With just under five days to complete a 240-mile loop, ultramarathoners have to dig deep to cross the finish line
What does it take to run 240 miles through southeastern Utah’s desert landscape? According to the Moab 240 ultramarathon organizers and participants, it’s a mix of grit, mental strength, a good support crew, and an insatiable curiosity to discover what’s possible.
The event’s runner’s guide is quick to clarify that the Moab 240 isn’t a typical race, emphasizing, “The accomplishment of the runner is in the experience of the run, not how fast you can finish it. The spirit of the event is captured in the journey.”
The Moab 240 run was created by Candice Burt, the founder of Destination Trail, an organization dedicated to ultramarathon running. The event was created in memory of the accomplished ultramarathoner Stephen Jones, who had long aspired to create a 200-mile loop starting and ending in Moab. After Jones’s passing in 2016, Burt decided to turn his dream into a reality.
Beginning at noon on Friday, October 13, participants had 116 hours to traverse the loop. Jesse Haynes, a participant from California who’s been running ultramarathons since 2011, claimed the top spot this year, finishing in about 70 hours. The course record is currently held by Michael McKnight, who completed the run in just under 56 hours in 2021. Most runners complete the course in three to four days.
The 240-mile loop begins and ends at the Moab Valley RV Resort. Runners travel through deserts, canyons, slick rock, and the Abajo and La Sal mountain ranges, creating a total elevation gain and loss of 31,564 feet.
The Moab landscape provides a unique opportunity for runners to utilize a variety of skill sets.
“This is a really special place,” Burt said. “You have to be good at all kinds of running to succeed in this run because you have a wide variety of surfaces and some pretty good climbs. So it tests runners’ skill sets the whole way through.”
While the distance and landscape are enough to intimidate most people, David Theriot, a seasoned ultrarunner from Oklahoma, lives for the challenge.
“I believe that God has put great potential in everyone,” he said, “and I like to mine that potential. I always tell people, you can do way more than you think you can, you just gotta go out there and figure out what that limit is.”
Runners come from around the world to visit Moab and participate in this event. Scott Jenkins, from Wales, United Kingdom, ran to support the charity Operation Smiles, and completed the run on his birthday.
“To come and run in a place like this, I feel very lucky to have experienced it,” Jenkins said. “I used to watch Westerns growing up and see people coming across these huge vistas with great blue skies and amazing red rocks and canyons and think, ‘Wow, I’d love to go there one day.’ When I’m running out there on the trails, I get an appreciation for the old country and what it must have been like.”
This year, the race had over 200 volunteers stationed throughout the course. Melissa Perez, a California-based distance runner who volunteered the previous two years, decided to run it for herself this time around. Since this was the longest run she’d ever completed, she said it was critical to remember her deeper motivation.
“What got me to the finish line was a lot of tears, a great support team, and remembering my ‘Why,’” she said. “I want to show all the little brown girls that look like me that you just gotta apply yourself, and in the end, you have to say, ‘I must try.’”
For Josh Nuckles, who hails from northern Utah, his “why” was his family. He crossed the finish line Tuesday afternoon with his wife, three children, and brother.
“Finishing the race was just pure exhilaration—surrounded by loved ones, accomplishing a big goal that they all helped me achieve,” Nuckles said. “It’s hard to put it in words.”
As the 116-hour mark crept closer, runners gathered at the finish line to celebrate the last few runners making their way to the end.
“It’s a special group,” Burt said. “Everybody who comes here has their own story because it takes a certain kind of person to know that they can do this distance and who wants to push themselves over this many days in the outdoors.”
Whether participants run for a charity, in memory of a loved one, or just to find their limit, they all face the same course and the same challenges, and they all discover exactly what they can accomplish.
As Jenkins aptly stated, “This is when you find out the true measure of yourself. When the chips are down, can you still keep pushing forward?”
