What are the best ultramarathon records? (Sponsored by HOKA)

In 1972 the English Club Tipton Harriers were invited to compete in the Comrades Marathon which was the unofficial best ultra race in the world. Tipton were invited after winning the best ultra event in the UK the London to Brighton and were challenged by several Springboks to test themselves in South Africa.

The team consisted of several experienced Ultra athletes who had victories over a variety of distances including Ron Bentley world record holder for 100 miles. They were accompanied by Mick Orton who had no ultra experience and originally was going to help the team at feeding stations. Mick was eventually persuaded to compete and made his ultra debut in the event. He went on to produce an unbelievable performance, he won and broke the course record for the uphill version of the event (sea level to 5,000 feet). A new Comrades legend was born by a complete novice.

The late Ron Bentley was world record holder for the 24 hour event not 100 miles as I previously stated.

Yannis 48 hr and it's not even close to other records in terms of absurdity and mind numbing suffering, which after all is basically what Ultras are, a mental event. Let it so k on again, two days straight at 9 something pace.

Poor analogy

Except...did he run 2:30 (3:30/km) pace or a constant approx 4:45/km pace?

On another note, Comrades is given a mention in OP, then the usual trail ultras and how good are these Americans. What is actually the point of these Hoka sponsored exercises?

You cannot actually compare Comrades to any of the trail ultras, the 24 hrs around track etc...they are chalk and cheese.

Comrades is a competitive, mass road race. Balls to the wall most of the time, not one guy out in the forest doing some canyons.

Two Oceans isn't even identical, because you can treat that as a marathon race, and race hard...the 50km (official timed and measured ) split of Magawana after a serious Chapmans Peak still stands, the finish time of 3:03,14km later after the gruelling Constantia Nek still stands since the 80's

But you cannot say it is better or worse than Gatebe's 5:18, or Walmsley's 14 whatever at WS. it is like comparing the long jump to hurdles.

If I had to get a pair of Hokas it would only be to date taller ladies.

Karel Sabbe's Appalachian Trail record of 41 days, 7:39 is pretty ridiculous. 53 miles per day on the AT?! I realize this isn't a race, but the AT itself is iconic, and to be able to put in that type of mileage on that trail over 6 weeks is truly impressive.

Has anyone ever staged a race on it?

I'm going to cast another vote for Kouros's 24-hour record. It's just ridiculously good. Who is the 2nd-best 24-hr runner of all time? I don't think anybody else has gotten in the 180's.

I like to think of it in terms of kilometers, because he broke through the 300k barrier. I've run quite a few ultras over the years, so I have a fair sense of what a good time is. For 50k, breaking 4 hours (on a fairly easy course) is solid. It's fairly close to a 3:00 marathon - maybe not quite that level, but close. So anybody who can break 8:00 for 100k is a VERY solid performer. Doing three sub-8 100k's back to back to back is just about unfathomable.

Camille Herron's 162.9 miles was pretty spectacular, but she's not within the 10-12% that most women's records are in comparison to men's, so I'd say Kouros's mark is intrinsically superior. Perhaps she can improve, though.

The best women's mark (and by quite a ways) has to be Tomoe Abe's 6:33 for 100k. But it was so out of the blue, with no other ultras to her name that I know of, that it just seems odd. She was a fast marathoner who I believe won WC bronze, so I think it gives a hint of what elite marathoners could do for 100k if they pursued it. Especially those unbreakable Japanese.

My 2nd-place vote would go to Kouros's 6-day record of almost 1039km (644 miles or so). For me, I would consider that a solid 3 months of training mileage.

For sure Kouros's 24 hour.

Then of course that infamous "Comrades Up Run Record"....by that 2:10 marathoner/doctor guy who Eddy H claimed gave him EPO....

So some records may be doped... (we must reason that is a possibility!).

For women for sure 6:33 for 100km....that is nuts!

After that I'm lost. Courses do change slightly from year to year and of course weather is a big factor. In mountain-trail running I think some of the best records are actually "sub-ultra" in distance. (i.e. Carpenters untouchable 3:16 at Pikes or Jono Wyatts 56-min on Mt. WA etc.). Races like Sierre-Zinal have more competitive depth and history compared to most trail-ultras (at least in the US).

Posted this on other thread-

Trail Course Records- Francois D'Haene at UTMB 2017 (shortened course but still would have been a CR in tough conditions against a strong field), Rory Bosio at UTMB 2013

Road/Track Records- Yiannis Kouros 24hr WR, Camille Herron 100 mile WR

I believe all the records above are legitimate. I don't support including Russians on any performance lists (likely doped) or the women's 100k WR that was aided by a tailwind.

