Jack Denness of Great Britain finished his 12th and final Badwater Marathon yesterday. The 75-year-old runner completed the grueling 135-mile foot race in 59 hours 13 minutes and two seconds. According to Denness, it's now time to retire, but he's said that before.
Denness crossed the finish line at midnight on Wednesday, after starting at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. The race has a 60 hour cutoff. Denness finished with more than 45 minutes to spare.
Denness may not have won the Badwater Ultramarathon. Zach Gingerich of Illinois has that honor, covering the distance in 24:44:48. But there's a whole other level of endurance required for an athlete who spends more than double that amount of time out on the course, in the blazing desert sun, day and night with no sleep.
Denness became the oldest person to run the race five years ago. Yesterday he broke his own record, setting the new mark at 75. Denness didn't even start running until he was 45. Since then he's run 150 marathons.
After the race Denness told the BBC news, "It's like a family out here in Death Valley. We look out for each other. It's not about winning or losing but about helping people reach the finish line."
In 2006, Denness was inducted into the Badwater Hall of Fame. Over the course of his Badwater career he's raised thousands of dollars for his favorite charities.
He first completed Badwater in 1991, after badgering the event organizers into letting him compete. That year he was one of only 14 finishers. In his personal story on the Badwater website, Denness said he was ready to retire at that point, after achieving his ultimate running goal. Obviously, he changed his mind.
In 1994 Denness finished the race, hiked an extra 15 miles to the top of Mount Whitney, and then turned around and ran all the way back to the start, a total of 300 miles. The feat is called the Death Valley 300, and Denness was 54 at the time.
His only DNF was in 1997, when dehydration forced him to quit 42 miles into the race.
Will 2010 really be Denness' last Badwater? Considering he's said that after each of his 12 finishes, I wouldn't bet on it. Running 135-miles from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in 130 degree heat sounds like a great way to celebrate an 80th birthday.
Congratulations Jack!
Comments
D2nness may be my new idol.
Better than me....by a lot!
That is absolutely INCREDIBLE!! :)
i ran badwater 7 times ,won a couple of times, jack is right... back then its all family out there , the runners in the 90,s are special as we ran the badwater with little P. R. and everybody would do all they could to help everybody reach the finish line. JACK, BEN AND DENICE , marshall U. are just a few of the people ill never forget. GOOD ON ALL THE FINISHERS.... THAT IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT BILL MENARD
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