Man will try to break 129-year-old Canadian track and field record starting on Nov. 15th (The 6 day record is 540 miles/870k)

90 miles a day for 6 consecutive days. Seems intense.

Back then it would be a really impressive record since the shoes back then would have been made of recycled pieces of an old Plymouth and plywood. I wonder what he used to fuel himself with back in 1891 for the 6 days too. Today this record is not hard with modern technology. If Cheptegei attempted it they would probably create an artificial rainbow and get him to follow it across Canada

Jerry Hughes has probably not a chance.

It always amazes me that people without any multiday race experience make such bold statements. But he has done a sub 15 hour 100 miler so he thinks he can run 90 miles each day and have a lot of time left to sleep and rest.

Everybody who has done a 6 day race is smiling now, everybody else will not get my joke.

Good luck Jerry.

Al Howie's ghost wrote:

Everybody who has done a 6 day race is smiling now, everybody else will not get my joke.

Good luck Jerry.

The joke is whoever is stupid enough to do a 6 day race

Work Commute Track Club wrote:

The joke is whoever is stupid enough to do a 6 day race

You are right about that.

It would be silly to take an 1891 record at face value. Even in the modern era when efforts like this can be documented people are cheating like bastards. We've see that umpteen time on this site it the last few years (Robert Young, Raushenberg, the lady on the treadmill in the mall who kept it running while she wasn't on it, etc. etc.)

that's my guess wrote:

It would be silly to take an 1891 record at face value. Even in the modern era when efforts like this can be documented people are cheating like bastards. We've see that umpteen time on this site it the last few years (Robert Young, Raushenberg, the lady on the treadmill in the mall who kept it running while she wasn't on it, etc. etc.)

People in 1891 were just better than people today. There was no Strava and no reason to try to lie to impress their instagram followers.

Also they didn't have doping back then either

Cardiologist wrote:

that's my guess wrote:

It would be silly to take an 1891 record at face value. Even in the modern era when efforts like this can be documented people are cheating like bastards. We've see that umpteen time on this site it the last few years (Robert Young, Raushenberg, the lady on the treadmill in the mall who kept it running while she wasn't on it, etc. etc.)

People in 1891 were just better than people today. There was no Strava and no reason to try to lie to impress their instagram followers.

Oh yeah, I'm SURE people in that generation were BETTER and cheating hadn't been invented. My relatives in that generation would drink you blind and clean out your pockets.

Beyond that it's not reasonable to trust a record from that era simply due to standards and procedures.

Banana Bread wrote:

Also they didn't have doping back then either

But they had cocaine. Seriously.

Banana Bread wrote:

Back then it would be a really impressive record since the shoes back then would have been made of recycled pieces of an old Plymouth and plywood. I wonder what he used to fuel himself with back in 1891 for the 6 days too. Today this record is not hard with modern technology. If Cheptegei attempted it they would probably create an artificial rainbow and get him to follow it across Canada

It's called 'food', clown.

that's my guess wrote:

Oh yeah, I'm SURE people in that generation were BETTER and cheating hadn't been invented. My relatives in that generation would drink you blind and clean out your pockets.

Beyond that it's not reasonable to trust a record from that era simply due to standards and procedures.

Then why do we run marathons? You think Pheidippides actually ran 26.2 miles to announce victory over the Persians?

This 1891 record could be the next big thing where we schedule 6-day races in cities around the world and compete to see who can run 540 miles the fastest.

orly wrote:

This 1891 record could be the next big thing where we schedule 6-day races in cities around the world and compete to see who can run 540 miles the fastest.

There are plenty of 6 day races around the world

Why not make it an even week?

Who knows where Jesse Riley went? Would like his evaluation.

Why 6 days? Why not a week or 3 days?

Is this like a marathon in that is just what someone happened to run and it has been the standard since? Is it some quaint distance so people will have a shot to break a record, like the 4 2/3 day run?

Why 6 days?

I think you guys are focused too much on the 6 days.

It's 540 miles.

If someone can run 540 miles in 5 days or 3 days, even better.

Better start training.

Opinionated guy wrote:

Why 6 days? Why not a week or 3 days?

Is this like a marathon in that is just what someone happened to run and it has been the standard since? Is it some quaint distance so people will have a shot to break a record, like the 4 2/3 day run?

Why 6 days?

Look into the history of pedestrianism to get very fascinating information on the long-distance racing boom of the late 1800s. There were all kinds of events at various distances, a lot of them indoor and many of them on closely monitored short tracks where people could move at any pace/rest strategy they pleased. These racers were very popular as was the betting scene around them.

6 day race eventually became a standard because like you alluded to, a week is a nice round amount of time but wasn't possible with many local governments refusing to let the event happen on Sundays (pretty much everything in the US/Canada was shut down on Sundays in this period).

1 day, 3 days, and 6 days are all still popular events as are 6 hours (1/4 day), 8 hours (1/3 day), and 12 hours (1/2 day). 2 day races exist but are less popular.

This is ballsy, the only other thing that I compared it to would be the 1hr race. Never the less running about 90miles a day is crazy.