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Man has been running since before recorded history began to see how far he could run in the cycle of the sun, or from 'sun' to 'sun' as it was called.

The first recorded feats of day running were almost 2,500 years ago, in 479 BC, when a runner ran from Planta to Delphi and back, in ancient Greece. The return journey of 182 kms was achieved within the day.

The first successful 24 hours' run, in something approaching modern day terms, took place in the 15th or 16th Century. These were by the "peichs' of the Turkish empire, normally Persians, who ran from Constantinople (Istanbul) to Adrianople (Edirne), a distance of approx. 200 kms.

The 24 hours race was born in 1806, in a match race at Newmarket, England, between Abraham Wood and Robert Barclay Allardice or Captain Barclay as he was better known. The race was an anti climax because Wood withdrew at 22 miles (35 kms). Experts predicted that Barclay, the great athletic figure of the 19th Century, would have achieved 135 miles (216 kms) in the 24 hours.

Subsequently, in the summer of 1809, Barclay became the first person to run/walk one mile in every consecutive hour for every consecutive day for a total of 1,000 miles. This is just 9 hours short of 6 weeks. Refer "The Celebrated Captain Barclay" by Peter Radford, first published by Headline Book Publishing in 2001.

In 1823, Russell, a young Irishman, achieved 204 kms in 24 hours.

It wasn't until the 1870's, which saw the emergence of 6 day races, that better 24 hours marks were established. Edward Payson Weston, an American, covered 500 miles (804 kms) in 6 days and, in so doing, would frequently cover 180 kms and more in the first 24 hours.

Then Charles Rowell, an Englishman, took the 24 hours marks to 241 kms in the first day of the 6 day races, in the 1880's.

It wasn't until April,1931 that these marks were bettered. A South African, Arthur Newton, who had won 5 Comrades marathons plus a second placing, from 1922 to 1927, staged a 24 hours race at an indoors location in Hamilton Ontario. He achieved 245.113 kms in the race which, for a large part, was led by Australian Mike McNamara who achieved the first 100 miles in a little over 14 hours.

Arthur Newton moved to Britain permanently after the Second World War and persuaded the Road Runners Club to stage a 24 hours race, which took place at Motspur Park in November 1953. The winner of the race was the great Wally Hayward also a 5 times winner of the Comrades marathon (1930, 1950, 1951, 1953 and 1954), who achieved 256.400 kms, a new world best.

It was not until 1973 that this mark was bettered. This time by Ron Bentley, a 41 year old Tipton miner, who managed 259.603 kms. Interest in the 24 hours event was confined to Britain, Italy and South Africa. Then, after Tom Roden ran 251 kms at Crystal Palace in London in 1977, interest began to appear in many other countries.

In November, 1979 the great French runner, Jean-Gilles Boussiquet, a former soccer player, tackled the event. He managed 257 kms. Then, he travelled to Britain where, in October, 1980 he ran the 24 hours event with a distance of 264.108 kms on the track. A month later he ran at Niort, France and achieved a new road best of 255 kms.

Lausanne in Switzerland hosted the first major international 24 hours' race in 1981. Boussiquet surpassed all other contenders and took the world best to new heights, achieving 272.624 kms.

1981 was perhaps the year that saw the event become of age. Three different runners surpassed 269 kms.

Enter Yiannis Kouros- In 1984, Yiannis Kouros entered the 6 day race in New York. In his first ultra track race, he covered 262km/163 miles the first day, 165km/103 miles the second, and 146.4km/91 miles the third. The knowledgeable members of the ultrarunning world waited for his inevitable retirement, but it did not happen. Yiannis Kouros shattered George Littlewood's 96 year old 6 day record by 12 miles/20km!

Kouros returned to the United States later that year to compete in a 24 hour road race at Queens, New York. He went through 100 km in 6:54:43 and 100 miles in 11:46:37, and achieved a finishing total of 284 km/177 miles, this despite taking a very leisurely 27:50 over his final mile. Kouros had added six miles/10km to the 24 hours road best!

The following year the French Montauban 48 hour was endorsed as a championship event. Kouros was invited since he had broken the 48 hours record en route in his 6 day run in New York. He did not make any concessions to the fact that he had a second day to run. In 23 hours, he covered 283.6 km/176 miles 388 yards. He then stopped for an hour's rest, having easily broken the world track best. He then continued to complete 281 miles /452 km to set a new world 48 hour best.

Tougher opposition faced him later in the year when he returned to New York, Hurricane Gloria. The Queens 24 hour one-mile loop was battered by five hours of 60 mph/100kmph winds, driving rain, and falling debris. In order to surpass his previous road best set on the same course, Kouros was forced to use the whole 24 hours. His final total was 178 miles /286.463 km, another world best.

