UPDATED: Ellie Greenwood loses world 100K title

Banff resident Ellie Greenwood lost her bid for consecutive titles in world 100K championships on Sunday in the Netherlands.

Greenwood, who lives in Banff but runs for Great Britain, was defending her title in the race in Winschoten, which is about three hours from Amsterdam. In the end, Russian runner Marina Bychkova won the championship with a time of 7:27:19. Britain’s Joanna Zakrzewski came in second with a time of 7:41:06, followed by South Africa’s Lindsay Anne van Aswegen in 7:42:05.

Greenwood did not finish the race. “”I dropped out at 90km,” she told Canadian Running in an e-mail. “It was a tough day – warm and humid. I was vomiting from 65km on and couldn’t keep any calroies on so had zero energy to even walk final 10km.”

Bychkova ran a steady pace for the first 50 kilometres. But as the race went on, she got stronger, going past Greenwood at the mid-way point. In the second half of the race she continued her strong smooth running style and won in an impressive field.

In the men’s race, Italy’s Giorgio Calcaterra took the top spot, coming in at 6:27:32. He was followed by Michael Wardian of the U.S. in 6:42:49 and Andrew Henshaw in 6:44:35.

Approximately 285 athletes from 34 countries started the championships, which race organizers say is a record. The race was a 10 kilometre loop course in warm conditions. For full results, visit the IAU website.

Greenwood, considered one of the world’s best ultra runners, recently placed first at the Western States 100, a 100 mile run. Be sure to watch for the November issue of Canadian Running, where she writes about her experience in that race.