![]() ![]() ![]() "So the next iteration of it all was for me to start to do my own things. "When I moved to LA, I ran a couple of marathons," he says. And an outright dislike for the staid approach to competitive distance running. "But I do think that once you have got a box full of medals you don't ever look at and a collection of T-shirts that don't mean anything to you, then going off the grid is a purist way of doing something that you love."Īrend shares the same love of the leftfield. "It's difficult to not sound holier than thou, preachy, or that everyone else who is doing their thing is wrong," says Poole who, in between wild camping in derelict buildings surrounded by used gun cartridges and fuelling himself entirely with food and drink from roadside gas stations, completed the 2023 race in just under 119 hours. Since then, though, three other categories have been added, including, incredibly, a solo class in which British ultra-runner James Poole has competed in the last two years. Competing in that format is now known as the original (OG) way to race. How do they get there? Well, that's a long story, shrouded in secrecy.Īrend first ran the route in 2013 as a relay with five friends - three other men and two women. Before he found marathon running after moving to Los Angeles in the mid-2000s, Arend organised a rave night in a borrowed brothel in Hamburg's red-light district.ĭespite the race's underground status, the start line is filled with some of the world's fastest athletes, and the biggest brands. It's a "Fight Club" of the running world created in the mould of its founder. ![]() It has no website, no "register here" button, no rules, no official route, no spectators and, until a week before, no official start date. And when they ask what you're doing just say, 'Oh, we're just a bunch of friends running to Vegas'.Īrend is sitting in a north London bar explaining the ground rules of one of the world's most sought-after ultra-running races.īeing friendly, but discreet, in the face of the law is part of the pre-race briefing he gives at The Speed Project (TSP), an unsanctioned, unsupported 350-mile race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Death Valley. ![]()
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