GOMU is 5 years old!

GOMU was founded on the 19th of October, back in 2021 by a group of people with a passionate interest in multi-day racing, in response to the IAU's decision to stop tracking and recognising multi-day ultramarathon distance records. We felt this decision failed to recognise that Multi-day ultramarathons have a long and proud history, and there is still a community of multi-day athletes who continue to compete in these events and endeavour to push out the boundaries of human performance.

Rather than demanding that other people “do something” about the absence of a body to oversee multi-day ultramarathon records, we were driven to try to found and build such a body ourselves, in the “can-do” spirit of ultramarathon racing! 

The initial group was joined by many other people over the course of GOMU’s existence, who also shared a passion and interest in the sport, and generously aided and assisted in growing GOMU, and consequently and more importantly, helping to grow the sport itself.

The GOMU website was created to become the “database of record” for multi-day world records, both fixed time and fixed distance. From the beginning, the aim has been to recognise as many records as possible, and not just traditional standard times and distances. 

In parallel, it was felt that there was an unrecognised desire amongst the multi-day community to have World Championship events. And again, rather than wait for “someone else” to organise these, we aimed to create GOMU World Championships in standard multi-day, fixed-time events. The first of these was the GOMU 48-hour World Championship in New Jersey, USA, in September 2022.

Over the course of GOMU’s existence, these GOMU World Championships have grown and thrived. We have been helped tremendously by the many race directors who have enthusiastically staged world-class events under the banner of GOMU World Championships. 

In turn, the community of athletes has responded to the presence of these events by taking part in increasing numbers, and pushing out their own personal boundaries across the board. The opportunity to compete in a world championship has also raised the performance level, and as a result, many world-best distances, along with even more national records, have been set at these championships. Multiple age group world records have also been set.

Notably, new Female and Male standard Distance world best distances have been set over the years at GOMU World Championships for 48 hours and 6 days, along with the female 72-hour record. New legends of the sport have written their names into the record books. A full list of these records can be found on our website at GOMU - Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners - Records Achieved at GOMU World Championships 

We sincerely thank everyone who has helped us grow the GOMU organisation and the sport of multi-day ultramarathon racing over the short history of GOMU, along with the growing community of competitors. We look forward to continuing to support and grow the sport over the next 5 years.

Eoin Keith

GOMU Founding Committee Member