Masterton endurance athlete Graeme Butcher has placed 73rd in a field of 170 while representing New Zealand at the world 24-hour championships in the Netherlands over the weekend.
Butcher completed 203.6km to be fourth-best Kiwi, behind Alex Mckenzie (51st with 212.9km), Wayne Botha (53rd with 212.9km) and Bryan McCorkindale(60th with 210.5km). American Jon Olsen won the men's title with a distance of 268.4km.
New Zealand's top finisher in the women's section was Kim Allen who was 40th with 203.6km. Fellow Kiwi Antonia Johnson was one place behind her while Valerie Muskett was 52nd with 192km.
More than 40 countries were represented at the championships and while weather conditions were ideal early on, a storm broke during the night with rain and hail testing the physical and mental abilities of the competitors.
Butcher went into the event on a preparation affected by injury but still managed to average 140km a week over the last four months. He focused on one "extra long" run a fortnight, these covering from 70 to 100km, and one week he ran a marathon on consecutive days so as to practise running while tired and sore. He ran the second one five minutes quicker than the first which indicated the recovery process was working well.
