The group of people who run in races with distances greater than 100 km and finish on the podium is very small.
Scott Jurek is one of the people in that group.
He’s run in races like the Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon and the Western States 100 and done very well in the long-haul events.
Jurek won the Western States 100 a total of seven times.
Impressive? Yes!
Even more impressive is the fact that the seven wins were in consecutive years.
In 2010, Jurek ran 267 km in a 24-hour period — that’s six and a half marathons, a record-setting effort.
Ultrarunning Magazine named him Ultra-Runner of the Year three times.
Jurek was in Squamish last week. While here, he climbed the Summit Trail with coach Paul Romero and Brackendale athlete Hunter Sones, who trail runs in the summer and competes in biathlon in the winter. Romero says they ran the new trail hard, lost the trail a few times and stopped for a few photos. Their time from bottom to top was impressive — faster than most of the other reports coming from the people tackling the exciting new trail under the gondola path.
Romero asked that I keep their time quiet because Jurek plans to come back to tackle the route again with the goal of setting a new record.
“The trail is beautiful,” Romero said a few days after the adventure. “Squamish was really good to us.”
Jurek spoke to a room full of admirers at the Squamish Adventure Centre during his visit.
“It’s a way to educate others and get the things that I’ve learned out to other people,” Jurek says of his work as a motivational speaker and writer. His book, Eat and Run, is a New York Times bestseller.
Jurek says he never thought in a million years that he’d speak to groups of people at events such as the one in Squamish. As well, Jurek didn’t think writing a book was in his future, as he was setting running records at long-distance races.
“I don’t enjoy the writing process but it’s good to do things you don’t like,” Jurek says. “That’s part of the premise of Eat and Run. I grew up in a family where my dad was always saying you just do things. For me it’s a good challenge to sit down and write. I definitely want to pursue another book.”
Tackling the Summit Trail is something Jurek won’t hesitate to do again so he can claim the record for the fastest ascent on the new trail.
Walkers moving at a brisk pace are hiking to the top in just over two hours. Runners going all out are climbing the steep trail in just over an hour.
If the idea of tackling the Summit Trail seems scary, be inspired by Jurek and take a bold leap by tackling the trail. The view from the top is totally worth it.
