mooonshot wrote:
Back to the basics, you're being dense, right, on purpose? Did you not watch the race or listen to the plan or interviews? If things were going well, Walmsley was going to go for the WORLD RECORD for 50 Miles. A record that had stood for almost 30+ years by whom some might say was the GREATEST ultra runner of all-time, Bruce Fordyce. And so, he went for it and said, screw the 100k record, based on his sensations that day, and then finished up the 100k after the 50 mile WR.
You can watch the race online if you haven't seen it so you can be educated.
Jim Walmsley is a fantastic runner and since he started running a bit more clever and actually finishing races he has been crushing it. But I have to correct a few things here:
- The whole event was a 100 km race, not a 50 mile race (that's why JW hat to jog it in for the record to count).
- 100 km is the gold standard in road ultras, not 50 miles. No one cares about 50 miles, really.
- Hideaki Yamauchi won the race and clearly was the strongest runner that day.
- That said, Jim Walmsley 50 mile record was pretty good. I respect that.
- Still, the 50 mile record stood for so long because 50 miles are very rarely run, and all the best road ultra guys focus on the 100 km.
- Bruce Fordyce is by far not the greatest ultra runner of all times. Ever heard of Yannis Kourus, Don Ritchie, or if we include trails, Kilian Jornet?
Now, Jonas Buud in 2015 was a machine (that's when he set the Ultravasan CR and won 100 km Worlds a few weeks later). So Jim coming within a few minutes of that record is incredibly impressive - that is some serious, serious running.