No surprise... the faster you are, the better you are.
Max obliterated the CR at Chuckanut with a 3:35 in manpris, while Sage destroyed the comp at Tarawera in 5:33.
No surprise... the faster you are, the better you are.
Max obliterated the CR at Chuckanut with a 3:35 in manpris, while Sage destroyed the comp at Tarawera in 5:33.
KjKranz wrote:
Last night a runner even relatively unknown to ultra marathoners, Zach Bitter, broke the two records at the Desert Solstice track event in AZ.
He bested the 11:59 American 100 mile record from the same event last year with an 11:47 and the previous best of 100.91 from 1985 by Yiannis Kouros with 101.66 miles in 12 hours.
Recently he also ran the fastest 50 miler by a North American in the last 3 decades.
100 7:04 miles...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152034549427114&set=a.10151784013707114.1073741848.33739517113&type=1
Copw;l wrote:
No surprise... the faster you are, the better you are.
Max obliterated the CR at Chuckanut with a 3:35 in manpris, while Sage destroyed the comp at Tarawera in 5:33.
At the short ultras speed below the marathon matters. As the races get longer and/or more technical having run a sub 2:20 marathon is less and less a predictor of success.
When are Max and Sage doing a 100?
When was there a 100 that mattered?
When was anything that mattered?
Copw;l wrote:
When was there a 100 that mattered?
Copw;l wrote:
When was there a 100 that mattered?
Maybe it's just my perception, or maybe things have changed, but when I was running ultras regularly, Western States was THE race. So many runners at the 50k and 50 mile races were doing them largely as glorified training runs for the WS 100 (or a different 100 miler). So that is the answer to your question "when was there a 100 that mattered?" I would say without a doubt that WS100 is the most prestigious ultra in the US.
Not to take anything away from Max King and Sage Canaday, but to a lot of ultrarunners, 100 milers are the true testing ground. Let's face it, it's not at all surprising these guys can run really well at 50k, and 50 miles is not too much of a stretch. If somebody is a good marathoner and generally a tough, stubborn type, it doesn't surprise anybody when they are able to translate that talent to the 50 mile distance. 100 miles is "only" twice as far, but takes runners into different physiological territory. In short, for 50 miles you can survive largely on your body's stored energy, but in a 100 you can't. You can't fake it, and you can't fall apart and just "tough it out".
That said, I wouldn't want to diminish the accomplishments of those 2 guys. I think they'd probably be great 100 mile runners if they took it on. I've been wanting to see what Max King could do at 100 mies for a decade or more. I'd really like to see him target Western States and see what he could do. Still, until they do 100 miles and deliver the goods, they're just really good runners in the shorter ultras. Which is a big deal to people like me, but it doesn't mean I think they'd be the best at 100 miles, 24 hrs, 6 days, etc, just because they're the best at 50 miles. Who knows - they might be like Zersenay Tadese - fantastic at the half-marathon, but disappointing in the marathon.
I think Zach Bitter proved that Max and Sage, especially Sage, would be phenomenal over 100 miles.
And I agree with you, the game has changed, thanks to Kilian Jornet. The 100 mile distance doesn't matter anymore. It's about racing a mountain trail as hard as you can, regardless of the distance. That's why Kilian is so popular and 100 mi legends like Krupicka and Jurek and Trason are ghosts of the past.
I also look at it differently than you. For me Western States was one of the world's most popular TRAIL run, not 100 miler. If you want to be considered GREAT, you have to win UTMB. We all know now that Western is a joke of a course, flat and a breeze. Guys with limited talent can run well at Western States, but those same guys can't even finish, let alone line up, at a race like UTMB.
Western States is a very American-centric race which pales in comparison to difficulty to UTMB, races in the Dolomites, and other Sky Ultras like TransCanaria.
And your analogy to Tadese makes no sense. He is still a 2:10 Marathoner. It's not like he runs 3hrs.
Recent interview with Sage:
http://100milesisnotthatfar.com/athlete-profile-sage-canaday/
Interesting that he and Max went to the same college (Cornell U.), but didn't they have different coaches?
Copw;l wrote:
And your analogy to Tadese makes no sense. He is still a 2:10 Marathoner. It's not like he runs 3hrs.
I don't know, that makes perfect sense to me - he's the best 1/2 marathoner ever, totally dominant, world record holder, and is he even in the top 1000 marathoners of all time?
I know 2:10 is good, but not for a 58:23 guy.
I also think you are a little too quick to dismiss certain runners as "ghosts of the past", especially Ann Trason. Are you kidding me? You don't win WS100 14 times without some genuine talent on a world level. (As an aside, I'd say that winning any race - even if it's your local 5k fundraiser - 14 times is pretty darn impressive.) Especially when a couple of those wins were a couple of weeks after winning Comrades! I mean, come on, who are these women that have relegated Ann Trason to "ghost of the past" status? (That's not entirely a rhetorical question - I'm not up-to-date on the world ultra scene - are there women on the current scene who are considered superior to Trason?)
Yeah I definitely think we'll have our chance at seeing each one have their hand at a 100 before they retire. I'm betting we have to wait until after the Olympic trials for the Marathon, but the year following I bet we see it.
I don't know if you can classify UTMB as the be all world 100. Last year was the first year in a long time it actually went around Mt. Blanc. Like 4 years of adjusted route? The weather can play a huge factor and guys who are season experts of the sport like Heras can take numerous times to nail it down. Definitely is a different beast than a race like Western, but then again you don't have to deal with 104 degree humid canyons at UTMB. All ultras require a specific type of prep, ones that will suit certain runners better than others.
Both those guys had great races this weekend putting down dominating performances, but to make a blanket statement saying they're the best trail/ultra guys is to disrespect the growing depth of the sport. You have guys like Dakota, Rob, DBo, Mike and Mike, etc. etc. etc. who have beaten those guys and gotten beaten by them. You have youngins (relative) like Paul, Chris, Zach, Ryan and others who will make an impact. And to say that Tony, Trason and Jurek have faded into the unknown is down right ignorant. You take that back.
Anyway, I wish espn could stream NCAA's a little more competently.