Ages range from 26 to 67, and 95% are men. If you are a typical respondant, you are 44 years old, began running 16 years ago at age 28, ran your first ultra 6 years ago at age 38, and attempted your first 100 mile run early last year. You ran your best 10K of 38:04 (range 31:30 to 59:45) 8 years ago at age 36. This is quite fast, in the top 5-10% of most 10K races. You have attempted 3.38 100 mile races, finishing 66% of the time, in 27:32. Your median DNF is 61 miles. On your first attempt you did better, finishing 69% of the time with a 25:50 or 68 miles. You train an average of 50 miles/week, and this varies little over periods of several years.
Of 186 races, 96% are trail runs. The top 5 are listed below, with total number and percent of responses, number and percent of those that resulted in finishing, and median time among finishers. Note that the finish rate is slightly higher than found in race results, reflecting some bias in the survey. (Successful ultrarunners are more likely to respond).
Race Total starts Finish Median Cutoff Leadville 40 22% 23 57% 28:32 30:00 Western States 28 15% 19 68% 26:18 30:00 Arkansas Traveller 23 12% 18 78% 26:30 30:00 Vermont 17 9% 14 82% 22:14 30:00 Hardrock 16 9% 9 56% 46:30 48:00
For your first 100 attempt, the top 5 are:
Western States 19 22% Vermont 7 14% Leadville 6 12% Arkansas Traveller 5 10% All road courses 5 10%
Of the 186 races you ran, these were in the following years:
Before 1980: 1 (1%) 1980-89: 33 (18%) 1990: 3 (2%) 1991: 11 (6%) 1992: 14 (8%) 1993: 14 (8%) 1994: 21 (11%) 1995: 30 (16%) 1996: 52 (28%)
There is little correlation between finishing a 100 mile race and the number of miles you ran in the preceeding 6 months, though training will make you faster if you do finish. Finishing rate is 69% (9% under 24 hours) for those training less than 50 miles/week, and 66% (31% under 24 hours) for those training more. Breaking it down further:
Mi/wk Finishes/Starts Under 24:00 0-19 7/11 64% 2 18% 20-29 15/21 71% 1 5% 30-39 10/16 62% 2 12% 40-49 21/29 72% 2 7% 50-59 20/33 61% 9 27% 60-69 22/32 69% 12 37% 70-79 13/21 62% 7 33% 80-90 10/13 77% 1 8%
Oddly, your chances of finishing and running a good time for 100 miles are best if your 10K is around 39 minutes, neither faster nor slower. This group is also the most experienced, starting an average 5.6 100 milers each.
Best 10K Number Finishes/Starts Under 24:00 Starts/person Under 35:00 11 11/19 58% 3 16% 1.7 35:00-37:59 14 28/39 72% 9 23% 2.8 38:00-40:59 11 50/62 81% 17 27% 5.6 41:00-44:59 9 19/30 63% 2 7% 3.3 45:00 & over 6 12/29 41% 1 6% 4.8 Total 51 120/178 67% 32 18% 3.5
Below is the data in tabular format. The raw data from which this table was constructed (minus names) is here (in the same order). It includes the reasons for DNF's, such as injury, exhaustion, cutoff, not enough training, etc. Also, a few people ran longer races that are not included here, such as the Spartathlon, Eco Challenge, etc.
BI = Year of birth
S = Sex
RN = Year started running
UL = Year started running ultras
10K = Best 10K time (omitting seconds if approximate)
YR = Year of best 10K
RA = Race name:
AC = Angeles Crest
AT = Arkansas Traveller
BM = Barkley
EA = Eagle (Canada)
HB = Haliburton (Canada)
HR = Hardrock
KM = Kettle Moraine
LT = Leadville
MM = Massenutten Mountain
MO = Mohican
OD = Old Dominion
PN = Pueblo Nuevo
RD = Any road course
RR = Rocky Raccoon
SS = Superior Snowshoe
ST = Superior Trail
TR = Track, 100 mile split in a 24 hour race
UM = Umstead
VT = Vermont
WA = Washie (South Africa)
WS = Western States
WT = Wasatch
YR = Year of race
TIME = Hours and minutes, or miles for DNF
TR = Weekly training mileage 6 months prior to 100 mile race
NOTES = Includes cross training or summaries not included in the
above statistics
BI S RN UL 10K YR RA YR TIME TR NOTES
