SECOND GOMU 48H WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GLOUCESTER, UK  by Trishul Cherns

August 11-13, 2023

The second edition of the GOMU 48-hour World Championship did not disappoint. The race was held at the historic Blackbridge Athletics Track, Gloucester, UK. This 400-meter track venue has been the site of International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) world records, along with many national best performances and age group records. Legendary British ultrarunner Dave Dowdle broke 3 world records at the Blackbridge track in 1983.  GOMU was honored to be hosted for its 48-hour World Championship 40 years later.

This IAU silver label event pulled together athletes, 23 women, and 36 men, for a total of 59 athletes representing 17 countries. Athletes came from as far away as South Africa and Australia for the championship.

The weather conditions on the first day were windy and extremely warm and a few athletes suffered from sunburns. The second day saw short bursts of heavy showers throughout the day and into the night hours but it did not dampen the determination of the runners. Despite these varied conditions, there were 9 athletes–4 women and 5 men– who ran over 300 K.  They represented Hungary, Romania, Finland, Germany, Poland, the UK, & Switzerland. 

In the women’s competition, Romanian Mara Guler led for the first 12 hours, then Hungarian Viktoria Brown took over first place and never relinquished her lead.

Both women ran over 200 km on day one; Viktoria Brown’s 24-hour split of 215.200 km and Mara Guler’s split of 205.600 km. 

In the men’s competition Dan Lawson of Great Britain ran hard for the first 23 hours in the lead position then Hungarian Szabolcs Beda overtook him for the lead holding it for the remainder of the race.

Five men went over 200 km for the first 24 hours: Hungarian Szabolcs Beda amassed 231.600 km, British runner Dan Lawson had 229.200 km Polish athlete Lukasz Sagan with 222.400 km, Swiss runner Dominik Erne with 212.00 km and Finn Jari Soikkeli with 202.800.

Looking at the overall statistics, we had more nations represented in this year’s World Championship than the first edition of the GOMU 48-hour World Championship held in Hainsport,  New Jersey, USA, where only five nations were represented in this year’s 17 nations. 

Three women were able to attain national records for their countries: Romania, Finland & South Africa.  Mara Guler set a new Romanian women's national record for 48 hours with 326.314 km taking the silver position, Marianne Mäkeninen set a new women’s Finnish national record with 320.877 km capturing the bronze position, and Marsha Muller set a new women’s South African 48 hour record with 272.768 km.

Many athletes were able to place in their age group categories including American Jimmie Barnes who clinched two age-group world records in the 85-89-year-old category breaking the 50-mile mark with a time of 14:35:00 (old record,16:51:10) and established a new 100 mile age group record of 37:4611. He was expertly crewed by his family; his daughter surprised and delighted him by showing up unannounced in Gloucester to assist him as crew.

It was exciting to watch both the men's & women’s national team competitions unfold.  On the women’s side, Hungary nosed out Finland for the gold by 3.2 kilometers fighting to the end to determine which country was to ultimately secure the gold medal position. Finland won the silver and the German women’s team took the bronze. 

In the men’s team competition, the Hungarian team again proved victorious narrowly defeating the UK team by 5.6 km for the gold.  The UK team secured the silver and the Swiss team the bronze.

We were lucky to have some of the premier British legends in the sport of multi-day running in attendance.  Hilary Walker, former world record holder for 48 hours and General Secretary of the IAU, served in the official position as chief referee. Former 24-hour, 48 hr, and 6-day world record holder, and in my opinion, the GOAT of women’s ultrarunning, ultra legend Eleanor Robinson handed out the GOMU 48-hr awards to the top 3 individual winners in the women's and men’s categories as well as the awards to the top national teams.

To round out this murderers’ row of dignitaries of our sport, Sandra Brown, who holds multiple women’s world walking records was competing in the GOMU World Championship while her husband, Richard Brown who is the current men’s 48-hour UK national champion and multiple national record holder served as her crew.  Last, but not least, was Andy Milroy.  I have known Andy for years as one of the original members of the IAU and as the premier statistician and historian of our sport. Our paths had never crossed in person but as a former statistician for UltraRunning Magazine for 25 years, we were in regular contact with each other over the years, first exchanging letters, later emails and phone calls. To meet him in person after all these years was the highlight of my trip.

This championship could not have happened without the stewardship of the fine Severn Valley Events’ Paul Corderoy and his entire team of volunteers, massage therapists, kitchen staff, medical staff, and timers. Thank you for hosting GOMU and making the event World Class. 

The Global Organization of Multi-Day Marathoners (GOMU) looks forward to 2024 when our 48-hour World Championship will take place in Balatonfűred, Hungary hosted by Runion.

See you in Hungary!

FIRST GOMU 6-DAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, POLICORO, ITALY by Trishul Cherns

March 12-18, 2023

The inaugural GOMU 6-Day World Championship was huge as one world record and three national records were broken at the Italian Ultramarathon Festival (UMF) Winter Edition in Policoro, Italy. Viktoria Brown who holds both Canadian and Hungarian citizenship and competing for the Hungarian team in this championship broke an astounding two records; one world the other a Canadian national women’s record. Viktoria, the current women’s 3-day world record holder of 467.366 km/290.407 miles bettered her old mark by over 4 kilometers establishing a new world record of 471.631 km/293.057 miles.

