This yr’s version of Badwater 135, dubbed the “world’s hardest foot race,” kicked off on Monday, plunging runners into the brutal extremes of California’s Demise Valley. This yr’s race featured the return of fan favorites, together with Yard Extremely world champion Harvey Lewis, a two-time Badwater winner making his thirteenth consecutive look, and fellow American Pete Kostelnick, additionally a two-time champion, who made a exceptional comeback after a extreme automobile accident in Leadville. American Shaun Burke claimed the general victory amidst the scorching warmth, whereas Norwegian Line Caliskaner triumphed within the girls’s class, ending a formidable second general.
The 135-mile (217km) race kicks off on the Badwater Basin, which, at 85 metres beneath sea degree, is the bottom level in North America. This yr’s race noticed temperatures hitting a scorching 51 levels Celsius. Runners who end underneath the 48-hour mark earn the celebrated Badwater 135 belt buckle.
In 2023, Viktoria Brown of Whitby, Ont., was the one Canadian within the subject of 100 runners and completed in 30:11:52 securing fourth among the many girls and claiming thirteenth place general. This yr’s race noticed two Canadians becoming a member of the ranks—Frances Picard of Quebec, and Hannah Perry from Canmore, Alta.
Males’s race
Final yr’s males’s champion, Simen Holvik of Norway, led for a lot of the race—in 2023, Holvik was second to U.S. runner Ashley Paulson, who completed first general and took two hours off her personal girls’s course report. Burke, who acquired a late invite to the occasion in June, steadily closed the hole, finally overtaking him earlier than the 108-mile timing level. Holvik didn’t end the race, leaving Burke unchallenged for the rest.
Burke accomplished Badwater for the primary time in 2023, when he was sixth general and fourth among the many males. Spanish runner Iván Penalba Lopez claimed the second males’s spot (third general) in 28:06:34 in his third end of the race, and Michael Ohler of Germany accomplished the lads’s podium and third man (fourth general) in 28:24:25. Kostelnick succeeded in ending his come-back race, crossing the road in 35:28:55; Lewis adopted in 36:41:22.
Picard, who was tackling the race for the primary time, was nonetheless on the right track on the time of publication.
Prime males
Shaun Burke (U.S.) 23:29:00
Iván Penalba Lopez of Alfafar (Spain) 28:06:34
Michael Ohler (Germany) 28:24:25
Girls’s race
Caliskaner grew to become the primary Norwegian lady to finish the occasion, ending second general. An completed ultrarunner, in 2023 52-year-old Calinskaner gained each the Berlin Wall Race (100 miles), and the Thames Path 100-miler. She maintained a slim lead over Micah Morgan of the U.S. early on and added to her lead because the race progressed. Caliskaner completed in 27:36:27, over two hours forward of Morgan, who completed in 29:11:28, second among the many girls and fifth general.
Josephine Weeden of the U.S. rounded out the ladies’s podium in 33:26:37. Absent from this yr’s race was American Ashley Paulson, who gained the ladies’s race for the previous two years and took the general title final yr. Alberta’s Perry was nonetheless on the right track on the time of publication however had handed via the 108-mile help station in 29 hours and 51 minutes.
Prime girls
Line Caliskaner (Norway) 27:36:27
Micah Morgan (U.S.) 29:11:28
Josephine Weeden (U.S.) 33:26:37
To be taught extra about Badwater 135 or to see the entire outcomes, head right here.
