John B
02-09-2011, 12:27
Meet the new US 100-mile record holder. He's sponsored by The North Face and wears their trail runners -- I think it's the SingleTrack model. (excerpted from today's Runners World):
The world of ultrarunning is abuzz with 30-year-old Ian Sharman’s (http://sharmanian.blogspot.com/) smoking fast performance at this past weekend’s Rocky Racoon 100-miler (http://www.tejastrails.com/Rocky.html) in Huntsville, Texas. “My friends knew who I was before,” says Sharman from his home in San Jose, California, “but now I’m getting all these calls for interviews, and loads of friend requests on Facebook from runners I don’t know…It’s kind of weird!”
Sharman was up against big-name ultrarunners Anton Krupicka, Hal Koerner, Karl Meltzer and Scott Jurek (who only planned on running 60 miles of the race for training) at the ultra, and says that it wasn’t a key race for him. He’d not run farther than 50 miles since winning since winning the Headlands 50 in July. He finished eighth at the Western States 100 (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-238-511-0-13564-0,00.html) last June.
But on the trails in Texas, Sharman ran a remarkable sub-13-hour 100-mile race, finishing in 12:44:33 (averaging 7:38 per mile). That’s the fastest anyone’s ever run 100 miles on American soil. (A Swedish runner, Jonas Buud, has run 12:32.) “Since these races are all on different trails, it’s hard to compare them," he says humbly.
Sharman admits that the Rocky Racoon course, which is run on five 20-mile loops, is a flat, relatively easy trail. “Compared to the races that most people associate with mountain running," he says, "it’s dead easy.”
The course does have its fair share of roots and rocks, which runners have to pay special attention to in the darkness, and the many wooden bridges were reportedly very icy in the early hours of the race. In fact, one runner slipped and broke her leg.
Sharman started running at age 25 just five years ago after seeing Marathon des Sables (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-239-281--13544-0,00.html) on television from his home in London (he's since moved to California). He signed up for the grueling, 6-day stage race (http://wiki.runnersworld.com/index.php/Marathon_des_Sables) through the Sahara desert, and did the majority of his training on roads. While his first attempt at the desert race in 2006 "was a disaster," he says, he returned in 2008 and finished 13th overall, the highest Englishman that year. Sharman is a 2:32 marathoner (2009 Tri Cities Marathon (http://www.3rrr.org/marathon/)), and races South Africa's Comrades Marathon (http://www.runnersworld.com/topic/0,7122,s6-239-522-0-0,00.html)—which he says is his favorite race—each year. “I try to straddle road and trail, mountain and everything. I'm trying to get as near the top as I can in different types of running,” he says.
Sharman will be racing The Way Too Cool 50K in March, the American River 50-Mile in April, the Comrades Marathon in May, and the Western States 100 in June.
The world of ultrarunning is abuzz with 30-year-old Ian Sharman’s (http://sharmanian.blogspot.com/) smoking fast performance at this past weekend’s Rocky Racoon 100-miler (http://www.tejastrails.com/Rocky.html) in Huntsville, Texas. “My friends knew who I was before,” says Sharman from his home in San Jose, California, “but now I’m getting all these calls for interviews, and loads of friend requests on Facebook from runners I don’t know…It’s kind of weird!”
Sharman was up against big-name ultrarunners Anton Krupicka, Hal Koerner, Karl Meltzer and Scott Jurek (who only planned on running 60 miles of the race for training) at the ultra, and says that it wasn’t a key race for him. He’d not run farther than 50 miles since winning since winning the Headlands 50 in July. He finished eighth at the Western States 100 (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-238-511-0-13564-0,00.html) last June.
But on the trails in Texas, Sharman ran a remarkable sub-13-hour 100-mile race, finishing in 12:44:33 (averaging 7:38 per mile). That’s the fastest anyone’s ever run 100 miles on American soil. (A Swedish runner, Jonas Buud, has run 12:32.) “Since these races are all on different trails, it’s hard to compare them," he says humbly.
Sharman admits that the Rocky Racoon course, which is run on five 20-mile loops, is a flat, relatively easy trail. “Compared to the races that most people associate with mountain running," he says, "it’s dead easy.”
The course does have its fair share of roots and rocks, which runners have to pay special attention to in the darkness, and the many wooden bridges were reportedly very icy in the early hours of the race. In fact, one runner slipped and broke her leg.
Sharman started running at age 25 just five years ago after seeing Marathon des Sables (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-239-281--13544-0,00.html) on television from his home in London (he's since moved to California). He signed up for the grueling, 6-day stage race (http://wiki.runnersworld.com/index.php/Marathon_des_Sables) through the Sahara desert, and did the majority of his training on roads. While his first attempt at the desert race in 2006 "was a disaster," he says, he returned in 2008 and finished 13th overall, the highest Englishman that year. Sharman is a 2:32 marathoner (2009 Tri Cities Marathon (http://www.3rrr.org/marathon/)), and races South Africa's Comrades Marathon (http://www.runnersworld.com/topic/0,7122,s6-239-522-0-0,00.html)—which he says is his favorite race—each year. “I try to straddle road and trail, mountain and everything. I'm trying to get as near the top as I can in different types of running,” he says.
Sharman will be racing The Way Too Cool 50K in March, the American River 50-Mile in April, the Comrades Marathon in May, and the Western States 100 in June.