She also had a blistering pace for the first two days pushing forward her former Canadian national record up from 353.877 km/219.888 miles to 364 km/226 miles.

Hungarian Gabor Rakonczay, overall champion of the GOMU 6-Day World Championship, also broke his own Hungarian national record (844.108 km/ 524.504 mi) by 4 km with a smooth steady style and pace giving him the final tally of 848.518 km/ 527.244 miles.

Pawel Zuk, the third-place finisher in the GOMU 6-Day World Championship, set a new national record for his home country of Poland running in a vibrant powerful style amassing 805.596 km/ 501 miles.

Rodrigo Freeman Lopez who placed 5th overall also set a new national record for Brazil with 764.848 km/ 475.254 miles.

Adrian Rewig from Germany had himself an outstanding last day with over 180 km/112 miles which cemented his 2nd place overall and moved him up to number 4 on the German men's All-Time list for 6-days. 

The GOMU 6-Day World Championship athletes' roster was composed of an exceptional field of men and women from fifteen countries.  The top three men ran over 800 km/500 miles with an impressive eleven men running over 700 km. Seventeen athletes were able to reach 400 miles, twenty-one runners ran well over 600 km. 

There were 43 finishers in the GOMU 6-Day World Championship out of the 46 starters; three athletes retired very early in the competition.   The course was a 1077.64-meter-long loop near the Adriatic Sea.  The weather was pleasant during the day with a few rainy days and nights adding to the challenge.  The chilly nights experienced were seasonally expected. We especially want to thank our host in Italy, Pasquale Brandi for his excellent race directing and long hours at the helm. Special thanks to the World Record holder for 6-days Yiannis Kouros for firing the starting gun and presenting the GOMU awards at the race end.

The GOMU 6-Day World Championship National Team competition had a showing of four teams of women and seven teams of men.  Each team is comprised of a minimum of two athletes to be entitled a team status. The top two individual athletes of a national team accruing the highest totals for the top three placing national teams received GOMU National Team medals. 

GOMU 6-Day World Championship National Team Competition

 Women:

1. Hungary- Viktoria Brown/Krisztina Drabik     1307.478 km

2. Romania- Mara Guler/Simona Gollent            1110.387 km

3. Italy- Luisa Zecchino/Marinella Satta                989.763 km

4. Germany- Marika Heinlein/Edda Bauer         962.838 km

GOMU 6-Day World Championship National Team Competition

Men:

1. Germany- Adrian Rewig/Michael Bohm            1597.191 km

2. Hungary- Gabor Rakonczay/Szilard Fodor 1537.956 km

3. Italy- Andrea Marcato/Daniele Alimonti          1424.871 km

4. France- Cedric Chaudet/Jean-louis Vidal         1227.780 km

5. Spain- Fernando Soriano/Ricardo Vidan           1152.390 km

6. Belgium- Ludo Depoortere/Pat Leysen             1139.466 km

7. Switzerland- Matteo Tenchio/FrediBuchler        920.835 km

FIRST GOMU 48H WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, HAINSPORT, NJ, USA by Trishul Cherns

September 3-5, 2022

The inaugural GOMU 48-Hour Championship was a giant success despite the intense summer heat. 

In the men’s portion of the Championship Greek National and soldier in the Greek Army Dimos Marifoglou came out strong the first day with 199K/123 miles. Mongolian multi-day star Budjargal Byambaa followed 10 K behind Dimos.

As the summer heat increased, topping at 90°F/32°C in the afternoon of the second day, Budjargal mirrored the intensity of the blazing sun pulling ahead of Dimos taking command to secure a victory and becoming GOMU’s first Overall 48 Hour World Champion. The podium was rounded out by American athlete Byron Lane. 

In the women’s competition 72 hour, World Record holder Viktoria Brown from Canada led the first day with 195K/121 miles. Steady on the prowl, 10K behind Viktoria was US athlete and personal trainer Lisa Devona.  Lisa closed the gap in the last 12 hours but ultimately ran out of real estate.  Viktoria Brown, GOMU’s Vice President, became the 48-hour Women’s World Champion. Their focus, determination, and grit was palpable. Congratulations to Anna Miglio of the USA for her Third Place showing.

GOMU’s first World Championship witnessed the exceptional performance of Jeff Hagen of the United States in the men's 75 to 79 age group. This pending age group's World Record of 265.6858 K/166.5384 miles broke the former record of 259 K/161 miles.

For those who are interested, this race is an IAU Bronze Label event. It is a certified and measured loop of .9913080 of a mile. It meets all USATF/IAU/GOMU requirements and standards for certification. The laps were recorded by electronic chip timing. 

 I want to offer deep gratitude to the unflappable Race Directors Vanessa Kline and John Swanson whose generous stewardship embraced us all.  I want to thank the never-ending flow of tireless volunteers who created such positive energy. A special thanks to the kitchen staff who created an abundance of delicious food for all palates. 

The next pair of GOMU Championships will be in 2023. Come represent your country. 

GOMU 6-Day World Championship- March 2023

-6-days UMF–Italian Ultramarathon Festival – Winter Edition 2023

-March 12-18, 2023

-Policoro, Italy

Registration is open.

GOMU 48 Hour World Championship– August 2023

-August 11-13, 2023

-Gloucester, UK

Registration is open January, 2023