Jasmin Paris becomes first female winner of 268-mile ultra marathon
- Thread starter dowie
- Start date
A lot of professionals wouldn't have the mental determination to jog for 83 hours and not get sufficient sleep, it'd be detrimental to their body in the long term as well. The problem is from a professional standpoint is it's really just a test of who can jog for the longest with the least amount of sleep, ever heard of the tortoise and the hare? I'm not sure I'd want to sponsor an event that drives the contestants to the point of hallucination either, they're likely to hurt themselves if they don't die of exhaustion.
Soldato
They're all grown adults and it's their choice as to whether they take part or not. FWIW I've taken part in a number of ultra distance cycling events ranging from 400km up to 1400km. The range of strategies people employ are really interesting, trading speed vs rest and trying to plan your schedule to benefit from the conditions. Being the tortoise is not easy because it means going into an event knowing you will hardly have any time off your feet/bike if you're going to make the checkpoints. As a (relative) hare I at least average about 4-5 hours sleep a day plus rest breaks on multi-day events, but there are always people struggling to make cut offs and having to decide whether to miss a night of sleep just to keep going. They are racing themselves and I really respect that.
The proper hares tend to finish first in ultra events by booting along AND not sleeping, which is generally a winning strategy that even the most resilient tortoise can't match.
Well not really, they all jog for the same distance (providing they finish) and I'd suspect that the top runners all have a fairly similar lack of sleep. It is still a race albeit there perhaps is some strategy element to it. It is a test of endurance too I guess, the next fastest competitor in this race apparently dropped out 4 miles before the finish and the finisher behind her came in 12 hours later.
I mean you could say that the 100 meter sprint is just a test of who is naturally the fastest... assuming they all train to a sufficient level, can all start properly etc.. then a big part of it is just who has the best genetics.
