Don Choi, of San Francisco, California, is recognized as being “the father of the modern multi-day race.” Choi made a significant impact on the sport of ultrarunning by bringing back the first multi-day fixed-time races after an absence of about 75 years. As a pioneer ultrarunner, he set the initial modern-day records and won more than 30 early American ultras, most of them fixed-time track ultras. Inspired by the 19th century “Pedestrian” research conducted by Ed Dodd of Pennsylvania, Choi organized the first modern-era six-day race on July 4, 1980, at Woodside, California, winning it too. As six-day races started to reappear, he was the most prolific six-day runner in the world during the 1980s, running in 21 and winning nine of them. In 1984 he became the first modern-era American to run past 500 miles in six days. During the early 1980s Choi held all the American records for distances beyond 100 miles.
Donald L. Choi was born in 1948, in California, to Chinese-American parents. He became a postman in San Francisco and for years delivered mail on the steep Telegraph Hill route that consisted of many hills and a lot of steps. Normally this most difficult mail-route was given to rookies to break them in, but Choi kept the route to stay in shape, carrying a 25-pound mail bag. When he went on vacation, his fellow postmen were not eager to fill in for him. They knew that he finished his route so fast that they would receive complaints while filling in, that the mail would be much later than usual.
In 1972 at the age of 24, Choi watched on TV, Frank Shorter’s Olympic marathon win at Munich, Germany. This inspired Choi to begin serious training. He ran his first ultra in 1974 and his first 100-miler at the 1975 Camellia Festival 100 Miler in Sacramento with a time of 18:20:05 on a concrete sidewalk course in the rain. In 1976, Choi ran the Tahoe 72-miler, all the way around Lake Tahoe and set the course record of 9:45. He then started to win ultras regularly.
Choi was soft-spoken, humble, with a good sense of humor, which concealed the fierce competitor inside. He was deeply respected by his ultrarunning peers and well-liked. Physically, he was a small, thin man and could weigh a low as about 110 pounds at the end of a long race.
A friendship between Ed Dodd and Choi developed when Choi traveled to New Jersey in May 1978, to run in Dodd’s 12-hour Race held at in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Choi stayed at the Dodd home where Dodd showed Choi his historic Pedestrian discoveries from the 19th century. Choi became excited with the fascinating history and started to wish that multi-day races could be brought back to America. Choi won that 12-hour race with 81 miles.
Choi started to organize fixed-time track races in California. His first, was a 24-hour/100-mile race on July 15, 1978, with 19 runners. He hoped to break Ted Corbitt’s 24-hour American record of 134.7 miles set in 1973 in England. He succeeded, running 136.4 miles and ran his life-time personal best 100-mile time of 14:44:00.
On May 26, 1979, Choi established ultrarunning history, when he organized the first formal multi-day fixed-time race of the modern era. It was a 48-hour track race held on a high school track at Woodside, California, with 20 runners, running either 24 or 48 hours. He named the race, “David Copperfield 48-Hour Track Ultramarathon.” Choi set the first modern 48-hour record of 204.5 miles.
Choi’s historic ultrarunning contributions continued as he also brought back the first six-day race on July 4, 1980, on same track at Woodside, California. It was the first six-day race in the world since one held in 1903 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He named his race, “Spirit of ’80 6-Day Track Race” and won the historic race with 401 miles. He remarked, “Personally, I went through quite a range of moods from sulking to nonchalance to carefree elation and mirthful wackiness. Six days is a long time to run and sometimes it is very difficult to concentrate one’s energy entirely on running. For the next one, I shall bring a football.”
Choi decided to retire from race-directing and concentrate more on racing. A month later he set the first known modern 72-hour record in the world of 259 miles and increased the six-day modern world record to 425 miles at Dodd’s Edward Payson Weston Six Day Track Race in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Choi’s accomplishments certainly put the spotlight on the multi-day ultras and other future hall-of-famers started to chase Choi’s marks and learn the art of running for multiple days on a track.
Choi developed into a very prolific six-day runner, even travelling to England and France as the six-day race was reintroduced in Europe. He participated in all the first eleven modern-era six-day races. After Park Barner set a new American record of 445 miles and then 488 miles, Choi really had his sights on breaking the historic 500-mile barrier that a few British runners had recently exceeded.
He finally reached his goal in April 1984 when he won the New Astley Belt Six-Day Race in El Cajon, California, with 506 miles, the first American to exceed 500 miles in the modern era. He increased that American record a few months later to 511 at New York City, when Yiannis Kouros of Greece, crushed the all-time world record with a staggering 635 miles.
In 1984, at the age of 36, Choi experienced his most prolific ultrarunning year, during which he ran in 6 six-day races, winning three of them. In addition, he became the first American to finish the famed Westfield Run – Sydney to Melbourne in Australia, a distance of about 544 miles that year. Choi said, “Ultramarathons fill my need of living out an adventure. I’ve always been intrigued by how far I can extend myself. It’s a form of personal expression. When I’m out there, I’m expressing leftover childhood dreams of adventure.”
In 1985, the first 1,000-mile race ever held in North America was put on at Flushing Meadows, New York with twelve brave runners. Choi won that historic first race in 15 days, 6:24:04, setting the American record. Later in his ultra-career, during his 40s, he went on to finish Western States 100, Spartathlon in Greece, and Badwater 135 in Death Valley. In 1997, he ran his last ultra and walked away from the sport humbly and privately without fanfare or goodbyes. In the years to come, he did run a few marathons including the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon in more than six hours.
Choi reached 100+ miles in more than 60 races during his outstanding 24-year ultrarunning career. His pioneering personal bests include: six days 511 miles, 48-hours 227 miles, 24-hours 136 miles, 100 miles 14:44:00, and 50 miles 5:58:50.
In 2021, Don Choi is 73 years old, doing well, and still delivering the mail in San Francisco, California with no plans to retire. He was honored to learn about his Hall of Fame induction and has fond memories of other ultrarunners during his era. On the day he was inducted, he worked a double-duty 14-hour day delivering mail, thinking about the wonderful people who enriched his life. Since Choi brought back the 48-hour race, more than 500 48-hour races have been held worldwide. Since he brought back the six-day race, about 250 six-day races have been held.