Jim Walmsley Sets New 50-Mile World Best in Hoka One One 100K Challenge – runnersworld.com

New shoe, new world record.

Running in a special event created for the launch of Hoka’s new Carbon X shoe, Jim Walmsley set a new 50-mile world best mark during a 100K (62.1-mile) race along the American River in Sacramento, California, on Saturday.

He crossed the fully automatic timing mats at the 50-mile mark with a big lead in 4:50:07—meaning he averaged 5:48 per mile to that point—before slowing down considerably during the final 12.1 miles to finish fourth overall in the 100K in 7:05:24. For the en-route record to be considered for ratification by the USATF, Walmsley had to continue on to finish the 100K course.

The previous 50-mile world best of 4:50:21 was set by South African legend Bruce Fordyce in 1983. Walmsley also broke the American record of 4:51:25 set by Barney Klecker 1980, which was the longest-standing American road race record on the USATF books.

The 29-year-old Walmsley said he paid the price for throwing in a surge of about four miles at 5:36 pace before the halfway mark. It allowed him to get the 50-mile world best and American record, but he said it did him in for going after the 100K record.

“There are so many 100K races out there where you go through the 50-mile mark and you say, ‘Oh my gosh, I wish this was a 50-mile race.’ Today I got to say it was a 50-mile time trial inside a 100K race,” Walmsley said “There is definitely some fire left with that and some unfinished business in the 100K, but overall it was a positive day with many more plusses than minuses. And I still set a new 100K PR too.”

Japan’s Hideaki Yamauchi was the overall winner of the 100K event, finishing in 6:19:54 (6:06 per mile). He missed the world record of 6:09:14 set by countryman Nao Kazami last June in Hokkaido, Japan, but said he was troubled by a tight hamstring in the second half of the race. American Patrick Reagan ran conservatively but strong, finishing second in 6:33:50 (6:20 per mile), well off Max King’s 2014 American record of 6:27:44. Mike Wardian placed fifth overall in 7:29:12 after narrowly missing 40-49 age-group records for the 50K and 50-mile marks.

American Sabrina Little started the day ahead of the pace of Ann Trason’s 1995 100K American record of 7:00:48. She slowed a bit before coming through the 50K mark in 3:37:52, and then struggled as it got warmer during the second half of the race. She held on to finish as the women’s winner in 7:49:28 (7:34 per mile), barely able to stand up after she crossed the finish line.

“It was going swimmingly, but then the heat got to me and I was having trouble keeping fuel down,” Little said. “It didn’t feel terrible, but I knew if I pushed past a certain point it wasn’t going to make it. I just told myself to stay within myself and focus on what I’m doing and take it one mile at a time. Then all I need is the strength to get through that next mile.”

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The time trial invitational was open only to only eight Hoka-sponsored runners (and a handful of pacers), each with different racing goals within the 100K course. It started at 6 a.m. in the city of Folsom, sending runners 19.8 miles down the American River Parkway into Sacramento. From there, runners ran nine consecutive 4.7-mile loops amid temperatures that rose into the upper 70s by the early afternoon.

The event was broadcast via livestream on Hoka’s Facebook page with live commentary by Toni Reavis, Carrie Tollefson, and Eric Senseman.

The event was created especially for the debut of the Carbon X shoe, a maximally cushioned racing model built with a curved carbon-fiber plate sandwiched between two layers of midsole foam. The $180 shoe will become available on May 15 online and June 1 at running specialty stores across the U.S.

“The Carbon X shoe is fast, but the shoe is built for everyone,” said Lee Cox, the vice president of marketing and sales at Hoka. “We used a very extreme event to debut the shoe we believe is ideal for any runner to run fast.”

Walmsley ran conservatively early on as American Tyler Andrews pushed hard with pacers from the start. Andrews led the runners through 20K in 1:10:57, but Walmsley (1:11:46) and Yamauchi (1:12:05) were still four minutes ahead of Reagan and the rest of the runners. Andrews increased his lead to 90 seconds by the 40K mark (2:21:12), but that’s where Walmsley began to surge.

Walmsley ran the four miles at 5:36 pace and caught and passed Andrews at the 50K while opening up a huge lead on Yamauchi (3:00:34) and Reagan (3:09:11) over the next 20K. Andrews was only hoping to run a fast 50K, and faded immediately after getting passed before eventually dropping at the 62K mark.

The surge took a toll on Walmsley and he slowed to 5:55 pace, but with the record in his sights, he held on as he passed through the timing mats at the 50-mile mark in record time. He high-fived a spectator then immediately slowed to a jog, knowing he still had to finish the 100K course. He slowed to 12-minute mile pace for sections of the next lap, and was passed by Yamauchi and Reagan before picking it up over the final two laps.

Walmsley said he wanted to save himself as best possible for the June 29-30 Western States 100, where he set a new course record last year in winning the race for the first time in three tries.

“Overall it was a super positive day, even though I didn’t have it in me to get two records,” Walmsley said. “My quads were pretty shot and with the foresight of Western States afterwards, it was best that I took it easier. Asphalt is about a lot of pounding, I know marathoners know that.”

Four mixed-gender relay teams broke the previous world record in the 10 x 10K relay that was held concurrently on a slightly different course. Team X was the winner in 5:45:51, well ahead of the old record of 6:01.

“We set out with a goal of breaking records, but ultimately it was about the journey of the athletes,” said Cox. “There is a story behind every athlete, and there was drama in what each one was going after, but to have Jim Walmsley break the 50-mile world record is icing on the cake.”