RECORD RUNNING |
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The Buckeye Trail 50km in the USA was actually a late replacement race
dating back to the 1990s , including the shortest time period to complete all seven , which stood at 41 days , and the fastest aggregate time to run all seven , and there were records for both men and women , too !” says Henk .
“ I knew I couldn ’ t beat the 41-day record , and because I don ’ t consider myself a fast runner , I did not think about the fastest aggregate time record . But since I was already committed to the remaining continents , and I had some fantastic races and new places to look forward to , I made peace with the fact that I may not be the first member of Seven Continent Club for ultras , but at least I may be the first in my circle friends . I was absolutely at ease with it , and decided it didn ’ t matter , that I would just enjoy the experience .”
Surprise Discovery
Henk duly ran the four ultras in four weeks , taking the jetlag , language barriers and even a bad fall near the finish line in Brazil in his stride . He returned home , already starting to think about new projects , when another of his Antarctica friends alerted him to the fact that the American runner , who had clearly also realised he would not be the first to reach seven ultras on seven continents , was now making an attempt to break the fastest aggregate time record for seven ultras . That prompted Henk to look at his own times , out of interest , and to his amazement , he realised that he had already broken the record ! The old record was over 48 hours , and when he added up his best times on each continent , he was around six hours under
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That ’ s seven ultras on seven continents ! |
that . “ But now I had to prove it , and that launched the three-week process that produced those 43 pages of documents ,” he says .
“ I looked back through my records and found that my fastest 50km ultra in Africa was my 2010 Om Die Dam 50km , but I soon realised I would not be able to prove it , as I did not have a GPS watch back then , and had not even bought the race photos . I therefore picked my Loskop 50km run of 2023 instead , which was some 14 minutes slower , but at least I could prove I had run it . Poland was also on tar , and absolutely flat , so that was also quite fast , but the others were slower due to their total elevation , and all the travelling in between . But then , I wasn ’ t chasing times in those races .
Of course , four ultras in four weeks on four continents required considerable logistical planning , not to mention a hefty price tag , but Henk says he put this all out of his mind . “ I am in denial about the costs ,” he jokes . “ The races were typically between 80 and 120 US Dollars each , so actually quite affordable if you ignore our artificial and atrocious exchange rate . On the other hand , Antarctica was a 10,000-dollar trip , but it is a 13-day adventure , with just the one day allocated to the race . There is another option , which only takes three days , but it is almost triple the price .”
He adds that it was the planning that really took its toll , more so than the costs . “ It took many hours to plan , as I only started about four weeks before the first trip . I had to find a race on each continent that was 50km or more , which proved surprisingly difficult , because few countries have races every weekend like we do in South Africa . I then had to confirm that these races still allowed entries , followed by arranging flights , accommodation and land transport . Several race websites did not have an English version , and Google Translate proved of limited help , but I was fortunate to receive incredible assistance from the race organisers in all instances .
Room for Improvement
Henk is the first to admit that he thinks his record could easily be broken , mainly because he did not originally set out to try run the fastest aggregate time record , and did not specifically choose fast and flat races in order to post the fastest times he could . His original planning was just around finding an ultra to run before somebody else completed the challenge . “ Although my overall time took about six hours off the previous record , I think the record can be much faster if one picks easier races ,” he says .
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with the Abbotts Majors marathons around the world , and he also wants to attempt another full Ironman – because the one he did ended up having a shortened swim due to strong winds and rough sea conditions . “ I ’ ve got the medal , and I was called an Ironman , but I know it ’ s not a real one . I consider that unfinished business ,” he says .
He adds that in his 21 Comrades runs , he has never cracked a sub-7:30 for a silver medal , and would like to try add a silver to his collection , and then he says he may also try something extraordinary … “ I ’ ve thought about the Brazil 135 , or the Badwater Ultra in the USA , or perhaps another self-sufficiency desert race . Some of these races are really difficult just to get into , and they ’ re really expensive to do , so I haven ’ t made up my mind yet . Meanwhile , my son and his friends reckon I should try ‘ something proper ,’ like the Barkley Marathons in the USA , but I need to find some confidence first , because that organiser seems determined to make runners fail to finish his event ! I ’ m not sure I ’ m ready for that .”
Henk all smiles during the UAI 55km in Brazil
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Images : Courtesy Henk Moen |
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Of course , this begs the question , would he like to do that , and try improve his own record ? “ I ’ m keeping it in mind , but I ’ m not going to spend top dollar again , and go out of my way , to try do that . I might consider trying to get faster times on specific continents , if I can dovetail a race with a business trip , and that could bring my record down bit by bit , but it ’ s not a priority for me right now .” Instead , Henk says he has a few other items on his wish list , starting |