October 4/08 7:15 am - The Tejas 500

Posted by Editoress on 10/4/08
 

The Tejas 500 - RAAM Qualifier September 25-27, Cleburne, TX
Courtesy Dan Driscoll, UMCA

With near perfect weather, including low winds, mild temperatures, and a lack of rain, racers enjoyed another year of racing the 20-mile hilly race route of The Texas Time Trials. The Tejas 500 solo completion was dominated by the Canadians. The previous male solo record of 29:59 for 500 miles, is now 27:18 thanks to Dallas Morris (Calgary AB), a relative unknown in the Ultra world. Morris entered at the last minute and drove to Texas from Canada, to earn his trophy, and set a new course record. The female winner Caroline van den Bulk (Huntsville ON), shattered the women's record of 41:32 by almost 10 hours, with a new bench mark of 32:05, seeding her ahead of most of the males. As is typical 33% of the riders attempting the 500 miles went home without a finishing trophy.

The men's solo race saw great performances from previous TTTT contestants like second place finisher Larry Ide, only 24 minutes behind Dallas Morris (Calgary AB) , third place finisher Paul Carpenter and fourth place Wayne Dunlap. The women's field was the largest ever with six female contestants. Local riders Shellene Foster, Sharon Stevens (last year's winner) and Vickie Tyer all qualified for RAAM.

Women
1. Caroline van den Bulk (Can) 32:05*
2. Shellene Foster (USA) 33:51
3. Sharon Stevens (USA) 36:26
4. Vickie Tyer (USA) 41:53
*New record

Men
1. Dallas Morris (Can) 27:18
2. Larry Ide (USA)
3. Paul Carpenter (USA)
4. Wayne Dunlap (USA)

Dallas Morris' blog

Caroline van den Bulk's website