Meghan Canfield provided the following report from the 2023 IAU 50K World Championships. Canfield was a team staff member along with Lin Gentling. The pair traveled to India to support Team USA’s 12 athletes.
Hyderabad, India, was the site for the 2023 IAU 50K World Championships, on Sunday, November 5. India was an interesting and challenging location for such an event, with the hotel accommodations not being conducive to running out the front door. With traffic at an incomprehensible level of chaos, safer routes to do shake out runs were reached by hiring Uber drivers for our illustrious Team USA athletes. The bonds that the team formed over meeting the challenges of the venue grew stronger every day.
Race day
Race morning held a little promise of a cool start, but temperatures were sure to rise, and that they did. Team USA’s six women – Brittany Charboneau, Ildi Gaal, Alexandra Niles, Courtney Olsen, Andrea Pomeranski, and Melissa Tanner, and six men – Kallin Carolus Khan, Michael Katsefaras, Bijan Mazaheri, Charles Smogoleski, Adam Vadeboncoeur, and Fermin Vellagran, were fit and ready to race at 7:00 am when the seventy-seven competitors set off on the championships course.
A 5k loop was on tap for the runners, and it was largely an out and back with a lollypop configuration at the start/finish line. While it was mostly closed to traffic, it was not closed to the many stray and friendly dogs, which added an element of humor to the morning.
After lap one, a group of women had formed including most of the UK team, plus USA’s Pomeranski. Following closely were Olsen, Charbonneau, Gaal, Niles, and Tanner. In the men’s race, the Spanish team went out boldly, with the British, Indian, and US teams in tow. Vadeboncoeur was the lead runner for the US men followed by Mazaheri, Katsefaras, Smogoleski, Carolus Khan, and Vellagran.
They’re off and running at the IAU 50K World Championships.
The heat is on
It was exciting and inspiring to watch all the athletes in good form in the early stages, while wondering how long they could push so hard. Crew members were on top of the needs of each runner, handing them their bottles. As the heat intensified, the crew did their best to provide ice and cold beverages, hats, and neckerchiefs.
The top three Spanish men continued to lead and gap the rest of the field, lap after lap. The Indian men’s team held very steady, while the UK and US men were unable to keep pace with them. The lead pack of women was dwindling as well, with Pomeranski right up in the lead with UK runner Carla Molinaro.
Team USA athletes rest after a long effort.
Many athletes gradually unraveled due to the heat and the unrelenting pounding on the pavement. Olsen suffered knife-like pain in her calf, but after crew provided a quick massage she was back in the game. Charbonneau was having an off day and also struggled with the heat, yet she stuck with it to have a genuinely fine comeback. Gaal also struggled with the heat, Tanner managed to perhaps be the least affected, and Niles suffered from cramping that left her walking most of the last 5k.
Our men’s team suffered one drop with Vellagran not able to keep food down. Smogoleski had to walk off some hamstring pains, but rallied nonetheless. Vadeboncoeur ran like a metronome, never seeming to falter, as did Katsefaras and Mazaheri.
Race results
The final three laps were much different to witness than the early laps. Many runners were quite ragged, and there were a handful of drops across teams.
The women’s race saw UK’s Molinaro cross the finish line first in 3:18:23, with Pomeranski – in just her second 50k ever – less than a minute later to claim the silver medal in 3:19:07. Two more UK women hung on for third (Sarah Webster 3:20:07) and fourth (Anna Bracegirdle 3:20:37), for a combined time of 9:59:07 to secure the gold medal. Team USA runners Tanner in 3:27:00 and Olsen in 3:32:04 were USA’s next scorers, for a combined time of 10:18:11 and the silver medal. Croatia took bronze in 10:53:20.
Team Spain never faltered and swept the men’s race in a combined time of 8:28:02, with first place Chakib Lachgar Latrache running 2:48:20. In second place was Alejandro Jiminez Vicente in 2:49:30 and Jesus Angel Olmos Pascal rounded out the top three in 2:50:12. The silver medal went to India in 8:48:50, and the bronze went to the UK in 8:51:58. Team USA men’s scorers were Vadeboncoeur in 2:56:20, Mazaheri in 3:02:32, and Katsefaras in 3:04:16 for a team combined time of 9:03:08 which put them in fourth place ahead of Germany, Croatia, and Denmark.
