Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Badwater Ultramarathon (Part II)

Some more details about the Badwater Ultramarathon race:

The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at 8360' (2533m).

The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent. Here is the elevation profile of this race:

As if a 135 miles (217km) run is not challenging enough just by itself, the athletes are running in the Death Valley which is a very unfriendly (not to say hellish) environment in July, when this yearly competition is held. The temperatures rise up to 130F (55C).

Do not get me wrong - I do not plan to ever do it myself. I am just amazed at men and women that have guts - strength, endurance and above all unquenchable determination - to do it.

1 comment:

Dmitri said...

Here is another good race for those bored with marathons -
The IRONMAN .
Here is the bottom line: before you even get to the start line of the standard marathon race, you should:
1) swim for 2.4 miles (3.9km),
2) then you do a 112-mile bike ride (180km),
3) and only after this light warm-up you can run your 26.2 miles (42.2km) of the marathon race.