Ultrarunning History

153: The 3rd Astley Belt Six-Day Race (1879)

March 2, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:40 — 49.2MB)

By Davy Crockett

This is the story of the ultramarathon that was the most impactful of all races in the history of the sport. This race was witnessed by tens of thousands of people in Madison Square Garden and followed by millions in long daily newspaper story updates. It received so much attention that it sparked an ultrarunning frenzy on multiple continents and captured the imagination of millions of people who came to realize the humans can run hundreds of miles and not die. This is the story of the 3^rd Astley Belt race, held March 10^th through 15^th, 1879 in New York City.

Make sure you get my new book on Amazon, The Six-Day Race Part One: When Ultrarunners were Called Pedestrians (1875-1879). You will read stories that have never been retold before. For the next few episodes of this podcast, we will return to the late 1800s as I research for part 2 of the six-day race history, and uncover amazing stories that have been missed by other pedestrian historians.

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152: Classic Ultramarathon Beginnings

February 17, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:45 — 34.5MB)

Listen to the audio version. I included my interview on the very good Trail Runner Nation podcast. I recently went on it to talk to the guys about my new book, Classic Ultramarathon Beginnings. We discussed several of the very early ultras in our history.

Classic ultramarathons (races longer than 26.2 miles) include the oldest races, the most prestigious, the largest, the toughest, and the races that have captured the imagination of outsiders who look inside the fascinating sport of ultrarunning. Classic Ultramarathon Beginnings is the definitive history of how nine classic ultras began and includes the history of their first years.

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151: Around the World on Foot: Three Stories

February 4, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:04 — 29.7MB)

By Davy Crockett

The “around the world on foot” craze of the 1890s was first dominated by Americans, but eventually spread to Europeans. Some very interesting individuals, mostly from Germany and France, appeared in New York City claiming to be making a global journey on foot. Most were usually highly educated and impressive. Why would someone leave their well-respected careers and endure the hardship of being on the road for months and years? But the biggest question is why the public and news press could believe in such a hoax. Well, some figured it out. Here are three stories that were followed in newspapers across America. In a way, this was their way of following a continuing reality show that was often printed on the front pages of newspapers. These three stories are among more than 60 included in my new book, Around the World on Foot: The Early Globetrotters.

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150: Around the World on Foot: The Paper Suits

January 19, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:02 — 28.9MB)

By Davy Crockett

My new book, Around the World on Foot: The Early Globetrotters is available on Amazon. After an introduction to help you understand what in the world was going on, I will share a chapter about the strange tradition of starting in a paper suit.

I am pretty proud of this book. I wanted to share some details about what my research found. Years ago, as I was doing some research into transcontinental walks and runs, I came across some newspaper articles about two German men, in 1893, who were trying to walk all the way around the world, taking steamers between continents. I had never heard of something like that before, so I did some further research that resulted in episodes 38-45. But I still didn’t understand just how many people took part in the frenzy on foot.

In recent months, I researched the topic much deeper, which resulted in my new book, Around the World on Foot: The Early Globetrotters. The reason I’m proud of this book is that no one else has ever researched deeply the amazing event before. No one had ever before lined up side-by-side the hundreds of walker stories to answer many questions of why.

Why were there so many walkers? Some towns got tired of globetrotters continually coming into their towns.
Did any of them truly succeed circling the globe on foot?
How many of them were frauds?
Why did it take so long for the public, including newspaper reporters, to catch on to some schemes?
How many years did this fad last?
Why did many of these globetrotters start in paper suits?
Who originated that wild idea?
Were there really some around the world races as several of these globetrotters claimed?

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149: Encore – Across the Years

December 31, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:38 — 34.3MB)

By Davy Crockett

This is an encore episode with additions in the article.

The Across the Years race, established in 1983, is one of the oldest fixed-time races in the world that is still held annually. The race is always held at the end of the year, crossing over to the new year with a grand celebration. Through the years, it has attracted many of the greatest fixed-time ultrarunners in the world and still today is the premier and largest fixed-time race in America. Over its impressive history, about 2,500 runners have logged more than 500,000 miles at Across the Years. It all started in 1983, the brainchild of Harold Sieglaff, of Phoenix, Arizona. This episode is a tribute to Sieglaff and the other pioneer ultrarunners who were the first to run this famed ultra.

This history and the histories of eight other classic races are contained in my new book, Classic Ultramarathon Beginnings, available on Amazon.

Read the rest of this episode here

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148: Ultramarathons on Christmas Day 1879

December 20, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:25 — 29.6MB)

By Davy Crockett

New Book, containing the early history of The Barkley Marathons

Watching sports on Christmas Day is enjoyed by millions of sporting fans. But it also is probably despised by even more of those sporting fans’ families who have other priorities on that special day. While today the events watched are primarily basketball and football, back 144 years ago in 1879, the most popular sport taking place in America on Christmas Day was ultra-distance running, called Pedestrianism. Why would thousands leave their festive holiday celebrations to go many miles by horse carriage to smoke-filled arenas to watch skinny guys walk and run in circles for hours?

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147: Gary Cantrell (Lazarus Lake) – Before the Barkley

December 10, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:36 — 32.7MB)

By Davy Crockett

New Book, containing the early history of The Barkley. Get it in your country’s Amazon site

Gary Cantrell (a.k.a. Lazarus Lake), of Tennessee, was recently inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame. Most people recognize him for creating the legendary Barkley Marathons, arguably the toughest trail race in the world. But few understand that he once was a talented runner during the 1970s and early 1980s. His running exploits when he was in his 20s and 30s groomed his experience into the most famous extreme sports race director in the world, and into an encyclopedia of ultrarunning wisdom. To understand the complexities of the man, Gary Cantrell, before he became Lazarus Lake, one must learn about his background and experiences that led up to the birth of the Barkley.

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146: The Early LDWA 100-Milers (1973-1979)

November 29, 2023

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:22 — 37.4MB)

By Davy Crockett

Trail 100-milers started to be held in Great Britain in 1973, four years before the Western States 100 was established in America. This piece of ultrarunning history is largely unknown to Americans who have been told for decades that trail 100-milers began first in the U.S. In reality, trail 100s were also known to be held in Mexico among the Tarahumara as early as 1867. Thus, recognition is deserved among several cultures and countries to those who dared to head out into the rural wilderness to achieve the distance of 100 miles on foot. See the new book: Running 100 Miles Part One: A History (1729-1960).

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