An 80-year-older runner has made history as the oldest person to complete the Badwater 135, nicknamed “the world’s toughest foot race”.
Last week, Bob Becker of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, became one of 93 people to complete the ultramarathon course – which covers 135 miles, beginning 282ft below sea level in California’s sweltering Death Valley and climbing to 8,360ft at the trailhead to Mt Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States.
In the course of the race, which has taken place each July since the 1980s, contestants can face temperatures of more than 120F (49C).
Becker is no stranger to setting records on the Badwater 135 course. In 2015, at the age of 70, he became the oldest person to complete the “Badwater Double” – turning around to run back to the race’s beginning after completing the official 135-mile event. He had previously completed the Badwater 135 in 2008 and 2014.
Becker’s determination to finish the race this year came in large part from his inability to do so in 2022. That year, a video of him limping, and at times crawling, to the finish line drew tens of thousands of views.
This year, Becker told outdoors magazine GearJunkie: “I had a score to settle.”
Contestants must finish the Blackwater 135 in 48 hours. In 2022, Becker fell just 17 minutes short of that cutoff. This year, he completed the race with about three hours to spare.
“It was just the most amazing crew I’ve ever had in 20 years of doing this stuff,” Becker told GearJunkie. “It was fabulous and I’m just so glad I was able to make the finish line this time.”
Becker has been running ultramarathons for two decades, and founded the KEYS100 Ultramarathon in 2008. But he credited his coaches – which included veteran ultramarathoners and endurance athletes Lisa Smith-Batchen, Marshall Ulrich and Will Litwin – for helping him finish this particular race.
“I’m over the moon with such gratitude, joy, and deep love that Bob trusted me. This is a big responsibility,” Smith-Batchen told GearJunkie. “Bob is younger at 80 than he was at 77, three years ago. You can be younger by tomorrow if you trust and do the work!”
Norwegian runner Simen Holvik, 48, clocked the fastest time in the race this year, crossing the finish line in 21 hours and 48 minutes, just 15 minutes short of the current record-holder.
At Holvik’s age, Becker hadn’t even begun running ultramarathons. He was 60 when a friend convinced him to run his first marathon, Becker told the Los Angeles Times.
“To me age is not a factor. If someone can do it then I can do it too,” he said. “Within reason.”
