Ultra runners constantly seek new challenges, and in
recent years, the greatest of the standard distances , the 1000 miles, has
become increasingly popular. Indeed, the event has taken over from the 6 Day race
in multi-day racing. The history
of the event stretches back well over two hundred years, making other events
like the 6 Day, and even the 100km look like positive upstarts.
The earliest recorded 1000 miles thus far discovered
took place in Birmingham, England in early
1758. The local pedestrian, or professional walker, George Guest, bet that he could cover the distance in
under 28 days. He succeeded , with five hours to spare, covering six miles in
the last hour.
Pedestrianism was to reach its heyday in the period
of the Napoleonic Wars, and such 1000 mile walks became common. Covering 1000
miles in 20 days became a speciality of pedestrians like Eaton, Stokes, Jones ,
Crisp and Wilson. It was Wilson and
Crisp who were to take the daily average up to 50 miles in such journeys.
George Wilson
was a very famous pedestrian of the period, and became involved in great
controversy when in the middle of one of his 20 day 1000 mile wagers he was
stopped by the authorities and charged with causing a breach of the peace. He
lost the wager and ended up in debtor’s prison. Unbowed, he then proceeded to
walk 50 miles in 12 hours in a
tiny prison yard, a mere 11 yards by 8, making 9.026 turns!
Wilson was not deterred by his imprisonment. On his
release, in November 1816, he covered
the 1000 mile distance in 17 days 23 hours 19 minutes 10 seconds in Hull. The following year
Daniel Crisp drew a crowd of 10,000 people to watch a walk of 1,134 miles on
the Uxbridge road, which he covered in 21 days. Perhaps in an attempt to surpass Wilson’s mark, the year after, on the same road, he walked 1,037 miles in 16 days 23 hours and 8
minutes, despite the Thames overflowing its banks during the performance, and
flooding the road. On five occasions he
had to wade for a quarter of a
mile through water.
Daniel
Crisp’s time for the 1000 miles was to stand for some sixty years until the
upsurge in multiday racing in the 6 Day era. The American Edward Weston , the
pioneer of the 6 Day, came to
England in 1877, and as part of a series
of wagers, he undertook to walk 1000 miles in
400 consecutive hours. This he did at the Northumberland Cricket Ground,
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, completing the distance in 16 days 15 hours and 41
minutes. [This being the Victorian period, Weston did not walk on the Sundays,
and altogether took over 150 hours rest.]
The record for the 1000 miles was to stay with
Weston for the better part of a
century. In 1975 a 1000 mile road race was set up between Siegfried Bauer of New Zealand and John Ball of South
Africa, amongst others. This seems to have been the first 1000 mile RACE as
such. It took place from Pretoria to Cape Town in South Africa. By the end of the fifth day, Ball led Bauer
by around three and a half hours, but with a sustained piece of virtually non-stop running, by the end of
the seventh day the New Zealander had
taken the lead.. Despite a late surge from Ball, Bauer retained the lead to the
end, finishing in three hours inside Weston’s mark, in 12 days 21 hours 46
minutes 30 seconds.
That mark remained an athletic curiosity until the
small Australian town of Colac hosted their first international multi-day race.
The town was the home of Cliff Young, who had won the Sydney-Melbourne in
record time. Young had made a solo attempt on the 1000 mile best the previous
year, but had been forced to retire by a back injury.
The 1000 mile race started with a run from Melbourne to Colac of 92.3 miles,
followed by circuits of a 538.6 metre
track in Colac. Tony Rafferty was the leader for the first 600 miles.[
Rafferty had 1000 mile experience,
having run the distance solo], however
he was forced to retire, and Bauer wound up as the only finisher in 12 days 12
hours 36 minutes 20 seconds.
The Sri Chinmoy
organisation put on the first open 1000 mile race in New York in 1985,
which was won by the modern multi-day
pioneer , American Don Choi, in 15 days 6:24, from Trishul Cherns of Canada.,
The Sri Chinmoy event became an annual affair, and the next year Siegfried Bauer
lined up for his third 1000 miler against Stu Mittleman[USA], who was
better known for his abilities over shorter distances. After 6 Days the New
Zealander had a narrow lead over Mittleman , but on the seventh day, Mittleman
pulled out a two mile lead,. Bauer, suffering from an ankle injury was unable
to respond. The American went on to surpass Bauer’s world best mark with 11
days 20:36:50, with the New Zealander
again breaking 13 days for the distance.
