An 80-year-old man has taken the world by storm as he became the oldest runner to complete the Badwater 135, which is referred to as "the world's toughest foot race."
Last week, the Fort Lauderdale-based man became one of the 93 people to complete the ultramarathon course, which features 135 miles – beginning 282 feet below seas
level in California’s sweltering Death Valley – and climbs to 8,360 feet at the trailhead to Mt Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US.
In the course of the race, which has been observed in the July of each year since the 1980s, the contestants can face temperatures of more than 120°F.
Ten years ago, in 2015, Bob, at the age of 70, became the oldest person to run back to the race’s beginning after completing the official 135-mile event.
The determination to finish this year's race was prompted by Bob's inability to do so in 2022, when he had to crawl to make his way to the finish lin.
Contestants are required to finish the Blackwater 135 in 48 hours and in three years ago, Bob fell just short by 17 minutes, and this year he completed the race with about three hours to spare.
Notably, Bob Becker has been running ultramarathons for almost two decades, and he founded the KEYS100 Ultramarathon in 2008.
