The 2011 Badwater Ultramarathon was run earlier this week, with Oswaldo Lopez claiming the victory. Lopez, who finished second the past two years, finished the 135 mile course in 23 hours, 41 minutes, and 40 seconds. That was good enough to put him past the finish line more than hour ahead of the second place finisher, Japan's Ryoichi Sekiya, who finished at 24:49:37.
The annual foot race is considered to be one of the most challenging in the world. The runners start in the town of Badwater, located in Death Valley at 280 feet (85 meters) below sea level and finishes at 8300 feet (2530 meters) on Mt. Whitney. Along the way they have to endure the desert heat and then take on more than 13,000 feet of vertical gain, while running for hours on end.
Third place in this year's race went to Michael Wardian, who finished in 26:22:01 and the first woman to cross the finish line was Sumie Inagaki of Japan, with a time of 28:49:27.
Impressive times for a race that is 135 miles in length. Congrats to all the athletes who participated in the event and managed to finish. Its crazy enough to run in Death Valley in July, let alone for 24+ hours. Well done.