For the second time in two years, Hoka athletes are attempting to break the world and American records at the 100K distance.
On Saturday, January 23, at 9 a.m. ET (7 a.m. MT), the group of elite runners will race on a slightly modified version of the Marathon Project course on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Chandler, Arizona. A total of 30 athletes (including pacers) will complete nine loops around a man-made lake.
In the women’s race, Camille Herron is the favorite among the pack of Courtney Olsen, Audrey Tanguy, Caitríona Jennings, Carla Molinaro, and Nicole Monette. For the men, a big field of Jim Walmsley, Hayden Hawks, Tyler Andrews, Craig Hunt, Cole Watson, Rajpaul Pannu, Tim Freriks, Fernando Cabada, Kris Brown, Elov Olsson, Joacim Lantz, Johan Lantz, Dion Finocchiaro, and Peter Van Der Son are all chasing the record.
On the women’s side, the times to beat are 6:33:11 (the world best set by Tomoe Abe in 2000) and 7:00:48 (the American record set by Ann Trason in 1995). The men are chasing 6:09:14 (the world best set by Nao Kazami in 2018) and 6:27:44 (the American record set by Max King in 2014).
“The 100K is a globally recognized distance, though the U.S. doesn’t typically have a lot of focus on the 100K,” Mike McManus, Hoka’s global director of sports marketing, told Runner’s World. “As trails become popular, we tried to find a fast, flat course where we could bring our talent to take a crack at the fastest time. The first time we did this for the Carbon X launch, the course had a bunch of hills and warm temperatures. The weather in the desert in January is more conducive for this, and we’re excited to broadcast another event like this for running fans.”
Running Was His Life. Then Came Putins War After I took a break and was trying to get my wheels turning again with a 4:50:07. The initial hope was that Walsmley would go for both the 50-mile and 100K world records. After burning up his engine while chasing the 50-mile record, he slowed down and couldn’t get the 100K record.
Now, he and his teammates are back for a second go. We caught up with two top contenders for the race this weekend, Walsmley and Herron, one of the newest additions to the Hoka team. Learn more about how they’ve prepared below.
Unfinished Business for Walmsley
As the Arizona native prepares for his second attempt at the 100K record, he’s been reflecting on his first try nearly two years ago. In 2019, he went after both the 50-mile and the 100K records in the same race. Though close, in relative terms, in distance, a 50-miler and 100K are completely different monsters to tackle. The 12 miles makes a difference, and Walsmley learned that the hard way in 2019. He went out fast and tried to maintain it, even dropping a couple sub 5:30 miles along the way.
From Runners World for New Balance, which he got by 14 seconds ahead of South African Bruce Fordyce’s 1983 time. To ratify that record with USATF, he had to also finish the 100K, which was a struggle over the final 12 miles.
“This time, you’re not chasing more than one rabbit in the race,” Walsmley told Runner’s World. “There’s just one rabbit to get and that’s the 100K. I think it’s going to work a lot better for pacing. Those 12 miles proved to be enough to distinguish the two distances quite a bit.”
A year ago, before the pandemic upended races, Walmsley was already working on speed; he competed at the Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2020, Jim Walmsley and Camille Herron Headline the Hoka Project Carbon X 2 100K Record Attempts. When the remainder of his race schedule went away for the rest of the year, he just kept running and training, logging upwards of 5,200 miles in 2020—consistent with his typical mileage-heavy training. He attempted a fastest known time on the Hardrock course and completed his first multi-day race on the Azores Islands.
But for this event, which has been on his mind for a while, Walmsley tweaked his routine again this go around.
“After Azores, I built back up to 135 miles and then I actually dropped the miles a bit for two weeks, down to 105, 115, and then I went back up to 150, 160 instead of just gradually building bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said. “Sometimes that just makes me too tired, so almost tried to give myself a little bit of a ‘rest’ before pushing really hard one more time for the final stages of what I wanted to do for the 100K preparation. A lot of that idea came back from my Gear & News Editor.”
Walmsley’s highest mileage came in back-to-back 160-mile weeks; he did 10 or 12 runs total the first 160-mile week and eight the second week. He’s also worked on his speed.
“In my final week, I’m just trying to fine tune paces and even things out because you don’t really want your legs speed being comfortably around 5:40 pace,” he said. “If you’re set and dialed in for 5:40 pace or 5:45 pace or maybe even 5:48 pace, I think you’re looking at a big wall coming late in the 50-mile range. It could still potentially be just like taking a train off a cliff.”