Complete results from the event are at this link.
Team USA women earn silver at IAU 50K World Championships.
Team USA thoughts
Following are a few quotes from some members of Team USA, which express more about this event than the finish times and placings.
Kallin Carolus Khan, “The World 50k Championship tested my limits with heat, humidity, and rolling roads. This, my third US Team, held profound meaning, especially after the disappointment of the first two cancellations. The camaraderie with Team USA was the real highlight, and I value the friendships formed during this unforgettable journey.”
Courtney Olsen, “The week leading to the 50K World Championships we trickled in, immediately immersed, exhausted, smiling, eyes wide open. The host hotel location was not conducive to running, so the lot of us would Uber to locations where we could. Those Uber rides, wild in close calls, actual calls, and perpetual honking, were where we cemented our fondness of one another (on top of over biryani at the thrice/day buffet). Quite immediately each of us, each teammate, their loved ones, our Leads fell into a familial & comical way of life in Hyderabad. Together to the bank, the grocery store, the bookstore, the park. This connectivity proved paramount when it came to suffering that Sunday. Because when you value one another, are inspired by, and perhaps most importantly can make one another laugh, truly laugh, the eventual suffering holds deeper purpose. It was refreshing on a human level to witness each teammate set up a game plan, embark on their race, endure their battles, take risks, play with strategy, and put Team at the forefront. One heard each tell the other that they inspired them on. This race was challenging for foreseeable & unforeseeable reasons and the grit it took to finish, to place 2nd (W) Team & 4th (M) Team seems but a nice set of words to what actually happened over there, which was, for me, deep personal growth and several new friends whose successes I care deeply about.”
Alexandra Niles, “This race was mentally and physically the hardest race I’ve ever done. And as stubborn as I am, had I been there alone I would not have finished. Despite the weather, I think we all had strong goals for this race – what else would you expect from 12 highly competitive people – and I would say maybe we were all a little disappointed that we couldn’t race to our full potential. However, everyone gave 100% of what they had on that day. Not just as a runner but as a teammate. Everyone helped someone in some way out on that course – a thumbs up or a head nod, a ‘you got this,’ or a shared water bottle. What we were able to accomplish was only possible because we worked together. While running is very much an individual sport what made this experience so amazing and unique were the people. Somehow 12 runners, their families and 2 team leaders were thrown together halfway around the world and in just a matter of days became a team. Everyone was necessary to make this experience what it was and that is something special because it doesn’t happen often. Yes, it was special to represent the US, but to do it with this particular group of people was what made this so memorable.”
Andrea Pomeranski, “What I was expecting going into the world 50k champs was to be challenged with a boatload of adversity….heat, humidity, hills, poor air quality, etc…and I prepared the best I could for all of it. What we ended up encountering was about what I has expected and was equal parts hard and satisfying to try to overcome. What I didn’t expect, and wasn’t prepared for, however, was just how much I enjoyed competing as a team and getting to know the 11 other athletes, the team leaders, and the families of the athletes. I may forget the times or places that I’ve finished, but I will never forget the memories made with this unique and special group of people. The value of sports in my opinion is the lessons that they teach, the person you become while overcoming what feels like insurmountable obstacles, and the people that are brought into your life because of sport. We had each of these in spades last weekend at these championships and I will be forever changed not only because of what I learned that I could endure, but because the people surrounding me that made it special.”
Bijan Mazahari, “The journey was long, but we were not worried.
Some luggage was gone, but on its way surely.
We awoke before dawn hoping to show early.
A few turns were wrong, the bus driver hurried.
The crowd did applaud, the stray canines scurried.
We raced for the squad, to prove ourselves worthy.
The weather was hot, just like last night’s curry.
We pushed through the knots, our vision was blurry.
We ran through lap 9 to a mile past thirty.
We arrived at the line all bartered and dirty.
The time that we stayed, all memories were pearly.
The friends that we made, will last a century.”
