyon Solo second-placed runner Shawn Deleu.
“I didn’t realise how well I had done until I had finished,” Clarke told Sport360°. “It felt hard at first, a lot was uphill and I sort of felt the wall a little bit. I usually need 10k to warm up so that didn’t help. I figured I’d go out and see how I go, not run competitively. But when I came down the hill I realised just how well I was actually running so.
“I really enjoyed it, the only problem is you don’t have that terrain to train in Abu Dhabi so it can be hard to prepare.”
Clarke’s run came just a week after she broke the knuckle push-ups world record in Abu Dhabi, doing 9,241 in 24 hours.
With Clarke tearing off at such a blistering pace, the mother-ofthree beat her closest female rival, Shawn McRae, by nearly an hour and had to use the male runners as competition.
She added: “I was pleased with my time, I ran well and consistent, I was really impressed. It’s a great run and I went with some of my team so we could socialise.
“Once I overtook [Deleu] and marched over the hill, I just thought ‘don’t let him catch me’. That was my goal, to become me versus the guys. I’m no ultra runner by any means, I just like setting up a challenge and doing it.
“It’s not to say the girls are bad, they ran their own run, I just didn’t anticipate it becoming like that. They kept me on my toes. It was one of those runs where we kept overtaking each other, but I tried to run my own race and I didn’t try to keep up with him. But with me on his tail, it mentally fatigued him. It was a good race and I ran my own race.”
Elsewhere at the Salomon Wadibih run, the Solo Full Male (72km) winner was Krzystof Holik with a time of 05:56.05, five minutes faster than Chad Lasater, while the female winner was Sarah Ann Whittington won went round in 07:16.45, beating out Fleur Kenward by just under 40 minutes.
Abras Running and Ignite Fitness and Wellness team were the winners of the group event with a time of 04:42.13.
RESULTS
Women’s Solo Canyon
1. Eva Clarke 04:26:07
2. Shawn McRae 05:13:56
3. Lyn-Si Fisher 05:22:34
4. Pia Lund 05:31:47
5. Lily Bejjani 05:36:36
Men’s Solo Canyon
1. Darryl Chiles 04:14:00
2. Shawn Deleu 04:28:05
3. Aaron Heather 04:50:26
4. James Musgrave 05:04:40
5. Jez MacKeown 05:08:43
Women’s Solo Full
1. Sarah Ann 07:16:45
2. Fleur Kenward 07:53:27
3. Veronique Bourbeau 08:16:51
4. Rosemary Rhodes 08:30:06
5. Anja Laursen 08:37:08
Men’s Solo Full
1. Krzysztof Holik 05:56:05
2. Chad Lasater 06:01:31
3. Getinet Chala 05:54:44
4. Benoit Rodriguez 06:59:59
5. Thor Nils Ranthe 07:20:04
Teams
1. Abras Running Club and Ignite Fitness and Wellness 04:42:13
2. Doha Dishdashers 04:53:28
3. Team international A 04:57:35
4. Louis Holtzhausen 04:57:54
5. Ignite Elite Squad 05:01:36
