Death Valley, CA: On July 10-12, AdventureCORPS presents its legendary STYR Labs BADWATER® 135. Now in its 40th year, the world-renowned event pits up to 100 of the world’s toughest athletes against one another and the elements. In scorching temperatures and at altitudes as high as 8,360 feet (2548m), runners, triathletes, adventure racers, and mountaineers from 19 countries and 20 American states face off in a grueling 135-mile trek non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, CA. Widely recognized as “the world’s toughest foot race, “ it is the most demanding and extreme running race on the planet.
The start line is at Badwater Basin, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at Whitney Portal at 8,360’ (2548m). The course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 14,600’ (4450m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 6,100’ (1859m) of cumulative descent. Whitney Portal is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Competitors travel through places with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil’s Cornfield, Devil’s Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Panamint Springs, Keeler, Alabama Hills, and Lone Pine.
[sc name=”Ad for Content Two”]
The 95 athletes in the 2017 STYR Labs Badwater 135 represent nineteen countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States of America (with 20 different American states represented).
Now in its eighteenth year producing this race, AdventureCORPS is pleased to welcome the return of our title sponsor, STYR Labs, an innovative nutrition customization and tracking platform delivering cutting-edge supplements to connected athletes and health and fitness consumers worldwide. The advanced ecosystem includes an activity tracker, wireless scale, wireless water bottle, and free app that collects health and fitness data to create personalized multivitamins or protein blends specific to the user’s health and fitness goals and needs. Sergio Radovcic, founder of STYR Labs, is no stranger to this race with three consecutive Badwater 135 finishes. More info at www.styr.com
Source: styr.com
I believe the original finish line was at the TOP of Whitney! Logistics and permitting changed the finish to the Portal, the end of the road, and start of the trail to go to the peak.
I’ve been up Whitney a couple times, and I can imagine trying to have a group of officials and gear up there would be very difficult. It was probably a handful of people with stopwatches that were started all the way down at Badwater. Even more difficult would be finishing up there, and then knowing you had to hike down 11-12 miles right afterwards!