By Andy Milroy
2020 was an interesting year for ultrarunning. The Covid virus meant no international championships were held, and in numerous countries the sport shutdown almost entirely. Eastern Europe was less affected during the first half of 2020, and some races were held, including national championships.
The slower paced, less intensely competitive 24-hour events look to have been more popular. The 100 km, with the prospect of runners running together, as in shorter road races, were either cancelled or attracted small numbers. In the United States where the big cities were badly hit with infection, runners went for widely dispersed trail races or virtual races. The 24 hours became less competitive time trials, with runners able to run almost in isolation, focused on their own pace. Still in the race situation, but able to space themselves out.
The 1978 Western States 100 was the second year the race was held. Six years earlier,
The Comrades Marathon (about 55 miles), held in South Africa, is the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon race that is still held today with fields that have topped 23,000 runners.
In the late 1970s, Hawaii had the most runners per-capita than any other state. Some called it the “running capital of the world.” Hawaii was also an early adopter of the 100-mile race and other ultras distances races. Similar to the Fort Mead 100 in Maryland (
The Strolling Jim 40, held in Wartrace, Tennessee, is one of the top-five oldest ultras in America that is still being held to the present-day (2021). It is a road race that runs on very hilly paved and dirt roads, the brainchild of Gary Cantrell (Lazarus Lake). Because its distance is a non-standard ultra-distance of 41.2 miles, the race perhaps has not received as much publicity as it deserves among the ultrarunning sport. But buried within, is a storied history along with a seemly unbreakable course record set in 1991 by Andy Jones of Canada (and Cincinnati, Ohio), one of the greatest North American ultrarunners who most of the current generation of ultrarunners have never heard of before.
In the 1970s, a 24-hour relay craze took place at high schools, colleges and running clubs. By 1972, Runner’s World Magazine, in Mountain View, California, was publishing results along with some standardized rules for these relays participated by hundreds of runners. The Washington and Baltimore Road Runners Clubs were early adopters the relay format when they established a 24-hour 10-man-team relay race in 1970 on the track at Mullins Field in Fort Meade where participants would run one-mile legs. The event would eventually expand to 50-mile and 100-mile solo races competed by many of the best American ultrarunners of the time.
