The big trail running races do not get a lot of coverage, media-wise, in my part of the world. Luckily YouTube and Instagram have some details if you know where to look or are following the right people.
We try to find details of some of the bigger, epic ultra races, as the these feats of endurance just seem so incredible.
I found it hard to believe that Kilian recently won two of the biggest ultra races, just 40 days apart, on two different continents.
The first was the Hardrock 100, in Silverton Colorado, on July 15, 2022. He covered 100.5 miles in 21 hours 36 minutes, including 10,000 metres of elevation gain, at 3400m above sea level and set a course record.
The second was this year's UTMB (Ultra Trail Mont Blanc). It's 170km in the Alps (a mountain range in Europe) with another 10,000 of elevation gain, at 2500m above sea level. He set another course record time of 19 hours 49 mins.
A positive covid test after his family got sick, about week out from UTMB did not slow him down either, though I did hear him say in an interview he had no symptoms.
The man even posted both races on this Strava account if you want to checkout the amazing stats.
He just seems to be getting better all the time. I suppose being born and growing up in the mountains helps but these distances and times seen almost super human to me.
I like to workout and do a bit but my running marathon and Ironman times are like two and bit times slower than the current world records. I doubt I could even complete these ultra distance mountain distances even if I was given a whole week.
In his spare time Kilian appears to chase mountain summits and fastest known times. As per his book "Summits of my life" which I can totally recommend and have to give all the photo credits to on this post.
Amazing.
