Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Ultrarunning in Ukraine has had a long, wonderful history since the early 1970s. As the country is being ravaged from war, ultrarunners around Ukraine have turned their attention to survival, defending their country, or fleeing as refugees to other countries. Ultramarathons, once held regularly in Ukraine, are sadly gone for now. This episode will hi...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Women's Six-Day Race In 1876, Chicago, Illinois was the six-day race capital of the world. A six-day race frenzy broke out in many other cities, after the incredible Mary Marshall vs. Bertha Von Hillern race was held in February 1876. (see episode 101).  They showed America that not only could men pile up miles in six days, but women could too, even...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch In early 1876 while Edward Payson Weston was taking on England in storm, embarrassing the British long-distance walkers and runners in the first six-day race in that country (see episode 99), the six-day race continued to be of growing interest in America, this time among women! Some in the press called these female wonders, “Pedestriennes.” Was Amer...

By Davy Crockett and Phil Lowry You can read, listen, or watch In Auburn, California, on the evening of July 30, 1972, an awards banquet was held at the fairgrounds for the finishers of the Western States Trail Ride, also known as the Tevis Cup. There was additional excitement that year among the exhausted riders, who early that morning had finished the most famous endurance ride in the world. Not...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch The six-day challenge (running as far as you could in six days) originally started in England during the late 1700s. Fifty years later, in the 1820s, a six-day frenzy occurred as many British athletes sought to reach 400 or more miles in six days (see episode 91). But then, six-day attempts were essentially lost for the next 50 years. Surprisingly, i...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch In 1875, Edward Payson Weston was the most famous ultrarunner (pedestrian) in the world. Like a heavyweight boxing champion dodging his competition to keep his crown, he avoided repeated challenges to race against the up-and-comer, Daniel O’Leary of Chicago, Illinois. The two were the most famous American athletes in 1875. During August 1875, it was...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Daniel O'Leary By March 1875, Edward Payson Weston, from New York City, was on top of the ultrarunning world (called Pedestrianism). He had just won the first six-day race in history, was the only person who had ever walked 500 miles in six days and held the 24-hour world walking record of 115 miles. Through his efforts and the promotion of P.T. Barn...

By Davy Crockett The Across the Years race, established in 1983, is one of the oldest fixed-time races in the world that is still held annually. The race is always held at the end of the year, crossing over to the new year with a grand celebration. Through the years, it has attracted many of the greatest fixed-time ultrarunners in the world and still today is the premier and largest fixed-time rac...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch P.T. Barnum featured ultrarunners (pedestrians) in 1874 who were attempting to reach 500 miles in six days, to bring paying patrons into his massive indoor Hippodrome in New York City 24-hours a day. Even though the first attempts by Edward Payson Weston and Edward Mullen came up short (see part 3), America became fascinated by these very unusual eff...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch The ultimate showman, P.T. Barnum of circus fame, was surprisingly the first serious ultrarunning promoter and established the first six-day race in America. He was famous for the saying “There’s a sucker is born every minute,” and figured out how to get America to come out by the thousands to watch skinny guys walk, run and suffer around a small ind...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Congratulations to Eric Clifton, originally from North Carolina, now of California, who was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame on November 19, 2021.  Clifton was the fastest and most dominating 100-mile trail runner during the 1990s as trail ultras became popular in America. His “go for broke” race strategy was legendary, as he demo...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch The six-day race became the most popular ultrarunning (pedestrian) event of the 19th century. In Part 1 of this series, Foster Powell started it all in 1773 when he ran 400 miles in six days in England. During the next fifty years, ultrarunners tried to match and beat his historic effort, especially during a four-year six-day frenzy of 1822-25. But a...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Recently, the six-day race received some attention in ultrarunning news because the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) announced that they would no longer recognize the six-day event or keep records for it. This shocked many ultrarunning historians and particularly runners who participate in multi-day fixed-time races.  After a brief upr...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Get this history in my new book In 1963, President John F. Kennedy unintentionally played a role that provided the spark to ignite interest for ultrarunning both in America and elsewhere. The door was flung open for all who wanted to challenge themselves.  An unexpected 50-mile frenzy swept across America like a raging fire that dominated the newspap...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Get this history in my new book Spartathlon, an ultra of 246 km (153 miles), takes place each September in Greece, running from Athens to Sparta and with its 36-hour cutoff. It is one of the toughest ultramarathons to finish. In Part 1 of this series, episode 88, the story was told how Spartathlon was born in 1982, the brainchild of an officer in the...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Get this history in my new book Spartathlon is one of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the world. It is a race of about 246 km (153 miles), that takes place each September in Greece, running from Athens to Sparta on a highly significant route in world history. It attracts many of the greatest ultrarunners in the world. This is part one of a ser...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch The Old Dominion 100, established in 1979, was held in Virginia along the beautiful Shenandoah River. It was one of the first classic modern-era American trail 100-milers. Today, few ultrarunners have even heard about this race. Old Dominion 100’s origin story is similar to Western States 100. It also emerged from the horse endurance riding sport. Th...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Jackie Mekler from South Africa was perhaps the greatest ultrarunner in the world during the late 1950s and early 1960s and was a five-time winner of the Comrades Marathon (54 miles). His path to greatness is particularly inspiring because as a boy in an orphanage, he became a self-taught runner. He was boosted by fierce self-determination that grew...

