Annual Kipchoge would destroy the field at UTMB and CCC

Tom Evans would have been destroyed by Kipchoge, sorry.

Please let me know the race you are the most proud of your finish time. I will fly out and run it and beat your time by a lot. Then maybe you’ll agree to see my viewpoint on this? 100 miler, 200 miler, through a desert, summiting a 14er, bring it on!

For example, Jacob Kiplimo can become an elite trail runner in 1 year of dedicated training and legitimately take UTMB. Walmsley/Jornet/Roche can hop into a time machine and go back to their mid-teens and specifically train for the marathon for as long as that possibly could and would never crack 2:10.

elite trails runners vs elite marathoners isn’t comparing apples to oranges. More like macintosh to a honey crisp. Trail running isn’t rocket science. It’s quite simple to understand. It is the pickleball and frisbee golf of the running world

Yes these skills can be learned but very fast Marathoners will have a difficult time learning them. And it's not like anybody is holding Kenyans or Ethiopians back at UMTB or Comrades but they are not showing up there.

I have finished Spartathlon and Hardrock.
Please let us know when you will races these races in the future. Right now you could not even finish the qualifiers for these.

Ok tough guy. Please fly out and break my record at Pikes Peak Ascent.

Ian Thompson, who set a world marathon record of 2:09:12 in the Christchurch Commonwealth Games in 1974 won the London to Brighton - just over 54 miles - in 5:15:15 (about 5:50 per mile).

That would compare very closely with Down Run Times in the Comrades in that era.

Nobody is arguing that Kiplimo and top track/marathon guys are not better athletes than top trail runners. More money means bigger talent pool. With a year of training he would probably be a favorite for Zegama or something relatively short. You are underestimating the physiological burden of a 2 vs 20-hour race, so I don't think he would be a favorite for UTMB. You're the one who needs to tell us what technical and ultra races you've done that gave you the experience to talk such a big game.

I got you, queen! I’ll report back in 2026

Who are you?

Just drop your best race time/distance and the course. I promise I will back it up with a better performance. When I do that, will you agree to soften your hard fixed beliefs and gatekeeping around ultra marathons? Not one person here is willing to do that.

It is not gatekeeping to say that you're underestimating how different a 20-hour effort is from a 2-hour one, and technical trails from roads. Go run UTMB and report back, nobody is stopping you.

Jacob Kiplimo started out as a mountain runner and became an elite track and road runner.

Who is "Annual Kipchoge" ?

A better analogy would be if NFL players decided to play flag football. I think you know what the result would be. Professional marthoning and professional ultra-miling don't require wildly different body types or talent areas. Someone who can run 4:40 miles for 26.2 could easily run 6 minute miles for a lot longer with a little bit of education in fueling. Most ultra runners would struggle to run a single 4:40 mile.

The people who dominate ultra running are simply not elite level world class athletes in any sense, just like people who dominate flag football are not. They are simply the best of small group of people in a hobby. Top level football/soccer players and top level track athletes are all world class. When they walk in a room, it is obvious they are not "normal" people. It's a tough pill to swallow for the ultra guys I know, maybe their triple hopped double chocolate milkshake IPAs can help get it down.

2:00:20 Pikes Peak Ascent. Go for it tough guy.

The ultra runners are downvoting me because they can't handle the fact that world records are set in their sport by tubby middle aged Russian dudes who started running in their 30s and post menopausal women.

Anyone who can make a D1 mens' team has more running talent than the best ultra runners in the world. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

Won't blame you for boring flat running rotting your brain, but let it go Roadkingsovertrailqueens. Not a good look.

But muh hills. Hiking up a hill at 30 minutes a mile is not impressive. My grandma could do that. A few years ago at world cross they built a hill into the side of a building and dudes were ripping up it at 4:40 pace. That is impressive. That is world class running.

I have still yet to hear a coherent explanation for why the current American 48 hour record (for men and women) is held by a middle aged woman with no serious track/road running resume. However, I don't really need to, because we all know the answer: ultra running is not a serious sport. Is is a hobby for wealthy people with too much to time on their hands to brag about on LinkedIn.

I went to college with a guy who graduated a couple years behind me. We both studied math, I graduated with a 3.0 GPA while he graduated with honors, and I believe a CS minor to boot.

I bounced around for a few years before I found my calling in public education where I have been a high school math teacher for 10+ years. He jumped on the PhD track before Northrop or Raytheon I forget who offered him a bag of money to design drones to put rockets up people’s butts, which he’s been doing for about as long as I’ve been a classroom teacher.

There is a 0% chance I could show up in his place at work on Tuesday and do his job in any meaningful way. If he showed up in my classroom, he could probably get through the day, but there is a 0% chance of him being even remotely as effective as I am. How long would it take him to “catch” me? Maybe two years, maybe three, or maybe never. I’m not afraid to say I’m really freaking good at what I do, and while he is a vastly superior mathematician than I am, the skill set and learned experience of the teaching profession is not one that everyone can pick up, no matter how intelligent.