American ultra runner Zach Bitter has taken nearly ten minutes from the previous 100 mile world record with a new mark of 11:19:18. 

At the Six Days in the Dome event in Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, organised by celebrated ultra runner Joe Fejes, there is a host of ultra runners going for impressive distances, but Zach Bitter has started the event with a bang.

The previous record of 11:28:03 was set by Oleg Kharitonov in 2002, at Crystal Palace track in London. It was a race between the Russian and his compatriot Denis Zhalybin, who slowed in only the last couple laps and was beaten by Kharitonov (but still finished in 11:29:32).

Arizona based Bitter has had several attempts at the 100 mile distance on track and his previous best had been a 11:40:55 from 2015 at the Desert Solstice Invitational in Phoenix, Arizona. This time he really hit the nail on the head by not only breaking 11:30, but going under 11:20 too.

This mark the end of a long mission for Bitter, who runs in the zero-drop Altra shoes and has run the 100 mile distance 11 times in his career, getting closer to perfecting it each time.

The race goes on…

It seems that Bitter did not stop at the 100 mile distance, but continued to improve his own 12 hour world record mark and cover over 168.7km in that time period. This was a record that Bitter took from the all time great Yiannis Kouros a few years ago.

The event, which on a 443m indoor track, is still ongoing with other runners competing over as long as six days. Olivier Leblond is currently over 200 miles into the 48 hour race and has covered 200 miles in 33:39:03, whilst the six day race is just about to get started.

Both records in US hands feet now

Two years ago Camille Herron broke the women’s 100 mile world record with a 12:42:39 to win the Tunnel Hill 100 in the US, which is run along a disused railway line that has been converted into a running trail.

Herron went on to set a world 24hr record of 162.9 miles last December. 

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