ABOUT THE RACE DIRECTOR

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 2023 was an extraordinarily busy year for this septuagenarian ultrarunner.   In January, Bob ran the Daufuskie Island Marathon in South Carolina after speaking at their pre-race dinner on Friday evening.  In February, Bob ran "In the Woods 30A 50K" race in Santa Rosa Beach, FL.  March featured a return to "Badwater Cape Fear" for the 9th time where he completed another 50k.  In April, Bob ran 150 miles along the Camino de Santiago, the iconic pilgrimage route, from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  A  group of ten completed this one-off adventure over five days, experiencing spectacular European scenery, cuisine and wine!  After directing KEYS100 in May,  June found Bob running on the indoor track at the Pettit Center in Milwaukee for "Six Days in the Dome".   Bob competed in the 48-hour race with the goal of breaking the age-range record for 75-79 year old males.  It was a good couple of days: Bob completed 167.5 miles to set a new world record.  In July, Bob returned to Death Valley for the 16th straight year to work on race staff supporting "Badwater 135".   August featured his first adventure race, competing in a 4-hour novice race in Wyoming on a two-person team with his granddaughter, Adeline Spencer.  It was a fun and fulfilling experience!  September brought a driving trip throughout the Northeast to visit family and do some hill training and leaf-peeping with wife, Suzanne.  End-October and early November found Bob in the Himalayas in India, running on very rough roads and trails along the Nepal border, competing in the "Himalayan 100 Stage Race".   Primarily at 8,000-12,000 feet, this spectacular and very vertical race was a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, dwarfed only by the sensory overload of this fascinating, developing, overcrowded and diverse nation.  In December, Bob finished 2023 by directing "Daytona 100 Ultra" for the second year.

In July 2022, Bob completed "Badwater 135" in 48:17:27.  At 17 minutes and 27 seconds over the official cut-off, Bob's finish is shown in the records  as the "Oldest Finisher Ever, 2011 to the Present"--as "Honorary Finisher", due to the missed 48-hour cut-off.  Suffering from severe muscle spasms in his back, this spent and bent athlete became the subject of a finish line video clip viewed over a million times on Outside Magazine.   The link:  www.instagram.com/reel/CgFUVK_JtkS/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

In 2021 and early 2022, Bob ran five ultras ranging in distance from 50 km to 81 miles.  These included "Badwater Salton Sea", "Badwater Cape Fear" and "Skydive" 50-mile, which Bob ran entirely alongside his long-time coach, Lisa Smith-Batchen.

​Many races across the world were cancelled in 2020.  But in mid-October, Bob was able to complete the "Pony Express Trail" 100 mile race in western Utah.  On November 21, Bob won the 24-hour race at "Icarus Ultrafest" in Fort Lauderdale, completing 97.6 miles.

On September 2, 2019, Bob was the overall winner and broke the race record at A Race For The Ages ("ARFTA") in Manchester TN.  Bob completed 230 miles in just under 74 hours, besting the old record of 228 miles in this fixed time race.  To level the field for older athletes, runners at ARFTA are age-handicapped: competitors run for the number of hours equaling their age to see who will complete the greatest number of miles.

On January 19, 2019, Bob completed the 135-mile Brazil 135 Ultramarathon, from Sao Joao da Boa Vista to Paraisopolis, along Brazil's famous (and mountainous) Caminha da Fe.

In November, 2018, Bob won the "Masters" award at the Azalea 12/24 Hour race in Palatka, FL, completing 54+ miles in 12 hours.  In October he finished the 50-kilometer race at PALM100, and in March 2018--and again in March, 2019--completed the 51.4-mile race at Badwater Cape Fear on Bald Head Island, N.C.

During 2017, Bob was the oldest finisher at the 100-mile Javelina Jundred ultramarathon at McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Foutnain Hills, AZ.  He also completed the three-day, 150-kilometer Bad Beaver Ultra stage race in Gatineau Park outside Ottowa, Canada, and the 50-kilometer event at Badwater Cape Fear.

The inaugural Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in Tengchong, China, was held November 18-19, 2016. It was one of the great experiences of the race director's life. Completion of the mountainous and beautiful 77-mile course, and the entire five days visiting this remote area of southwest China became an homage to his father, who flew many combat missions in that area during World War II in support of Chinese and American forces on the ground.  The connection was palpable.  Seven decades later, Americans are still revered there as the co-liberators of Tengchong and Yunnan Province.  It was an overall race experience like no other.

In July, 2015, Bob completed his third “Badwater 135” Ultramarathon, the iconic road race through Death Valley, CA that ends at the Mt. Whitney Portal at 8,300 feet.  Then, from the “Portal” where the mountain road ends, Bob ascended Mt. Whitney trails to its summit--at 14,505 feet the tallest peak in the lower 48 States--for a total of 146 miles.  Known as “Badwater 146”—the original length of the Badwater race—Bob set the record as the oldest finisher ever.  He then turned around, descended Whitney and returned to Badwater Basin where the Badwater race began.  This 292 mile round trip, known as the “Badwater Double”, had previously been completed by 27 others, the oldest of whom was 59.  At 70 years of age, Bob set the new age mark.
Since 2003, Bob Becker has run the Boston Marathon, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, raced in the 150-mile Marathon des Sables stage race in the Sahara Desert in Morocco and the 167 mile Grand 2 Grand Ultra stage race in the southwestern U.S.  In August 2016, Bob completed the 120-mile TransRockies stage race in Colorado.  In addition to two top 50 finishes at “Badwater” and the 2015 “Double”, Bob has completed multiple hundred and fifty mile races on trails and roads, in the mountains and along the coast, provided crew and pacing support for friends who have run across the entire United States and completed many other adventures while surviving radical prostate cancer surgery in 2006 and recovering from a fractured femur during a race in ‘05. Bob ran his first marathon in 2002 at the age of 57.

Along the way, Bob Becker found a passion for creating, producing and directing exciting and unique long- distance running events, and introducing ultramarathon racing to thousands of athletes in South Florida and beyond. His inaugural event, tracing its roots to 2007, was the KEYS100 Ultramarathon, including 100, 50- mile and 50-kilometer individual races and a 100-mile, six runner team relay, from Key Largo to Key West, FL, held on the third Saturday each May. The newest event, now in its tenth year, is the EVERGLADES ULTRAS trail race through the Florida Everglades, offering races of 50 Miles, 50 Kilometers and 25 Kilometers. Bob also created, but no longer directs, the PALM100 ultramarathon and Peanut Island 24, a fixed-time 24-hour race.
Bob’s ultramarathon events raise money to combat prostate and other cancers through “The Cancer Foundation of the Florida Keys”, and in support of the spectacular but under-funded Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida’s largest, where the EVERGLADES ULTRAS is held each year. His individual races have also raised money for the National MS Society.
Bob Becker and his races have been featured in the “Sun-Sentinel” and “Miami Herald” newspapers, “Runners World”, “Trail Runner”, “Running Times” and “Masters Athlete” magazines, “South Florida Today” on NBC-6 and “Growing Bolder” radio, among others, and his running-related articles and reports have been published in “South Florida Running Forum”, “Masters Athlete” Magazine, “Ultra Running” magazine and “Florida Running & Triathlon” magazine.  He continues to be the subject of online “live” interviews and speaks frequently to groups of new and experienced runners.

Here are links to Bob's latest interview by Letty Lundquist on the "We Got the Runs" podcast, published in January 2021: 

​https://anchor.fm/wgtr/episodes/34--Running-ultras-in-Florida-with-Bob-Becker-eosmsk/a-a4b5udu