First man to ever run 92-mile Denali National Park road had to dodge bear, caribou
Aug 5, 2011, 3:37 PM EDT
Earlier this month Bill VonderMehden, 34, became what is believed to be the first person to ever run the entire 92-mile length of the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska in one uninterrupted shot. It took him 25 hours and 20 minutes to complete 92.4 miles, averaging about 16.5 minutes per mile. And that’s including wildlife encounters.
“Things were going great for the first 40 miles and then the hip flexor on my right leg tightened, which led to my quadricep locking up on me,” said VonderMehden, who was hoping to break 20 hours. “Basically I had to drag myself for 40 miles on one good leg.”
“I told myself I’d rather be dead on this road than not make it,” VonderMehden said. “It was painful not to finish it last year.”
His run featured a game of chicken with a caribou coming down Sable Pass — the caribou veered off the road at the last second as VonderMehden was yelling and waving his arms — and a close but uneventful encounter with a bear when he and Luehm stopped for a short break on the bank of the East Fork of the Toklat River.
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92 miles of Denali Park Road in 25 hours [Anchorage Daily News]
