Ray Harroun was an American racecar driver and pioneering constructor most famous for winning the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
Joan Benoit Samuelson is a retired American marathon runner who was the first-ever women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the Gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and thus setting the existing women’s American record in the Olympic Marathon. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi).
Michael Lawrence Marsh is a retired American sprinter, the 1992 Olympic champion in the 200 m.
Glenn Vernice Cunningham was an American middle-distance runner, who was considered as the greatest American miler of all time. He received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1933.
William John Vukovich Sr. was an American automobile racing driver. He won the 1953 and 1954 Indianapolis 500 plus two more American Automobile Association National Championship races. Several drivers of his generation have referred to Vukovich as the greatest ever in American motorsport.
Scott Gordon Jurek is an American ultramarathoner, New York Times bestselling author of Eat & Run, and public speaker. Throughout his career, Jurek has been one of the most dominant ultramarathon runners in the world, winning many of the sport's most prestigious races multiple times, including the Hardrock Hundred (2007), the Badwater Ultramarathon, the Spartathlon, and the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (1999–2005). In 2010, at the 24-Hour World Championships in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Jurek won a silver medal behind Shingo Inoue and set a new US record for distance run in 24 hours with 165.7 miles. Jurek has followed a vegetarian diet since 1997, and a vegan diet since 1999.
Donald Ray Lash was an American long-distance runner who won 12 national titles from 1934 to 1940, including seven consecutive men's national cross-country championships, and who set a world's record for the two-mile run in 1936.
Multiday races are ultramarathon running events which are typically either segmented into daily events of a specified distance or time, or staged so that runners can run as far as they want, at their own discretion, over a set course or over a set number of days. Multiday races can range from continuous 48-hour track events to staged transcontinental treks.
Bernd Heinrich, is a professor emeritus in the biology department at the University of Vermont and is the author of a number of books about nature writing and biology. Heinrich has made major contributions to the study of insect physiology and behavior, as well as bird behavior. In addition to many scientific publications, Heinrich has written over a dozen highly praised books, mostly related to his research examining the physiological, ecological and behavioral adaptations of animals and plants to their physical environments. However, he has also written books that include more of his personal reflections on nature. He is the son of Ichneumon-expert Gerd Heinrich.
Ted Corbitt was an American long-distance runner and an official of running organizations. Corbitt is often called "the father of long distance running." He was an ultramarathon pioneer, helping to revive interest in the sport in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte called Corbitt a "spiritual elder of the modern running clan". In a Runner's World feature honoring lifetime achievement, writer Gail Kislevitz called Corbitt a "symbol of durability and longevity".
Jon Willis ("Jack") Fultz is a retired American long-distance runner, who came to prominence in the 1970s after winning the 1976 Boston Marathon, the world's oldest and most established marathon race.
Matthew Edwin Carpenter is an American Ultramarathoner as a trail runner and in high altitude marathons.
Karl Meltzer is an ultrarunner and ultrarunning coach based in Sandy, Utah. Meltzer has won more 100-mile ultramarathons than any other ultramarathoner, and has held speed records at major U.S. trails, including the Appalachian Trail and the Pony Express Trail. Meltzer's trail runs have been featured in news outlets from Ultrarunning.com to NBC Sports. Meltzer has been a professional ultramarathoner since 1999, and a coach since 2007.
Valmir Nunes is a Brazilian runner. A former world record holder, he currently holds South American and Brazilian Ultramarathon records.
Laurence Eugene "Lon" Myers was an American sprinter and middle distance runner.
Eleanor Robinson is a British former ultramarathon runner and two-time winner of the IAU 100km World Championships. She was the first woman to run over 150 miles in a 24-hour endurance race. She was the winner of the first Badwater Ultramarathon in 1987. She was twice bronze medallist at the IAU 100 km European Championships.
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.
Márta Vass is a Hungarian ultramarathon runner, former IAU100km European champion and multiple IAU 100 km World Championship medallist.
