“What do you mean you’re not gonna race? It’s a race!”
– Scott Jurek
New U.S. 24-hour record
M.E. UPDATE: Scott Jurek was successful in his attempt to set a new U.S. 24-hour record in Brive-La-Gaillarde, France early this morning. Scott ran an incredible 266.677 Km (165.28 Miles) and finished second at the IAU World Championships. Congratulations Scott!
In the world of ultra running, Scott Jurek is a rock star! As I chatted with him at the 2008 Miwok 100K several runners approached Scott for autographs and photo ops. Arguably North America’s most successful ultra runner, much has been written lately about Scott Jurek. Scott was one of the central characters in Christopher McDougall’s best-seller Born to Run. He is also featured in a recent issue of Runner’s World magazine and another article about him appeared today in the New York Times.
Running with the Tarahumara
An abbreviated list of Scott’s accomplishments includes:
- Seven-time winner and course record holder of the Western States Endurance Run;
- Two-time winner and former course record holder of the Badwater 135-mile run;
- Three-time champion of the grueling 250Km Spartathlon. Only the legendary Yannis Kourros has been faster on this course;
- Winner and former course record holder of the Hardrock 100;
- One of only three athletes to have won a 100-mile event in ten consecutive years. Karl Meltzer and Ann Trason are the others.
The tone of the Runner’s World article was a bit depressing as it focused on Scott’s personal struggles and lackluster racing performances from 2009. The New York Times article however is more encouraging as it suggests that Scott is revitalized and ready to reclaim his spot atop the ultra running scene. The article also points out that the vegan athlete feels like he is fit enough to challenge the U.S. 24-hour record of 162.4 miles currently held by Ohio’s Mark Godale.
Scott's wheatgrass crop
Today, Scott will be participating in the 24-hour World Challenge in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France. Monumental Effort will be following with interest the live results of this race. These championships are usually stacked with talent and Jurek has yet to perform particularly well (by his standards) in races of this format (one mile loop repeated over and over again), therefore a victory or U.S. record are far from being in the bag. Nonetheless, we will certainly be rooting for Scott Jurek to do well.
Scott beating the heat at Badwater
M.E. will also be tracking the Canadian contingent at the World’s. The Canadian male runners include:
| 124 | CHENERY | PAUL |
| 125 | McLEAN | ANDREW |
| 126 | BARTEAUX | BRUCE |
| 127 | BIONDIC | GEORGE |
| 128 | HOBLER | IAN |
| 129 | SMITH | CHARLES |
| 130 | BERNIER | SYLVAIN |
And the Canadian women’s team features:
| 8 | VASARHELYI | CHARLOTTE |
| 9 | MCGRATH | THERESA |
| 10 | LUCAS | SUE |
| 11 | STEIL | SANDI |
| 12 | JACOB | MANON |
This course is flat and fast, so perhaps some new Canadian age-group records are within reach.
Follow M.E. on Twitter for reports and results!
Gotta run,
Vince
Postscript: The night before the 2004 Vermont 100-miler, the race director approached Clark Zealand and asked if he was interested in running as there were several no-shows. When Clark agreed to run but announced that he wouldn’t “race”, Scott replied what is quoted at the top of this post. Clark went on to finish second in an astonishing time of 15:03:19.
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After 5 hours, Scott is in second place and less than 1km behind the leader, Japan’s Shingo Inoue.
Run, Scott, Run!
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