What are the best ultras in the World?
This is an interesting question.
Quick answer: It depends.
It depends on so many factors. One of them is that most of us, race only in a certain area. That might be the US, Canada, one of the European countries, South Africa, Japan and South Korea, just to mention the most likely contenders for ultraraces.
There are three main race categories:
A) Everything from Marathon to 100k
B) 100 mile trail races and races up to 24 hours or 250k
C) Multiday races (Stage races or nonstop races)
Here is my list:
A) Comrades Marathon
No race is older and no race is bigger. This would be my top pick for shorter ultras up to 100k.
B) Spartathlon
The ultra of the ultras. Since 1983 the world best road ultrarunners gather for 153 miles with a tough overall cutoff at 36 hours.
C) Marathon de Sables
Patrick Bauer invented a whole new race category back in the 1986. An adventure stage race where you have to carry all your food and gear (exept water) for 6 days and 150+ miles.
The most beautiful course:
Difficult thing to answer if you have not done ultra trail races all over the world.
My pick: Hardrock 100. A beautiful remote high mountain course in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado.
Another contenter could be the Grand Raid de la Réunion a 162k races through the mountains of Réunion island, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean.
Special races:
The Trans America Footrace
The classic format (Tour de France style) invented by founder of the Yankees CC Pyle. It was organized in 1928 and 29. Jesse Reiley Michael Kennedy restarted it in 92 for 4 editions. Until know there have been 11 races.
This is a stage race from coast to coast. Competitors average 45+ miles per day (daily cut offs are usually 3/5 miles per hour) more info here:
https://indd.adobe.com/view/671dbddf-dc25-4bf9-976c-4d38d19770ba
The Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon
This was a nonstop race from Sydney to Melbourne over approximatly 550 miles from 1983 - 1991
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_to_Melbourne_Ultramarathon
There is an excellent Book from Phil Essam for download on this wikipedia page.
The GOAT ultrarunner
This is an easy answer to give. It has to be Yiannis Kouros. He dominated the road ultrarunning from 1983 to 2005 when he set his last world record over 6 days.
The best US ultrarunners would be Scott Jurek with 7 Western States wins, 3x Spartatlon and x times Badwater. Ann Trason with her 14 Western States 100 wins and her former WR over 100k.
Ultrarunning in the US
Since the “invention” of the Western States 100 the US ultrarunning scence is mostly focused on trail ultrarunning with pacers and crews which is unheard of anywhere else. Pacing like it is done in 50 and 100 milers is illegal almost anywhere else. This makes the US ultrarunning so unique. And my guess is that this is also the main reason why top US runners usually don’t do so well in other competitions world wide.
The other dilemma in the US is, that there is not one 100k or 24 hour race on roads which has a fast set up and attracts US runners. Not one. There are two small 100k races. The Mad City 100k and the Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug 100k. They attract less than 20 runners each year. There is also no sufficient 24 hour race on roads in the US right now.
Hoka’s sponsorship of this question at Letsrun.com and the sponsorship of this 100k race last weekend might be a good start to spark the interest in 100k running in the US. The course in Sacramento could be the next great 100k race with a 13 or 15 hour time limit. The US also needs a competitive 24 hour race on a road loop with a real aid station so the runners with out a crew don’t loose too much time. This could be a great opportunity for Hoka to sponsor. Also the US national teams for 100k and 24 hours are always in desperate need for some money to travel to oversea World Championships.