HAMILTON, ONTARIO.  Ryne Melcher and Victor Hickey picked up right where they left off at the end of the 1999 Ontario Ultra Series with a real barn-burner.  From the gun, Melcher, 19, of Waterloo, followed a scorched earth policy, and had opened up first a 1 minute lead by the quarter, then a full 2.5 minutes by the half, passing this mark in a remarkable 1:33:40.

Much his senior at age 42, Hickey, of Meaford, unhampered by the flu which dogged him at last fall's Slough of Despond, this time was  able to hang on doggedly to the young Melcher, eventually pull him in, and finally pass him around the 3/4 mark.  By the end of the last of four out-and-back legs, Hickey had cemented his victory by opening up an indisputable lead of 8 minutes, enabling him to cruise the last mile to finish in 3:16:26, seven minutes ahead of his rival.  As I explained to young Taylor Harthun, age 10, who accompanied me along the trail, youth and skill are often overcome by age and stealth.

Both runners surpassed Hickey's course record of 3:24:47 set last year, a good sign for the Canadian 100 Km Team heading to France in May for the World Championship.Fellow teammate Karin Westfahl, coming off surgery for compartment syndrome last November, showed little ill effect as she, too, set a new women's course record of 4:12:33, well ahead of her time of 4:23:50 at the Slough 50 km last October.

In the men over 50 category, Doug Barber improved by five minutes his time of 4:04 of last year, taking the title, but not the record of 3:42:32 set last year by Ron Gehl, who this year fell back in second in 4:09:09.

Among the women over 50, Helen Malmberg missed a personal best and new course record by four seconds, but took first once again in 5:34:28, followed later by Marion Landry in 5:53:21.

A 20% increase over last year, the 47 starters were greeted by almost perfect conditions for the day.  As temperatures rose to around 10C/50F,  a light breeze, and clear, sunny skies all day accompanied the participants as they wended their way one mile from the Church of the Ascension at the base of the Niagara Escarpment to the asphalt paved rail trail that rises about 200 feet in 3.5 miles up the face of the Escarpment to Mohawk Sports Park.  After repeating this trail portion 4 times, the runners return to the finish line at the church, for  showers and a fine spaghetti dinner. 

The Ascension Breakfast Club is a volunteer run program which provides breakfast to about 40 local children each morning on their way to school and this race is their main fundraiser of the year.

1.  Victor Hickey           3:16:26 Course Record
2.  Ryne Melcher            3:23:48
3.  Scott Turner            3:44:55
4.  Mark Bomhower           3:44:57
5.  Ross Inglis             3:55:20
6.  Peter Traynor           3:55:51
7.  Doug Barber             3:59:35 1st 50+ M
8.  Rob Gryfe               4:07:14
9.  Ron Gehl                4:09:09 2nd 50+ M
10. George Sarson           4:12:00
11. Karin Westfahl          4:12:33 1st F Course Record
12. Steve Govier            4:19:18
13. Charlie Upshall         4:21:55
14. Gord England            4:34:43
15. Don Landry              4:37:55
16. Howard Parker           4:41:16
17. David Gordon            4:41:37
18. Grant Campbell          4:45:08
19. Rob Udell               4:49:11
20. Frank Philippe          4:49:34
21. Ed Ciesielski           4:50:51
22. Daryl House-Jones       4:51:14
23. Allen Groome            4:51:50
24. Bruce Smith             4:54:12
25. Aimee Runge             4:56:58 2nd F
26. Virginia Govier         4:58:54 3rd F
27. Richard Urbanski        5:14:09
28. Blair Midgley           5:17:32
29. Stephen Stein           5:22:47
30. Helen Malmberg          5:34:28 1st 50+ F
31. Tim Krug                5:40:44
32. Odino Soligo            5:43:34
33. Dick Degraaf            5:52:39
34. Marion Landry           5:53:21 2nd 50+ F
35. Christianne Maretti     5:53:22
36. Esmond Mah              5:57:09
37. Linda Hodkin            5:57:48
38. Sherry McLean           5:57:48
39. David Goodsell          6:01:22
40. Dan O'Connell           6:08:21
41. Jess Heroux             7:02:31
42. Taylor Harthun          7:50:00
Ed Alexander                  B    DNF
Claudio Canizares             A    DNF
John Hodgins                  A    DNF
Kevin O'Reily                 A    DNF
Deanna Lindsay                C    DNF
47 Starters