-- - -- -- ---- -- ---- -- -- -- -----
58 M 83 86 3540 86 LT 88 2838 55
WS 89 62 50
50 M 83 88 45 84 WS 93 2724 50
WS 95 2756 55
47 M 69 75 3428 73 RD 7? 2350
RD 8? 65
HB 96 75 0
70 M 91 93 3700 92 MO 95 68 35 +swim 3:30, stairs 3:30
AT 95 2113 50 "
MO 96 2146 62 "
LT 96 60 62 "
AC 96 2802 65 "
59 M 77 96 4004 96 VT 96 2248 70
51 M 82 94 3621 87 MO 2742 60
55 M 76 92 3405 88 VT 78 60
42 M 67 93 4620 93 LT 96 50 30 +walk 20
64 M 88 91 3315 94 WS 94 2540 90
AT 94 70 90
AT 95 2138 90
BM 96 20 90
AT 96 1835 70
68 M 77 79 3939 78 RR 96 2131 11 +walk 14
KM 96 2646 18 +walk 17
AC 96 2812 16 +walk 16
52 M 72 94 3658 92 WS 95 2618 40
LT 96 2839 45
54 F 92 93 4430 95 LT 93 2952 50
LT 94 2815 50
LT 95 DNF 50
LT 96 DNF 50
52 M 89 93 4418 92 AC 95 3024 33
RR 96 40 30
WS 96 2846 36
64 M 91 93 3818 95 AT 96 2509 20 +swim, bike 40
55 M 95 95 34 WS 96 55 50
57 M 73 93 3812 86 LT 93 2755 80
LT 94 2642 85
WS 94 2908 90
LT 95 2706 90
LT 96 2852 75
HR 96 4630 80
58 F 86 89 4137 95 WT 95 2642 65? 9.5 hr run, 2.5 wts, 1.25 other
52 M 89 93 3855 93 UM 95 75 40
66 M 92 95 3655 95 VT 96 2559 43
66 M 85 90 3559 92 VT 92 1726 50
AT 94 2027 55
AC 95 2310 67
WS 96 2257 52
54 M 78 90 3230 80 EA 96 91 82
63 F 83 89 52 86 TR 94 2310 60
LT 94 2910 65
WS 95 DNF 70
PN 96 2853 70
LT 96 2946 72
45 M 78 81 39 82 OD 2306 50 best of 4, 85-88
WS 89 70
WS 92 29?? 40
VT 2230 best of 2, 89-90
AC 3039 35 best of 2, 94, 96
49 M 61 71 3603 71 AT 96 75 40
58 M 78 95 3410 95 WS 2220 60
32 M 69 71 35 70 finish 3 of 7 + 101/24 hr
55 M 83 93 42 96 VT 96 2154 30
53 M 77 94 4030 79 LT 94 50 35
LT 95 62 35
RR 96 2800 30
LT 96 70 40 +bike 100-150 once/wk
58 M 68 95 3130 80 TR 95 1620 70 +25 hr other
SS 96 9600 60 +20, snowshoe race
?? M 65 81 3200 82 WS 96 2944 25 +cross training
48 M 80 79 36 RD 85 69 55 infrequent running before 1980
OD 87 76 55
LT 81 83 55
OD 88 84 60
VT 93 1954 60
MM 95 2829 60
AC 96 2836 40
48 M ?? 93 5945 93 AT 95 2826 35
52 M 83 90 41 91 WS 93 2816 55
LT 94 2848 40
WT 95 3229 52
HR 96 57 45
46 M 70 84 3505 84 HR 92 3719 40
HR 93 3236 60
LT 93 2412 65
HR 94 61 50
38 M 81 85 4444 85 LT 87 2924 25 +other
LT 89 2812 25 "
WS 91 2900 25 "
LT 91 2745 25 "
ST 91 90 25 "
HR 92 4715 25 "
LT 92 70 25 "
ST 92 3230 25 "
HR 93 46?? 25 "
HR 94 4730 25 "
WT 95 68 25 "
HR 96 58 25 "
LT 96 3 25 "
43 M 75 83 3715 84 RD 95 2645 40
VT 96 54 40
30 M 77 80 4615 81 WS 84 47 65
LT 84 50 60
LT 85 50 65
LT 86 50 70
AC 87 80 50
WS 88 56 70
WS 89 56 70
LT 89 2834 80
VT 91 2815 60
LT 91 50 70
WT 91 65 70
AT 91 2743 70
LT 92 50 70
WT 92 40 70
AT 92 2935 70
AT 94 17 65
HR 95 28 65
MM 96 35 60
HR 96 16 55
29 M 70 80 4400 81 TR 93 2313 20
43 M 80 86 3858 85 WS 84 DNF 40
OD 87 2926 40
LT 88 2832 50
WT 89 3401 30
OD 90 DNF 30
WS 91 2732 40
AT 91 2725 40
HR 92 DNF 40
AT 92 26?? 40
HR 93 4219 40
AT 93 2458 40
HR 94 4648 40
AT 94 26?? 40
AT 95 2615 40
HR 96 81 15
AT 96 2818 20
61 M 92 92 34 92 WA 96 2112 25
41 M 87 91 4210 89 WS 95 93 45
VT 96 2645 40
45 M 85 89 3840 88 VT 95 2101 50
37 F 80 86 4158 84 RD 88 1910 60 over 100 in 9/13 24 hrs
RD 89 37 60
51 M 77 81 38 82 WS 82 2129 60
WS 84 2003 70
WS 87 2103 60
OD 88 2001 55
LT 88 2440 55
LT 90 2240 65
WS 91 2000 75
VT 92 1754 70
WS 93 2245 60
LT 93 2230 65
VT 94 1845 65
AC 95 2340 55
LT 95 2420 55
WS 96 2054 75
HR 96 3454 75
51 ? 89 94 4545 95 AT 95 2714 37
AT 96 283? 37
55 M 85 90 3855 96 RD 93 68 15 +10 walk, 60 bike, .5 swim, wts
LT 94 52 15 "
AT 94 70 15 "
VT 95 2753 15 "
LT 95 2949 15 "
AT 95 2853 15 "
LT 96 2947 15 "
?? M 92 93 AT 96 63 57
54 M 81 86 3450 87 KM 96 2530 60
65 M 78 91 3215 87 VT 94 2708 50
VT 95 80 50
48 M 77 83 3618 81 OD 86 56 50
OD 87 2248 35
WT 89 3204 26
WT 90 2909 21
AC 91 2740 23
WT 92 40 23
AT 96 2645 22
57 M 89 91 4030 93 AC 94 3215 85
AC 96 3122 85
50 M 85 89 3605 89 MO 92 2057 48
VT 94 2157 51
HB 96 1928 47
Matt Mahoney
matmahoney@aol.com