I didn't say she cheated, it's well within the rules to skip sleeping.
It's just not something the competition has been doing, and I suspect it's largely out of self-preservation rather than a lack of ability. Sleep deprivation is not particularly good for the brain.
Now that Courtney has demonstrated this strategy, and how impossible it is for even the fastest of distance runners to beat it if they sleep, I expect ultramarathons to become a bunch of sleep-stumblers after the first day in the future.
Which makes it not really about distance running anymore. It's more like a run followed by a long tired hallucination-ridden hike.
Yeah that is the exact strategy employed by 61 year old Cliff Young linked above, slow pace and no sleep. The article notes that is the strategy everyone uses now in that race as well. Also he was not competitive the second year.
The organizers could just require a minimum number of hours spent stationary if they're interested in preserving the running aspect of the race, and not alienating athletes who have no interest in subjecting themselves to extreme sleep deprivation.
There are other races which are run X miles pr day for N days in a row and then add up the times for people who want more of a running focus. There are also variants where you have to keep a pace of at least X mph or get disqualified.
Personally I respect the 'purity' and simplicity of get from here to there on foot as fast as possible.
It's just not something the competition has been doing, and I suspect it's largely out of self-preservation rather than a lack of ability. Sleep deprivation is not particularly good for the brain.
Now that Courtney has demonstrated this strategy, and how impossible it is for even the fastest of distance runners to beat it if they sleep, I expect ultramarathons to become a bunch of sleep-stumblers after the first day in the future.
Which makes it not really about distance running anymore. It's more like a run followed by a long tired hallucination-ridden hike.