Odyssey ends with a familiar winner
by Paul Flies
Reno Gazette-Journal
June 8, 2008
Battle Born is creating a dynasty at the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey, a 24-hour, 178-mile team endurance run that starts and ends in Reno and circles Lake Tahoe.
For the third consecutive year, the 12-man team recorded the fastest time of the event. Battle Born, which is comprised entirely of elite Reno athletes, set a course record, crossing in 18 hours, 1 minutes, 26 seconds, just after 10 a.m. on Saturday morning at Idlewild Park.
Not even a last-minute injury to captain John Ostezan could slow them down. A week before the start of the race, Ostezan suffered a stress fracture that forced him to sit out.
"After planning to compete for six months, I suddenly found myself relegated to driving the van," Ostezan said. "At the last minute, we were able to find a sub and it worked out perfectly."
Team member Joe Parker knew where he could find the ideal replacement. He made a phone call to his good friend, Reno High senior-to-be Brandon Nied. The 17-year-old accepted the offer hoping the race would help build endurance for the upcoming cross country season.
"In high school, I run the mile and two mile, so I really didn't have to change my training at all for this event," Nied said. "The only difference I had to prepare for was running multiple legs in one day."
With Nied's addition, Battle Born became a team that ranged from ages 17 to 50. Tim Minor, the oldest member of the group, said the team got along great together despite such a large age disparity.
"I am very proud of everyone on our team who had a hand in this," Minor said. "By dealing with some adversity, we became close but still stayed competitive. It was nice to smash that record with such a great group of guys."
BATTLE BORN WINS ODYSSEY
WHO: Battle Born, a team comprised of runners from Reno, won the fourth annual Reno-Tahoe Odyssey. The team included Nick Bingham, Paolo Vandenberg, Joe Parker, Jeff Huxhold, Tim Minor, Mike Scarborough, Ross McMahon, Brandon Nied, Patrick Fisher, Chris Badolato, Drew Casselberry, Fred Zalokar and John Ostezan.
TIME: Battle Born set a record for the fastest time in the history of the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey with a time of 18 hours, 1 minute, 26 seconds.
WHERE: The team left Wingfield Park at 4 p.m. Friday. Although they were one of the last four groups to leave, they were the first to arrive at the finish line at Idlewild Park. Battle Born finished the race just after 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Two-man team has a good showing
The largest show of crowd support was displayed when Charlie and Dan Anderson crossed the finish line of the 178-mile race. Running as the Super Ultra Marathon Brothers, the two-man team finished with a time of 27 hours, 4 minutes, 4 seconds.
The brothers singled out the lack of sleep as their number one obstacle. Over the course of the night, the duo decided to run four or five legs in a row. While one ran, the other used that time to catch up on their sleep.
"The long sets of legs at night were pretty tough," Dan said. "But that little bit of sleep really revived me. Before that, I had to walk an entire leg. After sleeping, I was able to run again."
The Andersons said it is too early to tell if they will run as a two-man team again next year. Charlie said that although it is unrealistic at this point, he would still like to keep his options open.
"After a few weeks, we may start to think that it was pretty fun," Charlie said. "The key is that we have got to forget about the hard parts and instead remember the positives."
