The 2006 40K Nationals turned out to be quite the day. Ray Sharp took out like an Olympic Champion (OK, slight exaggeration) and blasted through the first lap. By 10K and a trip to the port-a-pottie later, Ray seemed to have things under control. However with about 10K to go Ray faltered and Paul Schwartzberg unlapped himself and made a move that fell just a lap or so short of catching Ray. So Ray won his first 40K Championship it more years than I can count. I think he won his last in 1982 or so.

In addition Heidi Hauch and Dorit Attias walked great races and finished 1-2 respectively with Dorit holding the lead early but faded allowing Heidi Hauch to capture the title.

The other ages groups had a number of records set:

Dorit Attias, female age 40-44 at 25 km, with 2:37:15 (US record)
Leon Jasionowski, male age 60-64 at 40 km, with 3:56:08 (US record)
Bob Mimm, male 80-84 at 40 km, with 6:02:12 (US record)
Janet Higbie, female 60-64 at 50 km, with 6:45:01 (World record)

The 40K of course would not be the 40 if other races were not going on at the same time. Solomiya Login walked 10K in 54 and change and two junior girls walked a nice 5K. Colleen Swansson walked 10K, I think, which was wonderful to see since her dad had so loved this race.