Who are the top 10 ultrarunners in the country?

Ryan Hall? Dude can't even handle 26.2...

He can't handle 26.2 at the idea of the level he should be at. He could run 2:12 just fine.

Isn't this thread like saying who are the best minor league baseball players in the country.

Or who are the best speed golf players in the country?

Pay Attention Beavis wrote:

Ryan Hall? Dude can't even handle 26.2...

yes because he's never finished a marathon..oh wait!

Max King. Doesn't race 100's but wins nearly every 50k, 50miler, or 100k race he enters.

http://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=Max&lname=King

What happened to Mike Morton?

Ben Hian had a comeback a couple of years ago. Anyone heard from him?

ultramarathoning is like swimming or winter olympic sports - a tiny, tiny competition pool selected from a relatively unathletic population that couldn't have succeeded at any other sport but the one they are in.

who cares.

admit it ultra-boys this is as close to the truth as it gets.

midwestern life wrote:

Meb Keflezghi

Dathan Ritzenhein

Ryan Hall

Abdi

Jason Hartmann

Ryan Vail

Matt Tegenkamp

Mo Trafeh

Nick Arciniaga

Josphat Boit

...and cue post after post after post from friends of fringe candidates for spots 4-10 (most of whom both no one AND noone has never heard of so you'd never be able to tell if the post has a legit arguement or not).

Wondering out loud wrote:

I am interested in knowing who is the best.

way out west wrote:

I'm amazed there has only been one negative comment so far on this thread. There are more ultra runners out there in letsrun land than I thought. And even more amazing, based on the names being thrown out, people who follow the sport. The top level competition is better now than it has been in the past decade that I've been in the sport, and it is getting better. Plenty of young guns like Dakota for the guys and Rory Bosio for the gals (plus others) make it interesting in a sport that has been dominated by a typically older crowd.

I'm surprised by that too. Ultras come in for a lot of hate in the admittedly broadly quite hateful LR. One guy had a very good theory - apparently before the first running explosion, only freaks and counter-culture types ran marathons. Then your HS stud type began running marathons, and as the years progressed it became something hobbyjoggers did to tick off the list.

Meanwhile, the same people who previously ran marathons moved up to ultras, to avoid the preppy middle-class douchebags and fat office workers with a downloaded training plan.

Not sure if it's 100 per cent true, but the difference in cultures between marathon runners and ultra runners is kinda stark.

big egos wrote:

admit it ultra-boys this is as close to the truth as it gets.

midwestern life wrote:

Meb Keflezghi

Dathan Ritzenhein

Ryan Hall

Abdi

Jason Hartmann

Ryan Vail

Matt Tegenkamp

Mo Trafeh

Nick Arciniaga

Josphat Boit

This could be true. But at the moment it is a possible top ten list of any event they haven't tried.

Who are the top 10 ultrarunners in the city?

Our National Champion is Tim Tollefson, a training mate of Deena Kastor. He's run 2:18 in the marathon and ran the 2012 Trials.

htrf wrote:

the same people who previously ran marathons moved up to ultras, to avoid the preppy middle-class douchebags who make up the majority of LetsRun posters

Seriously? He won with no competition there at all. None of the top mountain/trail guys ran there because there was only like 400 bucks for the win. If he had won the mountain running national champs, then maybe we could talk about him a bit. But he didn't beat anyone honestly. Very watered down field

And why the heck was he wearing a trucker hat? Poser galore.

aintgettinany wrote:

arent ultra runners too cool, laid back and crunchy to worry about "peformance" and being "ranked". They're just out there for the experience bro.. taking in the sites...

LOL This made laugh, so spot on.

aintgettinany wrote:

arent ultra runners too cool, laid back and crunchy to worry about "peformance" and being "ranked". They're just out there for the experience bro.. taking in the sites...

Are these web sites or job sites they are taking in? Perhaps archaeological sites?