Padraig Mullins from Cork completes the Badwater 135 mile Ultra-Marathon in Death Valley

Back in 2012, I had a guest post up on the site about Padraig Mullins who is a regular in Ultra events in the USA. Originally from Rathpeacon in Cork, Padraig has lived in Boston in the US since 2004 and started running in 2006.

Over the last few days, Padraig has been taking part in the Badwater 135 in California, one of the most famous Ultra events in the world. This starts in Death Valley which is 85m below sea level and finishes on the slopes of Mount Whitney at 2530 metres. In total, a distance of 135 miles and a cumulative ascent of 4450 metres. Add in the oven like temperatures and you can imagine how tough it must be.

Here is a description....."Covering 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA, the Nutrimatix Badwater® 135 is the most demanding and extreme running race offered anywhere on the planet. The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at Whitney Portal at 8,300’ (2530m). The Badwater 135 course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 14,600’ (4450m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 6,100’ (1859m) of cumulative descent."

Padraig started the race at 7am Irish time on Wednesday morning and finished around 9pm Irish time on Thursday...roughly 38 hours. He is the third Irish person to have ever completed this event.

Badwater Ultramarathon returns to Death Valley in 2015

One of the most famous ultra-marathons in the world is the Badwater 135...a tortuous 135 mile ultra that starts in Death Valley below sea level and finishes at Mt. Whitney Portal at 8,360 feet (2530m). In 2014, the route had to be changed due to new safety rules introduced by the National Parks Service due to the extreme heat.

In order to comply with the new rules, the race will now start at night and runners will also be to a maximum of four crew members and one support vehicle, down from six and two, respectively, in the past.

In a statement, the organisers said......."We are just excited to return to Death Valley. Most of the impact of the new rules will be on us, the organizers, with more bureaucracy and additional expenses. Event participants and support crews won't see too much that is different, other than more rules to follow."

The race will be held July 28-30, and registration opens January 19.

This video clips below are from the documentary Running on the Sun 2000. It really captures the flavour of the event. It's split up into 9 parts...

Part 1 of 9....Check out the training method at 5:20...I'd recommend it!

Part 2 of 9

Part 3 of 9

Part 4 of 9

Part 5 of 9

Part 6 of 9

Part 7 of 9

Part 8 of 9

Part 9 of 9