Fierce Female Rivalry- Eleanor Adams had a great race against Hilary Walker on an indoor track at Milton Keynes in 1981. They were only 10 minutes apart at 100 kms but Walker was forced to slow with a back injury. Adams pushed on to achieve 227.261 kms.

In August 1988, Hilary Walker took the world best on the road to new heights with a road best performance of 236.452 at Preston, GBR. Then, in Melbourne, Australia in 1989, Adams achieved 240.169 kms for a new world best and her greatest ever performance.

International Championships- In 1990 the first International Championship was held at Milton Keynes in Britain on an 890 metres loop indoors around the shopping mall. The Milton Keynes venue offered protection from the vagaries of the weather, but its merciless marble surface was very hard on the feet and legs. Perhaps the greatest 24 hours' field assembled up until that point contested the race. Don Ritchie was among these runners. He was widely regarded as one of the great 100 km runners, but had a poor record at 24 hours. That was to change. He ran away from the rest of the field, passing 100 miles in 12:56:13 and 200 km in 16:31:08, achieving a final distance of 166 miles 429 yards /267.543 km, a new indoor best. Eleanor Adams made a similar impact on the women's race. She reached the 200km in 19:00:31, the fastest yet on any surface, and her final distance of 147 miles 1408 yards /237.861 km was second only to her own track record.

Kouros Returns To Set His Greatest Mark- At Surgeres, France in 1995, after a brief retirement, Yiannis Kouros returned to the ultra scene, this time as an Australian. He set a new world track best of 285.363km/ 177m555y in the first day of the 48 hour. The following year, feeling in excellent form, he moved the world best onwards at the Coburg track in Australia to greater heights with 294.104km/182m1316y

Kouros' long stated aim had been to run 300 km in 24 hours. He was thwarted in this ambition in his next 24 hour by the very wet weather conditions in Canberra in March 1997, but still managed to set another world track best of 295.030 kilometers/183.3 miles. Still intent on 300km, and on hearing of the possibility of better weather conditions for the Coburg race six weeks later, he made another attempt.

Until the 200km mark he was moving well, but was then affected by back and knee injuries and forced to settle for a final total of 266.180 kilometers.

He returned to Surgeres in France for another attempt on the 48 hours best but this was also hampered by injury. Sensibly he now took the time to fully recover from his injuries, staying in Europe during the summer. By October Kouros felt he was as ready as he would ever be. He entered the annual Sri Chinmoy 24 hour event in Adelaide.

He was to there achieve his masterpiece - 303.506km/188m 1308 yards. After the race Kouros stated emphatically that he expected his world mark to last for centuries and that he would never race over 24 hours on the track again.

His mark stands at 10% better than the next best runner and would appear to be next to impossible to better. His performance represents a truly remarkable average pace of 4 mins 45 secs per km for a whole 24 hours!
He could be right about his record lasting for centuries. His new world record is 17 miles/27.3 km greater than the next best 24 hour distance on record, a dominance perhaps matched only in athletics by Tomoe Abe's 6:33:11 in the 100 kms event.

Siderenkova, Lomsky and Reutovich- The women's 24 hour had been developing meanwhile. Sigrid Lomsky, a former stalwart of the German 100km team, set a new world road best of 151m706y/ 243.657km at Basle in 1993 to win the European Challenge at the age of 51. Her mark was to be the undisputed world absolute best until Elena Siderenkova ran 248.901km/ 154. 6 miles in an indoor race at Podolsk in Russia in 1996. However this latter mark cannot be ratified.

In 1998 another Russian woman, Irina Reutovich, surpassed the world track best with 242.624km/150m1336y in the national championships in Moscow in May. Reutovich established herself as the dominant female performer at the turn of the millennium.

Edit Berces- Then, in September 2002, Edit Berces from Hungary achieved the new world best of 250.106 kms in Verona, Italy. This performance establishes a new goal for aspiring female runners.

Summary - Since the first amateur 24 hours race back in 1953, the event has come a long way, from a test of survival to a test of self-knowledge, tactics, and experience.

However, the 24 hours event remains a knife-edge run; the modern hemerodromoi strain to achieve their optimal speed, whilst risking the ever-present possibility of the crash into the abyss of fatigue, injury, and exhaustion.

This is the fascination and the attraction of the 24 hours' race.

Compiled by Ian Cornelius from information supplied by Ultra Running Historian and Statistician, Andy Milroy.