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Mavis Hutchison was a pioneer ultrarunner from South Africa who blazed the trail for women runners worldwide. She finished Comrades Marathon (55 miles) eight times in years when very few women ran. She had an impressive ultrarunning career that took her to many countries, and she went on to become one of the most popular women in South Africa.   Chil...

By Andy Milroy You can read, listen, or watch An audio podcast episode has been added to this article. Early conditioning can be very important. Wally Hayward came from a very tough background. His father, Wallace George Hayward, the son of a coal agent, had been born in Peckham in London, England in 1880, and emigrated to South Africa sometime between 1901 and 1906, in his early twenties. It look...

By Andy Milroy You can read, listen, or watch The forgotten man of Ultrarunning is arguably Hardy Ballington (1912-1974), lauded in 1939 in Natal, South Africa, as “the second Newton” and a “human machine”. Dominant immediately before and after the Second World War, he was awarded the prestigious Helms Trophy for his remarkable performances In England in 1937. The authoritative Lore of Running, (2...

By Davy Crockett  You can read, listen, or watch Professional ultrarunners/pedestrians of the late 1800s and early 1900s were constantly looking for endurance races or head-to-head matches to prove their abilities and make significant amounts of money. During the mid 1880s, some of them, including popular black ultrarunner Frank Hart, changed out their leather running shoes for roller skates durin...

By Davy Crockett  You can read, listen, or watch The 1978 Western States 100 was the second year the race was held.  Six years earlier, seven soldiers from Fort Riley Kansas proved that the horse trail could be conquered on foot, and they were awarded with the “First Finishers on Foot” trophy by Western States founder, Wendell Robie (1895-1984). Two years later, in 1974, Gordy Ainsleigh surprised...

By Davy Crockett  You can read, listen, or watch The Comrades Marathon (about 55 miles), held in South Africa, is the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon race that is still held today with fields that have topped 23,000 runners. The year 2021, marked the 100th anniversary of Comrades Marathon “The Ultimate Human Race.” Comrades today is one of the most paramount ultrarunning events on the int...

By Davy Crockett  You can read, listen, or watch In the late 1970s, Hawaii had the most runners per-capita than any other state. Some called it the “running capital of the world.” Hawaii was also an early adopter of the 100-mile race and other ultras distances races. Similar to the Fort Mead 100 in Maryland (see episode 75), Hawaii’s first 100-milers grew out of ultra-distance relays and shorter u...