Isaac Updike
Isaac Updike approached Thursday’s steeplechase at the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina as a “soft opener’’ to his 2023 outdoor season.
There was nothing soft about his performance.
The 31-year-old pro from Ketchikan seized the lead from the gun, paced his heat throughout the 3,000 meters over barriers and a water jump, and clocked a strong time of 8 minutes, 25.09 seconds. He pretty much nailed the race, given he had 8:25 in mind.
Updike’s time smashed the 1996 meet record of 8:36.30 owned by his Empire Elite Track Club coach, Tom Nohilly, and also erased the facility record of 8:31.23 by Virginia Tech’s Fitsum Seyoum in 2021.
On top of that, Updike earned his qualifying time for the 2023 USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., in July – that standard is 8:29.00. The next box for him to check is the 8:15.00 qualifying standard for the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August.
“Everything felt pretty smooth,’’ Updike reported by phone.
Updike’s heat featured 14 runners, almost all of them college athletes, and was run in 79 degrees and a wind of 15 mph. Conditions proved a big change from his training conditions at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., where Updike said it recently snowed eight inches.
“Quite a swing there,’’ Updike said. “And anything breezy is annoying when you know you want to front-run the race.’’
Updike rans a metronomic pace on laps 2 through 6, covering five straight circuits in the 67 to 68-second range, with a variance of just .85 seconds per lap during that stretch of 2,000 meters. He closed with a 67.24-second penultimate lap and a 62.84-second last lap.
“That last lap was squeezing, but not going all out and risking a mistake over a barrier or the water jump,’’ he said. “I think I’m in 8:17 shape in a different field and different conditions.’’
Updike has twice run faster in season-opening steeplechases, but both of those races came later in the calendar and featured more elite fields. He opened 2021 with his personal best (PB) of 8:17.74 to win the USATF Grand Prix in Eugene on April 24 and clocked 8:22.96 to win the Penn Relays last April 29.
After two bouts of COVID-19 spoiled Updike’s 2022 outdoor season and caused him to miss the national championships, he used the fall and winter “offseason’’ to race more than he ever has those times of the year. From October 2022 to February 2023, he raced three times on the road, twice on cross country courses and twice indoors.
Updike said he also racked the biggest training week of his life two weeks ago when he hit the 100-mile mark for the first time.
The Raleigh Relays continue Friday and Saturday.
Updike wasn’t the only Alaskan competing Thursday. Former ACS star Tristian Merchant of Liberty University ran a PB in the 1,500 meters, clocking 3:50.71. That was an improvement of 3.40 seconds over the 3:54.11 he ran for Northern Arizona University in 2022 before transferring to Liberty. Merchant covered the last two laps Thursday in 60.36 and 60.31, respectively, to close the final 800 meters in 2:00.67.