Isaac Updike
Conditions were awful when Isaac Updike stepped to the line Friday night to defend his steeplechase title at the storied Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
The temperature was 49 degrees. Rain pelted the track. Winds lashed to 15 mph. Humidity ruled.
Of course, it’s not like Updike hasn’t encountered sub-optimal conditions before. He’s from Ketchikan.
Conditions sucked, Updike’s performance did not.
The 31-year-old representing the Elite Empire Track Club kept his powder dry until the last lap of the 3,000-meter race, crushing the final 400 meters – plus barriers and a water jump – in a blistering 1:00.03 to blow open a race that a four-man battle at the bell. With a lap to go, the top four, with Updike in second behind eventual runner-up Joey Berriatua, were separated by just .44 of a second. The top three were separated by just .20.
Updike’s 8:39.21 clocking was nothing special time-wise – he ran 8:25.09 last month to win the Raleigh Relays in North Carolina and owns a personal best of 8:17.74 (2021). But his final 400 proved a searing close, 1.20 seconds faster than he closed last year in setting a Relays record of 8:22.96.
Updike’s closing 400 crushed the competition – it was a whopping 5.84 seconds faster than Berriatua’s (8:44.88) close and 5.96 seconds faster than third-place finisher Andrew Bayer (8:45.45), the former World Championships qualifier who has come out of retirement.
Updike’s victory in Raleigh clinched his qualification for the USA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., in early July, so his principal concern Friday surely was not so much a fast time, but rather defending his title.
He’s coming off a busy “offseason” as part of his mission to attack the 2023 outdoor campaign after missing much of the 2022 season because of two bouts of COVID. Updike ran three road races and two cross country races over last fall and winter, and earlier this year raced a pair of 3,000-meter open races indoors and a 5,000-meter race indoors before opening his outdoor season in Raleigh.
Updike’s focus is on nationals. The top three finishers in Eugene qualify for the world championships in Hungary in August, provided they meet the qualifying time (8:15.00) set by World Athletics, the sports governing body. Runners can also qualify based on their world ranking.