Sports

Five

Fayette runners participated in teh smashing of a world

record recently as the Atlanta Track Club fielded three

teams in attempts to enter the Guinness Book of World

Records in the 100x1-mile relay recently.

A women's

team, a men's open team (men under 40) and a men's

Masters team (40 and over). They attempted this feat at

the Emory University Track, passing the baton from one to

the next while running a mile at top speed.

The

previous record for the men's Masters division was set by

the Houston Area Road Runners Association. They ran the

100x1 mile relay with a time of 9:04:02. The men's

Masters division smashed the record though, by over 6.5

minutes. The team averaged 5:23 per mile and set an

official time of 8:57:31. By the time the ATC's 12th

runner passed the baton, they were already four minutes

ahead of record pace. At one point, they were seven

minutes ahead of record pace.

After

setting the new Guinness record, the men celebrated with

a victory lap, champagne and the traditional dumping of

ice water on the team captain. Fayette County Masters

runners included Bill

Anderson , Al Barker , Bob Dalton , Scott

Ludwig and Dave Olson . Their new claim to fame

is that they each hold 1 percent of a world record in a

sporting event.

Runners on

the women's team from Fayette County included 18 women,

including runners from the local high schools and the

Peachtree City Running Club.

The record

for the women was set by a team from California, called

the AC Athletics. They ran the 100x1-mile relay in a time

of 9:38 in 1997. The women from ATC made a good run at

beating the record this year, but fell short by 13

minutes.

The

Syracuse Chargers hold the record in the men's open

division, setting it in 1994 at a time of 10:14. The ATC

men's open team was under record pace as late as the 22nd

runner and were within 20 seconds of the record pace as

late as the 40th runner. The team missed the record by

4:21.

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