A mother of a marathon

Driving Route 66 west of Tulsa was an eerie experience Saturday night. Every so often, on the side of the road, you’d encounter a lone figure wearing a reflective vest, extra layers to ward off near-freezing temperatures and often a head flashlight to help see through the darkness.

Here’s one that I saw trudging along near Kellyville. In the headlights of my car, these figures looked like apparitions along the Mother Road. Yards ahead, all you could see was the bobbing of the blueish head flashlight. The infamous Spook Light near the Kansas-Missouri border came to mind more than once.

But they were no ghosts. They were runners in the first Mother Road 100 — a 100-mile ultramarathon on Route 66 from Arcadia to Sapulpa that paid tribute to the 80th anniversary of America’s most famous highway. It would be a challenge for any endurance runner — nonstop running for 17 to 30 hours, except for short breaks at aid stations for nourishment every 10 to 15 miles.

Just shy of 200 runners signed up for the race, and 168 arrived for race day (a number of no-shows is common in any long-distance event). There were participants from 37 states and two foreign countries. A total of 118 finished — a high number for such an arduous event.

Robert King, 45, of Porter, Texas, won the overall title in 17 hours, 15 minutes, 52 seconds. That’s a pace of a little over 10 minutes per mile.

The top women’s finisher was Marie Bartoletti, 49, of Finleyville, Pa., in a time of 18:04:21. In fact, Bartoletti set such a torrid pace early that she was the leader near the 50-mile mark.

Most participants finished in 22 hours or more, and organizers waited past the 30-hour mark at the finish line at a Carl’s Jr. near the Town West Shopping Center in north Sapulpa.

Participants received a genuine piece of Route 66. It was from an old alignment of the Mother Road that was on private property and was about to be removed to make way for a development. Race organizers persuaded the land owner to allow them to cut up the original Route 66 cement into 4-by-6-by-2-inch pieces that weighed about eight pounds apiece.

A complete list of Mother Road 100 results can be found at DGRoadracing.com by clicking on the “2006” link in the Race Results listing on the bottom page, then clicking on the “Results” link in the Mother Road 100 listing in November. Results also are linked on the Mother Road 100’s main site.

Don Garnett, race director, said he was appreciative of the Route 66 towns that helped set up aid stations for runners. He singled out Stroud and Depew in particular, and another group set up a bonfire near the highway west of Kellyville to help runners thaw out during that chilly Saturday night.

“It has been so awesome with the communities along Route 66 participating,” he said.