By Davy Crockett Trail 100-milers started to be held in Great Britain in 1973, four years before the Western States 100 was established in America. This piece of ultrarunning history is largely unknown to Americans who have been told for decades that trail 100-milers began first in the U.S. In reality, trail 100s were also known to be held in Mexico among the Tarahumara as early as 1867. Thus, recognition is deserved among several cultures and countries to those who dared to head out into the rural wilderness to achieve the distance of 100 miles on foot. See the new book:  Running 100 Mil ..read more

By Davy Crockett Get this history in my new book The first certified 100 km race in America was held at Lake Waramaug, Connecticut, in 1974. Today it remains as the oldest 100 km race in the country and the second oldest American ultra still held. For many years in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, it was the unofficial national championship for the 100 km distance and the best ultrarunners in the U.S. made their pilgrimage to Lake Waramaug to test their abilities on the 7.59-mile paved road loop around the lake. Before 1974, the 50-mile or 100-mile distances had been the America's ..read more

By Davy Crockett This part will cover additional stories found through deeper research, adding to the history shared in found in the new book, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim History. Grand Canyon rim to rim hikes and runs become very popular as thousands descend into the Canyon each year. Fastest known times for R2R and R2R2R run at broken. In 1991, Jerry Chavez, a Vietnam veteran of Leadville, Colorado, worked for the NPS. He operated the pump station at Indian Garden, which pumped water up to the South Rim. He lived year-round at a nice residence down at Indian Garden. Chavez was also a member of t ..read more

By Davy Crockett This part will cover additional stories found through deeper research, adding to the history shared in found in the new book, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim History. Overcrowding Concerns In 1971, because of overcrowding in the inner Canyon, the Park Service started to implement a reservation system for camping. They shared a situation on the Easter weekend when 800 people tried to camp at Phantom Ranch, which only handled 75. Park Superintendent Robert Lovegren (1926-2010), said, “We readily accept quotas on tickets to a theater or sports event. If the performance is sold out ..read more

By Davy Crockett This is an encore episode. Spartathlon, an ultra of 246 km (153 miles), takes place each September in Greece, running from Athens to Sparta and with its 36-hour cutoff. It is one of the toughest ultramarathons to finish. In Part 1 of this series, episode 88, the story was told how Spartathlon was born in 1982, the brainchild of an officer in the Royal Air Force, John Foden. Three servicemen successfully covered a route that was believed to have been taken in 490 B.C., by the Greek messenger, Pheidippides. The 1982 trial run set the stage for the establishment of the Spartathlo ..read more

By Davy Crockett This part will cover additional stories found through deeper research, adding to the history shared in found in the new book, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim History. Rim To Rim in the 1950s In 1950, two 15-year-old boys from Los Angeles discovered that hiking rim-to-rim was a lot harder than they thought. While resting down at Phantom Ranch, they ran up an $8 unpaid bill and then decided that there was no way that they were going to hike back up. “So, the two youths ‘borrowed’ a pair of mules at the ranch and rode to the top, tethering the mules at the head of Bright Angel Trail. The ..read more

Recently I went on the "Ultra Running Guys Podcast" with Jeremy Reynolds and Jeff Winchester. This will be a slimmed-down version of their interview with me. Their excellent podcast has also been doing a series interviewing race directors of some of the classic ultras. The Ultra Running Guys said, "Not only was Davy Crockett the 15th person to complete 100-hundred-mile races, but as the Director of the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame, and the host of the Ultrarunning History Podcast. He has contributed more to the world of Ultra than just about anybody we know. Take us on your long run to h ..read more

By Davy Crockett This part will cover additional stories found through deeper research, adding to the history shared in Part 2 of this Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim History. These stories can also be found in the new book, Grand Canyon Rim to Rim History. By 1927, Phantom Ranch was well-established at the bottom of the Canyon. The new South Kaibab trail was complete, and the Black Bridge was nearing completion. On the North side, the North Kaibab trail up Roaring Springs Canyon was also nearing completion, which would make the rim-to-rim hiking experience much easier instead of using the "Old Bright ..read more

By Davy Crockett In 1906, David Dexter Rust (1874-1963) established a permanent camp near the confluence of Bright Angel Creek and the Colorado River that they name Rust Camp. They dug irrigation ditches and planted cottonwood trees by transplanting branches cut from trees found in nearby Phantom Creek. The camp was visited mostly by hunters going to and from the North Rim. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) visited the camp in 1913 for a few hours and it was renamed to Roosevelt Camp. By 1917, the government revoked the permit for the camp, and it became deserted. As the Grand Canyon National Par ..read more

By Davy Crockett “Prof” Thomas Henry Cureton (1875-1957) of Williams, Arizona, was a significant Grand Canyon rim-to-rim contributor. Through his selfless service in the 1920s, he passed on the love of the inner Grand Canyon to a generation of youth who lived at the doorstep of the Canyon. Over several years, he guided about 50 youth across the Canyon and back, teaching them minimalist camping skills and how to love the Canyon while hiking on the developing inner Canyon trails. Fascinating and very detailed accounts of their Canyon adventures have been recently discovered and are preserved in ..read more