The Rise of The Ultra-Runners: The World’s Fastest Growing Race
It’s 5:00am, and Darcey Dunne is getting ready for a gruelling 16-mile run through the rain in central London.
With the big race, the 155-mile Ultra X Jordan, just 134 days away, these long, uncomfortable runs are essential in order to prepare the 22-year-old for what’s to come once she reaches the sands of the Wadi Rum desert.
“Part of it is training yourself for the mental endurance; putting myself in difficult situations, doing what [I] don’t want to do.
“If I’m tired, and I don’t want to go for a run, I’ll go out for 30 minutes, because I know I don’t want to do it, and when I’m [at the race] there’ll be days when I wake up exhausted and don’t want to do 50 kilometres [but] I’ll have to do it.”
By definition, an ultra-marathon is classed as any footrace over the traditional 26.2-mile marathon distance, however, many of these races span days; with the UK’s longest ultra-marathon covering 615 miles over a 14-day period.
A sport largely under-pinned by the desire for gradual progression to faster speeds and longer distances, Darcey’s journey to running, and the ultra-marathon, is somewhat unorthodox.
“Historically speaking I’d done bits of running in the past, but I’ve never participated in races, I train in martial arts, so I would ‘go on a run’ and it would be a training thing, I might run one kilometre, or two kilometres, or it’d just be a warm-up.
“Most people would do marathons first and decide they want to take it a step further, but I just decided to do it.”
While Darcey might be considered a newcomer to the sport, to the Dunne family, endurance running isn’t anything novel.
“In January, my dad, who’s a keen runner, he does sub-3-hour marathons, had decided [he] was going to do an ultra-marathon in Jordan, I had a look on the website, curious to see what they’d be doing, and I just thought ‘I want to do that’.
“I like the idea of taking on a big challenge, this, for me, was a big challenge and I really got into it.
“Some people hear [about it] and say: ‘why would you want to put yourself through this torture’, but to me it sounds like an adventure, it’s a run-cation as well, who wouldn’t want to go to Jordan and explore the desert.
“People have been trapped and cooped up for so long, and everyone wants a bit of an adventure.”
But even for well-seasoned runners, the challenge of running these distances is no less extreme.
For 33-year-old James Hurrell, the Thames Path 100 marks the end of 7 months worth of training, and with around 52,424 calories burned and 655 miles travelled, he’s already gearing up for his next event, the South Downs Way 100, in just over 3 weeks time.
For James, the journey began in 2013.
After discovering a passion for running through a number of fun runs and half-marathons, he quickly progressed to the full 26.2-mile distance, raising funds for charities such as Shelter and Macmillan.
“I just wanted to do one [marathon], that was the only goal, to say I’d done one.
“But once you’ve done a marathon, it’s this big sense of achievement, and [at that point] I didn’t even know ultras were a thing.”
Following his completion of the Berlin Marathon, James’ focus began to shift. Eager to push his body even further, he continued to complete marathons, leading him towards the start line of his first ultra-marathon in 2019.
“You get hooked, you think a marathon is the top and then someone says ‘Oh, well I know someone that’s done a 50-mile race’, and you start looking into it and it just snowballs.
“I have two different bunches of friends; some are runners, and some are not. You tell your running friends ‘Oh I want to run 100 miles’, they say ‘which one?’, if you tell someone at work the reaction is very different.
“When I post about my runs, a lot of people say: ‘I couldn’t do that’, but at one point in time, I couldn’t do that; I want to try and go as far as possible.”
To outsiders, the ultra-running community might seem cultish, but with participation numbers growing by 1676% over the past 23 years, it’s clear the challenge offers it’s fanatics more than just medals and bragging rights.
Steve Diederich, founder and managing director of Ultra-marathon directory RunUltra, has spent the past 16 years committed to expanding the ultra-community, connecting runners with races across the UK and all over the world.
“When I came to ultra-running about 16 years ago, it was really an older man’s sport; speed didn’t matter so much in general.
“Nowadays, it’s more accessible, if you can do a marathon, you can add a few more miles on that and you’re an ultra-runner.
“Originally, you were either a sprinter, a marathon runner, or a cross country runner, that was your choice.
“Now, there’s a growth in trail running, and once you get into trail running, those distances can just go on and on; there’s a progression within it.
“It’s become a lot less testosterone fuelled, there’s a lot of support and camaraderie with ultra-running, and [that sort of race] brings in a different type of person; we’re getting a lot of younger people, and there’s been a big growth in female participation, especially on longer distances.”
Although this community spirit has proved a valuable technique in enticing younger, fresh faces to the sport, runners like Darcey and James are still few and far between.
As is the case with many running events, spectators could be forgiven for assuming victory may favour more youthful athletes, however, with an average participant age of 42.3, many dominant figures continue to break records and barriers into their late 40s.
For 36-year-old Courtney Dauwalter, one of ultra-running’s most successful and colourful competitors, breaking running’s demographic stereotypes is just another day at work.
Taking part in longer distances that see a 0.3% gender pace difference and offer both male and female participants a chance at victory, Courtney is redefining what it means to ‘run like a girl’.
“I think that the longer distances can help level the playing field between men and women a bit because muscle mass and sheer strength become less important.
“Persistence, problem-solving and mental toughness are big factors in the longer distances; those are things that aren’t necessarily related to being male or female.”
Setting course records at the Javelina Jundred 100K race and completing the internationally renowned Run Rabbit Run 100-mile race 75 minutes quicker than her second place contemporary, in 2020, Courtney was awarded the George Mallory Award for pushing the boundaries of human physical achievement, once again shining a spotlight on the community.
Prior to the pandemic, many racing companies and independent organisers had been able to cash in on the newfound fame of lucrative ultra-running events, however, with restrictions implemented to limit travel and virus transmission, the future of organised races and ultra-running in a post-COVID world is much less clear.
Looking to the future Steve believes the desire to test endurance limits will always continue.
“Last year we saw a lot of race cancellations, but it’s starting to pick up again, we might have to do reduced numbers of runners, but I don’t see this being long term.
“This morning someone asked me if anyone’s done a 24,901 mile ultra, and I didn’t understand at first, but that’s the circumference of the Earth.
“I’m really optimistic about ultra, there are more ultras happening and they’re getting more imaginative; things like last man standing races, extreme Skyrunner races in the mountains.
“They’re interesting and they’re tough, [I think] we’re going to see that more and more, there’s something for everyone, all over the world.”