Meanwhile the first modern 1000 mile track race had
taken place in Gateshead in 1985, not
far from the venue used by Weston one
hundred years earlier. The previous best track mark had been set by a William Gale, who had covered 1000 miles in
16 Days 16 hours en route to a longer performance. The race was won by Malcolm Campbell, who had
recently returned from a Trans-America match race. His final distance of 15
days 21:07:43, introduced this new
format of the event.
The growing interest attracted Yiannis Kouros, who
held the 6 day world best to the New York
road 1000 miler.. The Greek covered 408.773km/254 miles in the first 48 hours, and 1028.370km /639
miles in 6 Days. Despite suffering from lack of sleep Kouros pushed on to cover
the distance in a remarkable 10 days 10 hours 30:35
Since the Greek’s epic run a number of
strong performances have been set
in New York, most notably by Al Howie, the Canadian based Briton, who
has a best of 12:01:42:52 to his name. Among the recent stars is the Latvian
runner, Georgs Jermolajevs, who also ran 12:01 and 1000 miles Rimas
Jakelaitis of LIT
who ran 11:23:07:21 in
New York in Sep 2000
However the growth area has been the track 1000
miles. Campbell’s mark was broken by
the veteran Tony Rafferty in difficult conditions at Glanville, Australia in
1989. His time of 14 days 11:59:04 was surpassed by Jermolajevs in his first
ever 1000 mile, on the track at Odessa. His time of 13:23:25:18 was not
ratified, and it was Gary Parsons,
another Australian, who took the record with 13 days 17:37:21 in Nanango in 1994.
In March 1996 Parsons improved this to 12 days
19:44:34, and this mark was surpassed
twice during that year, but neither mark was eligible for ratification. Alfredo
Uria, who had run against Parsons in the 1996 Nanango race, . ran 12:17:59:09,
only to have his mark disallowed through incomplete lap recording, and
Vladimair Glazkov’s 12: 13:32:41
suffered a similar fate.
Lithuania’s Piotr
Silkin improved Parsons’ best to 12
days 04:06:00 at Odessa and then improved to 11d 13:54:58 at Nanango, Australia
in March 1998 to set the current world best.
Female runners came late to the 1000 miles . In 1864 Emma Sharp covered the distance in
1000 hours - 42 days at Quarry Gap,
Laisterdyke in Britain, and twelve years later Bella St Clair completed the distance in under 40 days with
39 days 14 hours in London.
Perhaps the most notable British pedestrienne of the period, Ada
Anderson , took the time down to below 30 hours with 27 days 19 hours at Kings Lynn in 1878.
The first modern 1000 mile mark was set in a two
person match road stage race in 1987,
when Eleanor Adams, [now Robinson]
covered the distance in 16 days 22 hours 51 minutes., but it was an
American, Suprabha Schecter who was to
set the event on its way. She ran 14
days 20:18:24 at New York in 1989.
This mark was shattered by one of the most remarkable
multi-day performances of alltime. In 1991 New Zealander Sandra Barwick covered
804.672km /500 miles in 6 days
en route to 12 days 14:38:40 , behind
her Canadian Antana Locs ran 13 days 23:18:32.
The best female road since then has been by Australian Catherine Dipal Cunningham
with 13 days 20:18:40 last year.
In 1996 the first women 1000 mile track mark was
established by Sandra Brown (GB) at Nanango, Australia with 14 days 10:27:21.
At Nanango in March 1998 Eleanor Robinson GBR clocked
13d02:16:49 to set the
current world track best..
In the close to
two hundred and fifty since George Guest’s 1000 mile performance in
Birmingham, the event has come a long way.
Surprisingly it still has a
place in this modern metric world, even in such unlikely places as Odessa in
the Ukraine and Baracaldo in Spain.
Perhaps the attraction is that it is of such duration that to many
people covering that sort of distance on foot is unimaginable. As Dave Cooper
has said of the 24 hours - `If it wasn’t hard we wouldn’t do it, we would go
and find something harder’ The 1000
miler is definitely `something harder!’