Woman, 70, finishes 100-mile race with six seconds to spare

AUBURN, Calif., July 1 (UPI) -- A 70-year-old woman made a last-minute finish in the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run by crossing the line six seconds before the cut-off time.

Gunhild Swanson of Spokeane, Wash., crossed the finish line of the race in Auburn, Calif., nearly 30 hours after beginning the race in Squaw Valley, Calif., making her the oldest person to finish in the nearly 40-year history of the race.

Rob Krar, 38, of Flagstaff, Ariz., the winner of the race with a time of 14:48:59, returned Sunday to join Swanson for her last mile.

Swanson said volunteers called her attention to the time at the final aid station, about 1.3 miles from the finish.

"Two friends, my pacers, another friend, Rob Krar, the winner of this race came down," Swanson told website irunfar.com.

"He wasn't waiting there, but he came down the road... Everybody started yelling at me and telling me what to do and pouring ice water all over me. Then I was told, 'You have to run as hard as you possibly can. When you get to the track, you can't let up. Down the hill you're okay, but you have to maintain that pace. You have to go with all you possibly can on the track.' I came around and saw the clock. Oh, my gosh."

Swanson said her record-setting finish was her third attempt at the Western States Endurance Run.

"In over 15 years of attending Western States I have never witnessed anything like what transpired in the track shortly before 11am on Sunday," runner Andy Jones-Wilkins wrote on the race's Facebook page.