At age 80, Bob Becker has become the oldest person to finish the Badwater 135, an ultramarathon often dubbed the "world's toughest race." The grueling course traverses 135 miles of California's Death Valley, with temperatures hitting 118 degrees Fahrenheit at the starting line, per CBS News. Over the course of 45 hours, Becker battled sweltering heat, three mountain ranges, and a final 13-mile uphill stretch before crossing the finish line, exhausted but relieved. "It was pretty emotional to finish," he tells the Los Angeles Times.
Becker was among only 93 finishers this year and is no stranger to the race, per CBS—this was his sixth attempt, having supported other runners for nearly two decades. Three years ago, he narrowly missed the official cutoff time in which runners must complete the race, but a successful 140-mile race in Arizona pushed him to try to break the record again. "I had a score to settle," Becker tells GearJunkie. This time, he finished with three hours to spare before the cutoff buzzer.
A veteran running crew, including coach Lisa Smith-Batchen, kept Becker focused and fueled, handling everything from nutrition to motivation and even blister care, per CBS. Becker relied largely on liquid calories, took strategic naps, and kept moving with the help of his team, who know his strengths and limits well.
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Remarkably, Becker didn't start running until his late 50s, marking his 60th birthday with a 150-mile ultramarathon in Morocco. Since then, he's competed in races across the globe and organized events like Florida's Keys 100. "Bob is younger at 80 than he was at 77," Smith-Batchen tells GearJunkie. More from Becker himself here.
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