D'Haene's 2017 UTMB win was a darn good performance....esp considering the field he beat head to head was probably the deepest field in ultra-trail running history (when combined). He seems to be really good with trekking poles (other races he's done like Transvulacania...not so much though).

Do you have evidence that the women's 100km was aided by a tailwind?

Do you think the Russians are the only ones who dope? I can tell you from personal experience that testing is a joke in ultras.

ultra trail legends wrote:

I believe all the records above are legitimate. I don't support including Russians on any performance lists (likely doped) or the women's 100k WR that was aided by a tailwind.

you have no proof that the W100k record was aided by a tailwind. Plus, the course is record eligible according to the IAAF rules. do you think that a tailwind saved her 25+ minutes over a 62 mile race?

For me it's without a doubt runs from Comrades, Two Oceans as well as Yiannis Kouros 24 hour on the track and Oleg Kharitanov's 100mile record on the track.

Comrades Marathon 89.280km record David Gatebe 5:18:19.

His split through 83km where there was a mat was 4:53:10 so you do the math what he went through 80 miles in.... faster than anyone else in the World has ever gone. Comrades will be putting a mat at 50 miles from next years event

Equally impressive is the ladies record held by Frith Van Der Merwe, 89.3km in 5:54:43. She also holds the Two Oceans 56km record of 3:30:36 which included the still current 50km world record of 3:08:39.

Thompson Magawana's Two Oceans 56km record of 3:03:44 has stood since 1988 and nobody has been able to beat it. That performance also included the still current 50km wr of 2:43:38. Two Oceans also is not a flat pancake course, which includes around 7km of climbing alone

Yiannis Kouros 24 hour track record of 303.506km is amazing as is Oleg Kharitanov's WR over 100miles on the track in 11:28:03. I remember slightly that for the record he needed to run the last 10km under 37:30 odd and did it. Camille Herron as well who did 12:42 over 100 miles is very impressive

Besides David's Comrades record, I think one that definitely stands out for me is the WR for 100km ladies of 6:33:11 is out of this World belonging to Japan's Tomoe Abe who was also a 2:26:09 marathoner and World Championships bronze medallist in the marathon

The Lake Saroma Ultramarathon course is point-to-point, mostly west to east.

So if you have a wind from the west during the race, it will aid the runners.

I don't have data on the wind direction and speed in 2000 when Tomoe Abe ran 6:33:11 .

Similar to how the tailwind in the 2011 Boston Marathon resulted in a lot of fast times.

I don't have specific data for that race, either, but it seems to be well recognized.

Curious Powers y wrote:

Yannis 48 hr and it's not even close to other records in terms of absurdity and mind numbing suffering, which after all is basically what Ultras are, a mental event. Let it so k on again, two days straight at 9 something pace.

I have to agree, Kouros 48 hour WR of 294 + miles is 9:48 per mile pace for 48 straight hours, that is mind boggling.

Don Ritchies 100 mile WR of 11:30 is 6:54 per mile pace for 100 miles, also hard to grasp.

If you want to consider from a perspective of the masses, then I also think it has to be running on the roads or track, which is something everyone can relate to.

When I started running in 2009, I stumbled across Kouros' records and still can't believe them.

But if you had mentioned UTMB or Comrades or Western States, etc, I wouldn't have even known what you're talking about nor would I be able to understand what 14:30 at WS means.

Therefore records that are easy to understand, like 188 miles in 24 hours have to the answer.

I knew some guy who walked 100 miles in 24 hours. That's like totally hard to do in trail shoes.

Proust wrote:

Leadville 100 miles

Course record: Matt Carpenter 15:42:59 (2005)

High Altitude, High Net Elevation Gain

Leadville starts and ends in the same spot.

I feel that Sage Canaday's course record at the White River 50 (6:16:10) is underrated. It beat Anton's previous CR by almost 10 minutes and since Sage set the CR, the closest anyone has gotten to it is a 6:26.

Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Amazingly, his last one was his fastest, on the super hilly New York City marathon where he finished with an astounding time of 3:30, a super speedy 8:00/mile pace!

Sprints are allowed to have 2.0 m/s of tailwind.

Road races are allowed to have tailwind as long as the start and finish are relatively close to one another. Boston is a straight line for 26 miles. Lake Saroma falls within the rules even if it has a tailwind on average. My point earlier was that the 6:33 is still far and beyond any other female 100k time that the tailwind shouldn't matter anyway unless you think it was worth 25 minutes, which is about how far ahead of the 2nd best 100k time she is.