While he trains, Walsmley said he has kept the historic significance of the 100K record in his mind. Before the most recent record of 6:09 was set in 2018 by Kazami, the record—owned by Don Ritchie—hadn’t been broken since 1978. In fact, only 14 runs from 11 different people have ever produced a sub 6:20:00 100K. A similar challenge lies with the American record, held by Max King (6:27:43) from 2014.
“In my opinion, a lot of people involved with this race are losing perspective of just how good 6:09 is,” Walsmley said. “To say 5:56 is the pace, it’s ridiculous because you’re not only taking 19 minutes off of Max King’s record who’s got all sorts of great PRs. Nineteen minutes out of what? That’s pretty crazy.”
Walsmley, of course, will be wearing Hoka’s Carbon X2 for the record attempt. He said he’s found a sweet spot around 50 miles where he feels the shoes performs at its best and is a big fan.
“They’re really nice ride,” he added. “It lets you run a good, comfortable pace with you. It’s got a smooth transition to it and stuff. I think it’s definitely improving off of the Carbon X. You can tell that they’re siblings, that they’re meant to be a plus but more up tempo. Although it’s not necessarily like the Rocket X of light and snappy, this one seems more fitting and much more relatable to most marathoners.”
Herron’s Hoping to Kick Off Her New Sponsorship in Style
Herron has been on a tear ever since she won the 2017 Comrades Marathon. She’s won races outright; captured world championships in 50K, 100K, and 24-hour races; and captured records, both American and world bests, in those and other distances.
However, one that has eluded her is the 100K American record, 7:00:48, set by Ann Trason in 1995. It’s a shorter distance than what she’s been focused on in recent years, but one she has been hungry to go for again. Toward the end of 2020, it was the forefront of her mind as she considered potentially leaving her longtime Nike sponsorship.
Through the grapevine, she had heard that Hoka was going to host another 100K record attempt event. She had heard good things about the brand but had never tested out the shoes before.
On an early December run, coming off of two week without running after winning the 2020 JFK 50-Miler, she had an epiphany.
“I just went for this run one day and it just felt like I just felt it in my heart,” Herron told Runner’s World. “I felt like I was, I was supposed to run this event. And I’ve been wanting to step back down and to run a 100k, and I mean, I’ve set all these American World Records, and this 100K American record is the one record that has gotten away from me. Within a couple of days, Hoka got me shoes and it was like Cinderella finding her glass slipper.”
Herron wasted no time, quickly jumping into her new kicks and dropping back-to-back 130-mile weeks, giving her over 500 miles for the month. She also worked on her speed throughout her six-week training block.
“After I took a break and was trying to get my wheels turning again. it’s like, I’m not starting at square one, but if there’s 10 squares, I feel like I’m starting at three,” she said. “It’s just a process.”
The short training block doesn’t completely play in Herron’s favor, but she has been here before. Ten weeks out from her Comrades win in 2017 she tore her ACL and was left with an eight-week training block that led her to victory.
“I personally can tell you that I feel like I’m not in American record shape. I’m probably about 80 percent fit right now,” Herron said. “But my 80 percent is still pretty darn good. Just judging by my workout paces and such, I feel like I’m in very good shape. I’m definitely capable of winning a competitive race like this, but just knowing my fitness, I think I need a little bit more time to get back into peak shape to chase the American record.”
One thing she is curious about is using pacers for the first time. Her strategy heading in is more setting her own pace, which she wants to do by keeping an 80 percent max heart rate, and hoping to have bodies around her so she’s not just running alone. Even if she is, she’s used to that.
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“I’m like, ‘We have a bigger loop I don’t have to run as many times, and this is only seven hours?’” Herron said. “I’ll be looking at the distance on my watch and be like, ‘Oh my gosh! It’s almost over!’ I’m so glad I don’t have to spend all day out there, but it’s also going to be a lot faster.”
The women’s fielf is a bit smaller than the men’s with six women going for the records. The official list is: Herron, Courtney Olsen, Audrey Tanguy, Caitriona Jennings, Carla Molinaro, and Nicole Monette. This includes pacers.
How to Watch
The men’s race will go off first at 7 a.m. MST followed by the women’s race at 7:10 a.m. on January 23. The event will be streamed, like the first edition in May 2019, via FlightLine Films, on YouTube and the Hoka site. You can find the YouTube link here.
All athletes will be boasting Hoka’s Carbon X 2, which comes out later this month.
The broadcast will include seven to eight hours of coverage with commentary from Toni Reavis, Carrie Tollefson, Eric Senseman, and Julie Benson, who was Walmsley’s coach at the Air Force Academy.
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
