Half marathon course cutter Ashley Paulson, who served 6 month contamination suspension, wins coveted Badwater 135.

fell in love with a clown at a moron show wrote:

Deepthinker wrote:

The Anchor Down 24 hour race does not seem to have decent competition.

That wasn't the question. It was whether a 24 hour race is inherently harder than an ironman. the answer is no. That's relevant because the prevailing argument sems to be that because Harvey can run a bunch of extremely long ultras, he's some extra-strong athlete and anyone who beats him should be questioned. The fact is, Harvey gets beat at Badwater every year; he's really only notable because he keeps coming back.

- 6 times since 2011, the winner finished faster than his fastest wininng time, which came in 2014

- His 2021 winning time was the slowest in the last 11 years

- His 2022 time would have placed him somewhere between 4th and 8th every year in the last years

Harvey runs pretty much the same race there every year (barring blowups), and depending on the level of competition that shows up, he either wins or he gets defeated. He doesn't have some inner strength that nobody else has.

He's just an example of how ultrarunning has been dominated by marginal runners who would get smoked by athletes with talent who started taking it seriously. that;s why Walmsley kicks everyone's asses in the U.S. - he's 2:15 marathoner who's taking on 2:25 guys.

AP is a 2:37 marathoner who trains for multiple Ironman races a year, is a fitness trainer, started doing ultras 2 years ago and has been the top woman in 4 100+ mile races since. I'd put down money for her to kick Harvey's ass in any race under 200 miles, and that's only because I don't know if she can run that far. I don't know why we think Harvey's murmuring is worth anything more than the yammering of some old man who can't realize he's just not that fast.

Apples to bicycles wrote:

2:37 marathons and Ironmans have nothing to do with 135-milers in extreme heat (and spare me the “she trains in heat and on hills” as if that’s a concept no Badwater runner ever thought of). The pace AP is credited with is about 10:45/mile, so it’s not like she was running fast. Badwater isn’t a speed race. Hate on Harvey all you want, but when you’re a sub-15 guy and verifiably the course record holder for Big Dog’s, you’re not gonna get worn down in a 135-miler by a 17:26 runner going past 100 for the first time, and when you train the way he did for Barkley, you’re not gonna get outworked by somebody doing iFit. He’s not Walmsley but to try to discredit him as an old, slow runner is nonsense. He’s a hell of a runner.

Paulson is a hell of a marathoner and a great all-around athlete. But it’s absolutely ridiculous to think she truly ran the same pace at Badwater that she ran in her PR on a fast course in fall weather about half a year earlier. Comical that “is a fitness trainer” is something that makes you think she legitimately did what the results say she did.

Apples to bicycles wrote:

fell in love with a clown at a moron show wrote:

That wasn't the question. It was whether a 24 hour race is inherently harder than an ironman. the answer is no. That's relevant because the prevailing argument sems to be that because Harvey can run a bunch of extremely long ultras, he's some extra-strong athlete and anyone who beats him should be questioned. The fact is, Harvey gets beat at Badwater every year; he's really only notable because he keeps coming back.

- 6 times since 2011, the winner finished faster than his fastest wininng time, which came in 2014

- His 2021 winning time was the slowest in the last 11 years

- His 2022 time would have placed him somewhere between 4th and 8th every year in the last years

Harvey runs pretty much the same race there every year (barring blowups), and depending on the level of competition that shows up, he either wins or he gets defeated. He doesn't have some inner strength that nobody else has.

He's just an example of how ultrarunning has been dominated by marginal runners who would get smoked by athletes with talent who started taking it seriously. that;s why Walmsley kicks everyone's asses in the U.S. - he's 2:15 marathoner who's taking on 2:25 guys.

AP is a 2:37 marathoner who trains for multiple Ironman races a year, is a fitness trainer, started doing ultras 2 years ago and has been the top woman in 4 100+ mile races since. I'd put down money for her to kick Harvey's ass in any race under 200 miles, and that's only because I don't know if she can run that far. I don't know why we think Harvey's murmuring is worth anything more than the yammering of some old man who can't realize he's just not that fast.

2:37 marathons and Ironmans have nothing to do with 135-milers in extreme heat (and spare me the “she trains in heat and on hills” as if that’s a concept no Badwater runner ever thought of). The pace AP is credited with is about 10:45/mile, so it’s not like she was running fast. Badwater isn’t a speed race. Hate on Harvey all you want, but when you’re a sub-15 guy and verifiably the course record holder for Big Dog’s, you’re not gonna get worn down in a 135-miler by a 17:26 runner going past 100 for the first time, and when you train the way he did for Barkley, you’re not gonna get outworked by somebody doing iFit. He’s not Walmsley but to try to discredit him as an old, slow runner is nonsense. He’s a hell of a runner.

Paulson is a hell of a marathoner and a great all-around athlete. But it’s absolutely ridiculous to think she truly ran the same pace at Badwater that she ran in her PR on a fast course in fall weather about half a year earlier. Comical that “is a fitness trainer” is something that makes you think she legitimately did what the results say she did.

fell in love with a clown at a moron show wrote:

Apples to bicycles wrote:

2:37 marathons and Ironmans have nothing to do with 135-milers in extreme heat (and spare me the “she trains in heat and on hills” as if that’s a concept no Badwater runner ever thought of). The pace AP is credited with is about 10:45/mile, so it’s not like she was running fast. Badwater isn’t a speed race. Hate on Harvey all you want, but when you’re a sub-15 guy and verifiably the course record holder for Big Dog’s, you’re not gonna get worn down in a 135-miler by a 17:26 runner going past 100 for the first time, and when you train the way he did for Barkley, you’re not gonna get outworked by somebody doing iFit. He’s not Walmsley but to try to discredit him as an old, slow runner is nonsense. He’s a hell of a runner.

Paulson is a hell of a marathoner and a great all-around athlete. But it’s absolutely ridiculous to think she truly ran the same pace at Badwater that she ran in her PR on a fast course in fall weather about half a year earlier. Comical that “is a fitness trainer” is something that makes you think she legitimately did what the results say she did.

So your whole argument in the face of all her actual training and athltic achievements is "I don't believe it could happen, so it didn't." Good logic.

People beat Harvey every single year. He's not some incredible runner. He's run as many 38+Badwaters as he's won, and finished 109th at MDS. He hasn't earned the title of "only the elites can beat me."

BTW - he ran just over 1 loop of Barkley. I don't know why you're throwing his training around as some indication of his superiority. The week before Barkley, Ashley ran a sub-3 marathon, and 6 weeks later she posted a 10:25 IM, while Harvey was jogging a 60k so slowly he took video of himself and found a jogging partner to finish with.

He'a a great ultra runner. But he's not some elite athlete that nobody can beat, and it doesn't take a seasoned warrior to beat him - especially when he finishes 4 hours behind the leaders, with the slowest non-blowup race he's run there since his first year. This idea that no matter how slowly he runs in a paticular yer, nobody else should be abe to exceed it, is ridiculous.

Paulson beat the women's record by less than 4 minutes. that's not abnormal. Nobody would care if she hadn't also embarassed poor Harvey.