40 Hour Race in Death Valley

Jyllands-Posten Newspaper, Denmark Danish to English Translation of article (23 July, 2009)

"I will stop only if I am about to die. I will stop only if I am about to die. Otherwise I will continue to run," chanted Dennis Koors a thousand times in his head, trying to push himself further when he last week was out running. It was not any run, Dennis Koors had embarked on. In 50 degree (celcius) heat filled the bone-dry California desert air his lungs, he was surrounded by sand and rocks on all sides, and he ran to his knees, sending lightning bolt of pain through the body every single step. Behind him was 25 hours at 145 kilometers of the race.

But ahead was still 72 km between him and the finish line. Only when the line had been conquered and defeated by the soles of his shoes, he would be in goal in the 2009 edition of the American extreme run Badwater Ultramarathon. I could see the mountain with the finish line and I ran and ran for hours. But I felt that the finish line did not come closer. It was just so hard, says Dennis Koors.

The World’s Toughest

Badwater Ultramarathon regarded by many as the world's toughest race. It takes as its starting point in Badwater in Death Valley, with its location 85 meters below sea level, is North America's lowest, driest and hottest area. It runs 217 km (135 miles) - more than five constant marathons - through the desert and up and down three mountain ranges before reaching the finish line in more than 2,500 meters (8,360 feet) above sea level near the USA's highest point. A challenge so extreme and painful that most people would give very much to spare themselves. But in extreme ultra running, you can count yourself as one of the lucky few, if you get the opportunity for a start. Every year only 80-90 people gets invited, with their performances in other races have shown that they are made of the right stuff.

This year, the Danish American Dennis Koors, was for the first time one of them. He is born in Aarhus, Denmark and lived there the first four years of his life. Then he moved with his family to Iran, and later he moved to America. But when he was 26-year-old he moved back to Denmark for six months. He feels Danish and raced under the Danish flag.

He came through the crisis by 145-km (90 miles) mark. But shortly after that, he struck again into problems. Body's cry for rest was so deafening that he had to lie down to sleep. But in vain. It was so sore in the groin and the knees that I could not sleep. I woke up constantly every two minutes says Dennis Koors. Instead, he ran toward the goal. Like all the other participants, he had a team of supporters to help him through the though run; that in all the years has never yet led to any deaths. When the legs are about to succumb, resorts some of the runners for the massage. Others will need to cool their overheated bodies in a tub filled with ice water. The complete stretch should be run in 60 hours, but the quickest doing it on far less. Record sounds at 22 hours and 51 minutes.

Forest Fire

After the unsuccessful attempts to sleep, Dennis Koors coordination to tackle the last 20 km long climb the hill. But toward the end, he and his worn legs pressure from an unexpected site. Suddenly he saw smoke in the vicinity. "It comes not just from a campfire," said Dennis Koors to his helper, which ran beside him. A fire had broken out on the mountain, where the target area for the finish line was located. The police began to evacuate the mountain. Dennis Koors tried to pick up speed. He wanted to complete the run. A police car drove up beside him and he was told to turn back. The finish line was only a few kilometers (1.2 miles) away. He explained to officers that his aides were waiting for him in a car a little further ahead, and that he had to run up to them to return down from the mountain. He was allowed to continue. At the last bit of energy he forced his legs to run fast to the finish line. After 40 hours and 13 minutes, Dennis Koors could place the Danish flag over his shoulders, he was in a 36th spot with 86 starting.

One Wonders

"Is this for real?" once you are cross the finish line. It is so hard that it is difficult to believe that you have done it. "Did I just complete the world's toughest race?" Since I was just so proud, says Dennis Koors of the first thoughts on the other side of the finishing line, a thin dividing line between success and failure.

New Targets

But what is it that makes Dennis Koors and his fellow ultra-runner to voluntarily suspend the body of the ordeal so hard that their legs after all logic long ago should have fallen off or worn down? It is an amazing experience to do something that is so hard. The feeling is so great that all the hard and all the negative thoughts during the race will be very small next to it. The feeling can spend the rest of their lives, says Dennis Koors and sounds as if he is already looking forward to the next run in that caliber. He has indeed already new goals. Over the next two months planning his three shorter ultra runs the total 290 km (180 miles). In the longer term reads one of his desired next big challenge on a 163 kilometer (102 miles) non-stop mountain race circumnavigating Mont Blanc on the French, Swiss and Italian Alps.

OTHER EXTREME RACES

The classic: Spartathlon At the Battle of Marathon 490 BC ran a messenger according to the historian Herodotus from Athens to Sparta and a half days. The performance of the ultra runners since 1983 annually copied by running the 246 km long stretch between the two cities within the time limit of 36 hours.

The monotonous: Self-Transcendence 3100 miles Route at 4989 kilometers consists of 5649 rounds of the same apartment block. Runners have 51 days to complete, covering nearly 100 km per day.

The long: Trans Europe Foot Race 4485 kilometers from Bari in Italy to the North Cape, Norway. Runners have 64 days available.

The complex: The 4 Deserts A set of four extreme races. 250 km, respectively, through the Gobi Desert in China, the Sahara in Egypt, the Atacama Desert in Chile, completed by 100 kilometers of Antarctica.

The Danish: The 1000 Bakker's Marathon Distance is "only" as a marathon, but run on the motocross circuit in Højbjerg Funen. Implements man, has over up and down a total of 351 hills.