Tuesday Aug 20, 2024

#23: Ultrarunning: Commercialisation and Environmental Impacts with Seth Kirby

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Hello and welcome to Episode 23 of Everyday Runners. I’m Andy Fuller, host of the podcast and a co-founder of Reading Sideways Press.

In the olden days, the marathon was seen by many as the ultra test of endurance running. City marathons have boomed. And, now, it is a mass sport with massive numbers of participants. But, another sport, or, separate type of event also exists: ultra-running, which is often performed outside of urban spaces. Events take place in mountainous regions along muddy and narrow trails. Athletes run hundreds of kilometers over many hours, carrying their own supplies or receiving them from a team of assistants. These are marathons cut loose from cities and which have their distances multiplied. Paces or speed are hard to put on a scale given the variations in terrain and elevation. I for one, haven’t done one. I’m a bit intimidated by the scale of time and training and distances involved. So, in order to get my head around this practice of running, I turned to Seth Kirby of Nottingham Trent University, who is a researcher of ultrarunning, event impacts and legacies as well as urban regeneration.

I hope you find this episode of interest, and as always, smash the review button on Spotify and multiply the episode through your social networks - real and virtual.

Doi doi —-

Episode Overview

Introduction

Sharing stories about what kind of distances we prefer

How important is smashing out a good race to you?

How did you come to studying sport and running in particular?

On Philly Bowden and sponsorship

The loneliness of the long-distance professional athlete

On Tom Evans

What kind of figures are charismatic in the ultra-running scene?

Brands and outspoken athletes

On Georgie Bell’s 1500m Bronze: coming back to running via Parkrun