The Balltown Classic Double Century uses the rural roads of East-Central Iowa starting in the Quad Cities suburb town of DeWitt, IA and turning around at the sleepy hamlet of Balltown, IA. In this village is Breitbachs Restaurant, the oldest continuously operated restaurant in the state (1852) and a breathtaking view over the Mississippi River into Wisconsin and Illinois.

This race, while providing some pleasant scenery and low-volume traffic, has a checkered past due to the unpredictable weather. That wasn't the case on June 3, 2006 as riders queued up for the start at 5 a.m. at the Super 8 Motel in DeWitt. A light, southerly wind promised a helpful push on the return trip while the temperatures were on the warm side with 85 degrees predicted. This heat would give some of the riders problems. Twenty-one competitors from seven states, including six Ultracycling Cup Competition (UCC) athletes, a RAAM official finisher, the course record holder and two women prepared to race.

By the end of the day, five racers would drop due to exhaustion, dehydration or mechanical problems. The course consists of rolling hills for the first 36 miles, providing a softening up before the rollers become a little longer and steeper until 10 miles from Balltown the riders encounter some very challenging climbs. Leaving Balltown racers face these 10 miles of challenging hills again.

There was excellent racing among Matt Aro, a young tri-athlete from Superior, WI, Larry Ide, last year's winner, Jim Amelung, the course record holder, Paul Carpenter, an experienced ultra rider from Illinois and David Meridith, an official finisher of RAAM.

At about mile 30, Carpenter lost the pack when he flatted and rode the remaining 170 miles solo, still recording an impressive 17.1 mph. average over the course.

At Balltown, Aro, Ide and Amelung were away before Meridith, but the extremely short, steep hills and dehydration separated Amelung from Aro and Ide who continued on, sharing the work to finish in a dead heat at the race's end with an impressive 19.5 mph average over the 201.5 mile course with a total elevation gain of 11,500 feet.

We had some remarkable performances but none more striking than that by Merry Vander Linden who overcame stomach distress and dehydration to foil the neutral support crew who didn't think she would be able to finish. She did finish and became the woman ever to do so, establishing the record for women in the process.

Other records were established
Meridith broke the course record for 50-59 men division set in 2003 by Dave Parker, the organizer of Balltown.

Claudio Vacas established the 60-69 men division record century division with an excellent race.

The rookie of the year goes to go to Aro. Balltown apparently isn't enough of a challenge for this young man who is training to do a DOUBLE Ironman later this year.

The most improved rider award goes to Steve Geering of Blue Grass, IA who improved his average speed from the last time he did Balltown by 8.7%.

The Balltown Classic, part of the Ultracycling Cup Competition to determine the ultra riders of the year.

Results

Double Century	Time	Avg. Speed
Men 25-49
Ide, Larry	10:19	19.53
Aro, Matt	10:19	19.53
Carpenter, Paul	11:47	17.10
Jamison, Mike	13:39	14.76
Ford, William	12:39	15.93
Doyle, Mike	12:41	15.89
Mann, Joe	DNF	Mechanical
Ball, Dave	DNF	Exhaustion
Men 50-59
Meridith, Dave	10:56	18.43, course record
Amelung, Jim	11:08	18.10
Geering, Steve	14:01	14.38
McGuire, James	14:09	14.24
Cale, Gary	14:09	14.24
Swanson, Scott	DNF	Exhaustion
Casson, Tom	DNF	Exhaustion
Men 60-69
Thier, John	13:36	14.82
Women 50-59
Vander Linden, Merry	14:51	13.57, course record
Century
Men 25-49
Rutgers, Scott	5:59	18:35
Men 50-59
Nauseef, Bill	6:21	15.74
Men 60-69
Vacas, Claudio	7:26	13.58, course record
Women 25-49
Meridith, Veronica	DNF	Exhaustion