Scott Jurek

Scott Gordon Jurek (born October 26, 1973) is an American ultramarathoner, author, and public speaker.

On a challenge from training partner Dusty Olson, Jurek ran the Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile in 1994, placing second in his first attempt at an ultramarathon, without even having run a marathon in training.

Olson later served as Jurek's pacer in many races.

Jurek was the valedictorian of his high school class at Proctor High School.

During his college years, Jurek continued to compete in the 50-mile Minnesota Voyageur, finishing second in 1994 and 1995 and winning the race in 1996, 1997, and 1998, when he set the current course record of 6:41:16.

He attended the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Health Science in 1996 and a master's degree in physical therapy in 1998.

Jurek has followed a vegetarian diet since 1997, and a vegan diet since 1999.

Raised in Proctor, Minnesota, Jurek is of part Polish descent.

He is the son of Lynn (Swapinski) and Gordon Jurek.

His childhood involved a strong connection with nature developed through hunting, fishing, and camping with his family.

Jurek began trail running as a child but did not run long distances until his sophomore year in high school when he started cross training with running to prepare for Nordic skiing.

Although he hated running at first, after spending summers running on trails with ski poles, he found a new passion for trail running.

After graduation, he moved to Seattle, where he began competing on a national level, in 1998 winning the Zane Grey Highline Trail 50 Mile Run and the McKenzie River Trail Run 50K, and placing second in his first 100-mile race, the Angeles Crest.

In 1999, Jurek won the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run on his first attempt, defeating five-time champion Tim Twietmeyer and becoming only the second non-Californian to win the race.

He would go on to win Western States a record seven consecutive times.

Over the next five years, Jurek notched victories in the McDonald Forest 50K (1999), the Bull Run Run 50 Mile (1999), the Leona Divide 50 Mile Run (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004), the Diez Vista 50K (2000-course record, 2003), the Silvertip 50K (2002), and the Miwok 100K (2002, 2003, 2004).

He traveled to Hong Kong with Team Montrail to win the 2001 and 2002 Oxfam Trailwalker 100K team trophies, both years setting new course records.

Jurek's 2001 teammates were Dave Terry, Ian Torrence, and Nate McDowell.

In 2002, he ran with McDowell, Brandon Sybrowsky, and Karl Meltzer.

Jurek was also on the winning team of the 2003 Hasegawa Cup Japan Mountain Endurance Run.

In 2004, he bested Mike Morton's 1997 time to set a new course record of 15 hours and 36 minutes.

In 2004, he completed the "Ultra Running Grand Slam" by finishing Western States, the Leadville 100 (in which he was runner-up), the Vermont 100, and the Wasatch Front 100.

In 2005, just a few weeks after winning Western States, Jurek set a new course record in the Badwater Ultramarathon, widely considered one of the world's most difficult races.

Jurek came from behind to win despite temperatures of 120 °F, dealing with the heat by periodically stopping to immerse himself in a cooler of ice.

Jurek repeated his Badwater victory in 2006, a year that also saw his first of three consecutive victories in the Spartathlon, a 153-mile race between Athens and Sparta in Greece.

In 2006, Jurek traveled to Mexico's Copper Canyon with a group of runners including Christopher McDougall and Jenn Shelton to participate in a race against the Tarahumara organized by Micah True, also known as "Caballo Blanco".

McDougall's book about the 2006 trip, Born to Run, significantly raised Jurek's profile.

Throughout his running career, Jurek was one of the most dominant ultramarathon runners in the world, winning the Hardrock Hundred (2007), the Badwater Ultramarathon (2005, 2006), the Spartathlon (2006, 2007, 2008), and the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (1999–2005).

In 2007, he also won the Hardrock Hundred, setting a new course record.

Jurek narrowly lost to the fastest Tarahumara runner, Arnulfo Quimare, but in 2007 Jurek returned to win the race.

In 2010, at the 24-Hour World Championships in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Jurek won a silver medal behind Shingo Inoue and set a new US record for distance run in 24 hours with 165.7 miles (an average pace of 8 minutes and 42 seconds per mile).

On May 14, 2010, in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Jurek broke the USATF all-surface record for distance run by an American in 24 hours with 165.7 miles (266.6 km).

His finish earned him a silver medal and helped the American men's team take a bronze overall.

Jurek was one of dozens who helped in the search for ultrarunner Micah True after True went missing.

True was later found deceased.

Chris McDougall tweeted: "Caballo had the only funeral he would have wanted: his friends spent days running in the wilderness in his honor."

On April 14, 2014, Jurek and Rickey Gates became the first North Americans to complete the Bob Graham Round in the UK's rugged Lake District under 24 hours.

In 2015, Jurek set the Fastest Known Time running record for the 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail.

In May 2015, Jurek began an attempt to break the supported Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record, which was 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes to complete the 2,168-mile route.

On July 13, 2015, he completed the trail, breaking the old record by three hours.