Most runners know the feeling of pushing through the final stretch of a race that didn’t go as planned—but how far would you go to reach that finish line? On Sunday, at the 22nd Javelina Jundred 100-miler in Fountain Hills, Ariz., ultrarunner Jack Wiley of Spokane, Wash. showed us all, clocking in at a jaw-dropping 29 hours, 59 minutes and five seconds—just 55 seconds before the race’s 30-hour cutoff.
Javelina Jundred follows the scenic, rolling Pemberton Trail in a multi-loop course and is one of the coveted “golden ticket” races. This means the top three men and women score an automatic entry into Western States 100, held in late June in Auburn, Calif. While this year’s race saw some impressive performances despite hotter-than-usual temps, Wiley’s dramatic, just-barely-under-the-wire finish was the one that left us all cheering.
Few sports celebrate those who finish last, but ultrarunning revels in it. The final hour before the cutoff, known as the “golden hour,” draws some of the biggest crowds and loudest cheers as runners complete races lasting for days. Sure, we marvel at record-breaking leaders, but the runners we connect with are often in the middle or back of the pack—those who keep going, hour after hour, simply because they refuse to quit.
“Jack Wiley did everything he could to ensure he crossed the finish line today during the golden hour of the Javelina Jundred,” Aravaipa Running posted on the races’s Instagram. “He fell, he stood up. He fell again, and when he couldn’t stand anymore, he crawled…And he GOT.IT.DONE.” Wiley claimed his fifth 100-mile finish at Javelina Jundred. Don’t worry—he was given immediate medical attention post-race and will live to tackle the race again.
Top men and women finishers
Despite the heat, the top men and women in each race had historically fast finishes. On the women’s side, Pennsylvania’s Riley Brady won the race in 14:19:01, the second-fastest finish ever. (Brady identifies as non-binary, but competes in the women’s race; there are no golden tickets for the non-binary category.) Colorado’s Hannah Allgood finished in 14:38:30, taking second in the fifth fastest time ever, and Lauren Puretz, also from Colorado, rounded out the podium in 15:00:50, in what is the ninth-fastest finish at Javelina.
If fans thought that ultrarunning coach David Roche‘s record-breaking performance at Leadville 100 in August was a one-off, they were pleasantly surprised when the Colo.-based athlete crushed what is only his second-ever 100-mile race, finishing in 12:45:04—only two minutes over Jon Rea’s 2023 course record. Montana’s Jeff Mogavero followed Roche, finishing in the race’s third-fastest finish of all time, 12:54: 31, and West Virginia-based Dan Green was third in 12:58:04 (the race’s sixth-fastest time).
For full results of Javelina Jundred 100-mile, 100K and 31K night race, head here.
