If you have ever wondered about the different experiences that the participants in our ultra races go through, you can get a very good idea from this article in the Guardian. The writer visited the Self Transcendence 24 hour race at Tooting Bec athletics track in London at several points during the race, interviewing many of the runners and organisers and observing the changes in their physical and inner states during the race. The article was later syndicated by The Week, a popular British news magazine.
This race had a particularly high standard, with 26 runners breaking 100 miles in the 24 hours - over half the field. James Stewart ran 160 miles, which is just under 3-hour marathon pace. We also had a new age-group over-65 world record, as the article describes:
Some people stand out, calm and composed. One of them is 68-year-old Ann Bath. She’s not very fast, she’s a little bent over, but she is unrelenting. While others occasionally stop for a massage, or to eat something, she presses serenely on, never stopping. In the end, she runs an incredible 116 miles, an age-group world record....
