Om Die Dam Marathon (English: "Around the dam") is a yearly ultramarathon that is held in the South African town of Hartbeespoort (in the North West Province). [1] [2] The event has been held since 1991, is the largest inland Ultramarathon in South Africa, [2] and one of the largest ultramarathons in the world. [3]
The course records are held by O. Phalahane (2:49:39, 2010) and Gerda Steyn (3:16:16, 2024). [4]
An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres. The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running.
Bruce Noel Stevenson Fordyce is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete who was also active in opposing Apartheid. He is best known for having won the South African Comrades Marathon a record nine times, of which eight wins were consecutive. He also won the London to Brighton Ultramarathon three years in a row. He is the former world record holder over 50 miles and the former world record holder over 100 km.
Pamela J. Reed is an American ultrarunner who resides in Tucson, Arizona and Jackson, Wyoming.
The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race is the world's longest certified footrace. In 1996 Sri Chinmoy created this event as a 2,700-mile (4,345 km) race. At the award ceremony that year he declared that the 1997 edition would be extended to 3,100 miles (4,989 km).
Dipali Cunningham from Melbourne, Australia now she lives in New York City, USA is an ultramarathon woman runner. Dipali is a Disciple from the spiritual Master Sri Chinmoy over 30 years.
William Morley Sichel is a British long-distance runner.
Paul Tierney is an Irish sportsperson and fell runner. He played hurling with his local club Blackrock and was a member of the Cork senior inter-county team from 2003 until 2004.
Grahak Cunningham is an ultra-distance runner and motivational speaker from Perth, Western Australia.
Rory Bosio is an American ultramarathon runner. She specializes in mountain running, and won the 2013 and 2014 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Dan Lawson is a British ultra runner and charity worker from Brighton. Lawson also does charity work in India for OSCAR India and Skillshare International. He holds the course record for the Grand Union Canal Race and in 2016, he won the European 24 Hour Championships, and in 2020 set one of the fastest known times for Land's End to John o' Groats (LEJOG).
Márta Vass is a Hungarian ultramarathon runner, former IAU100km European champion and multiple IAU 100 km World Championship medallist.
Dion Leonard is an Australian/British endurance athlete and ultramarathon runner, motivational speaker, and author of New York Times Bestseller Finding Gobi, the non-fiction memoir of his story of his dog, Gobi, who ran 77 miles of a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert. Leonard who grew up in Warwick, Queensland before moving to the U.K. started running in 2013 and has already achieved numerous top 10 finishes in ultra races around the world in the most extreme conditions. Leonard has not only competed in but completed some of the world's toughest ultra running races across the most inhospitable landscapes.
Carol Morgan is an Irish ultrarunner, who specialises in non-stop mountain ultramarathons 100 km and longer, often in challenging conditions with significant ascents / descents. Born in Dublin in 1973, where she trained as a nurse, she is an advanced practitioner in emergency medicine. Morgan holds the course record for endurance ultra event, the Kerry Way Ultra.
South Africans have been participated in various running events 100 kilometres and longer. Some is on road, track or trail. The statistics below show the best performances irrespective of the surface.
Rachid El Morabity is a Moroccan athlete born 3 March 1982 in Zagora. He is a specialist of ultra-trail, and has won the Marathon des Sables 9 times. He was also ranked 2nd overall in the OCC in August 2016 and came 2nd in the UT4M 90 in August 2015.
Jim Walmsley is an American long-distance runner. An ultra-trail specialist, his wins include the JFK 50 Mile in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Lake Sonoma 50 in 2016 and 2018, the Tarawera Ultramarathon in 2017, and the Western States 100 in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024. He holds several course records, including the Western States 100, set in 2018 and further improved by 21 minutes in 2019. In 2023, he became the first American man to win the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Gary Cantrell, known as Lazarus Lake, is an endurance race designer and director. His races include the Barkley Marathons, Big's Backyard Ultra, the Barkley Fall Classic, Vol State 500K, A Race for the Ages, the Last Annual Heart of the South, and the Strolling Jim 40. In 2018, Lake covered the United States on foot, starting in Rhode Island and ending in Oregon.
Miho Nakata is a Japanese ultramarathon and marathon runner. She won the 2023 IAU 24 Hour World Championship and set an IAU 24-hour run world record.
Charles R. "Charlie" Lawrence is an American ultramarathon and marathon runner. He set a 50-mile IAU World Record time of 4:48:21 at the 2023 Tunnel Hill 50 in Vienna, Illinois.
Fotis Zisimopoulis is a Greek Ultramarathon runner. He's a 3-time winner of Spartathlon. In 2023 at Spartathlon, he broke the long-standing course record set by Yiannis Kouros in 1984 with a time of 19h 55min 9s, becoming the first athlete under 20 hours. He finished 2nd at the 2023 IAU 24 Hour World Championship 292.254 km.
