EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial

John Donovan, 2012 Platteville High School graduate
VIENNA, Ill. — John Donovan, a 2012 graduate of Platteville High School was the champion of the prestigious Tunnel Hill 100-mile trail race on Saturday, Nov. 9 held in Vienna, Ill.

Donovan’s time of 12 hours, 36 minutes and 26 seconds is the fifth fastest time ever recorded on the Tunnel Hill course. He finished 12 minutes ahead of this year’s second place finisher Phil Young, who had won the race three times previously.

“What a race,” said Donovan. “With an event this long, you never know exactly how it will turn out, even with all the training you’ve put in. 

“Tunnel Hill was one of those times where everything came together perfectly on race day. Steve Durbin and Durbin Race Management put on a fantastic event and I will always be thankful for the time, support and pace work offered by my crew.”

Donovan, who is also a 2016 graduate of Luther College, currently resides in Dubuque with his wife Tricia Serres and works as a Physical Therapist for Dubuque Physical Therapy.

The Tunnel Hill Ultra Trail Races in Vienna are regarded as some of the fastest ultra trail races in the world. 

In 2023, the Men’s 100-mile trail race world record was set on this course by Elov Olssen of Sweden at 11 hours, 26 minutes and 9 seconds. And the men’s 50-mile trail race World Record was also set in 2023. 

This year, the women’s 50-mile world record was also broken on the course. 

The Tunnel Hill course is run mostly on an abandon railroad bed with a grade of 2 percent, but it also hosts several challenging hills in portions of the course.

One of the most widely asked questions among the race officials, fans and competitors in this years race was, “Who Are You?,” directed toward Donovan,  who was a surprise to many seasoned professionals who are involved in the ultra racing circuit. 

To them, Donovan seemed to appear out of nowhere as a new member to the ultra marathon community. 

In late April, Donovan won the Tour de Dodge, a 50-kilometer (31 miles) race at Governor Dodge State Park near Dodgeville and was looking for more of a challenge,

So, he competed in the Kettle Moraine 100-mile Endurance Trail race in June and placed fourth in the field of 151 finishers. 

Although an impressive finish, it did not necessarily capture the attention of the academics of the ultra racing community. That race did however pique Donovan’s interest into the possibility of being able to compete amongst the best ultra racers in the sport. 

He scheduled his next race in Dubuque on Oct. 18 at the Mines of Spain Endurance 100-Miler. 

The day before the race, Donovan contracted a sinus infection. Waking up on race day with a fever and congestion, he felt he needed to at least attempt the challenge. Donovan completed a little over a quarter of the race (26 miles), and was among the leaders when he had to make the decision that his health needed to take precedence over his desire to finish the distance and at that point dropped out of the race.

With the immense amount of training that he had put into getting ready for the event, he felt discouraged that an opportunity may have slipped away. Immediately, he and his wife Tricia (Serres) started to look for another 100 mile race that John could enter capitalizing on the fitness level that he had worked so hard to establish. They discovered that there was an elite 100 Mile race less than a month away in the southern part of Illinois – definitely within driving distance. John was fortunate to gain entrance into the race that caps the number of entrants to 800 competitors. Once John regained his health, his training commenced with race day approaching quickly.

From the start of the race John ran among the leaders for approximately the first 50 miles. A bit after the half way point, John started to create distance between himself and the rest of the field. At one point John had a lead of up to 13 minutes, however in the last 20 miles, the second place finisher, Phil Young began chipping away at John’s lead and with 13 miles remaining had brought John’s lead down to only 6 minutes. Racing 100 Miles is as difficult as it’s name implies, and requires not only a great physical effort, but even more importantly a great amount of mental fortitude. With 10 miles remaining, John turned on his headlamp, and began pressing the pace through the darkness and a down pour of rain to secure the win.

Steve Durbin, race director and founder of the event said, it was one of the best finishes he’s ever seen.

John was aided by his wife Tricia, mother and father (Anne and Tim Donovan) and his brother Kevin. John will be taking some needed time off and is looking forward to his next great adventure.