During a rainstorm that partially obscured the light of a nearly full moon, 97 runners on Monday pushed off in desolate Death Valley in California with the launch of a 48-hour annual ultramarathon billed as the world’s toughest foot race — the Badwater 135.
After starting late at night, the men and women ranging in age from 19 to 69, and hailing from 21 countries and 26 US states, were running amid an warning over excessive heat. With daytime temperatures as high as 48.8°C and night heat above 37.7°C, they were traveling over roadways open to traffic and passing through places with names such as Furnace Creek, Devil’s Golf Course and Devil’s Cornfield.
“For me it’s all about seeing what I can do, you know, testing my own limits, seeing how well I can do these extreme things,” said 46-year-old runner Jessica Jones from Dauphin Island, Alabama, who was running her second Badwater 135, which starts in the valley’s Badwater basin.
Photo: AP
Luke Thomas, 44, from San Diego, was running his fourth 217km ultramarathon this calendar year.
Thomas did not know if the humidity from the late Monday storm would make the first part of the race harder or easier.
While running an ultramarathon race in Brazil in January “the humidity almost killed me,” he said.
The race, which started in 1987, always takes place in the middle of July, when temperatures peak in Death Valley National Park. The park has seen record-setting temperatures this month, including nine straight days of 51.6°C or above.
It is so dangerous that a motorcyclist traveling in the park died from heat-related illness on July 6 and several more in his group fell ill. A woman with heat illness was rescued in the park on Thursday last week after she and a man got lost on a hike in an area called Badlands Loop as temperatures hit about 43.3°C at 9:30am.
No runner has died during the race, but some have been hospitalized, said race director Chris Kostman, of AdventureCORPS, which organizes the race.
The route actually dates back to a decade earlier when it was successfully completed by a solo runner, Kostman said.
Participants start at the lowest point in North America at 86m below sea level. The finish line is at 2,530m high at the Whitney Portal, the trailhead to California’s Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US.
Unlike more traditional marathons in which people race close together, participants in the Badwater 135 are well spaced out on the road. The race is invitation only and limited to 100 runners who have run ultramarathons of at 160km over the span of three years. Only one-third of the runners each year can be repeat participants to allow others a chance.
When this year’s runners set out, temperatures were about 42.2°C. Their northbound path was illuminated by headlamps and the slightly obscured moonlight.
Organizers do not provide support along the course, which means each runner must bring a personal support team, usually three to four people in a minivan. There are no medical stations along the route, but Kostman said there is a small medical team that patrols the roadway.
The race is held from late Monday through Wednesday to avoid weekend visitors to the national park and increased traffic of people driving through the area from Las Vegas. Organizers coordinate with federal, state and local government agencies, some of which must provide permits all along the route.
The fastest time for the race was set by 31-year-old Yoshihiko Ishikawa at 21 hours, 33 minutes, 1 second for the men’s division in 2019, and 41-year-old Ashley Paulson at 21 hours, 44 minutes, 35 seconds in the women’s division last year.
Kostman said the runners, support team members and race employees all consider themselves part of a family, often coming back to the park for family vacations.
“There’s a very collegial feel about it,” he said. “Everybody wants the other runners to do as best as they can.”
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