By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Zach Gingerich of Aurora has won the 2010 Badwater Ultramarathon, a punishing 135-mile foot race through Death Valley in the sweltering July heat.
Gingerich, 30, who works in the IT department at OfficeMax headquarters in Naperville, finished the race Tuesday in 24 hours, 44 minutes and 48 seconds. The second-place finisher, Oswaldo Lopez of Mexico, crossed the finish line less than half an hour later, at 25 hours, 5 minutes and 37 seconds.
Zach Gingerich of Aurora has won the 2010 Badwater Ultramarathon, a punishing 135-mile foot race through Death Valley in the sweltering July heat.
Gingerich, 30, who works in the IT department at OfficeMax headquarters in Naperville, finished the race Tuesday in 24 hours, 44 minutes and 48 seconds. The second-place finisher, Oswaldo Lopez of Mexico, crossed the finish line less than half an hour later, at 25 hours, 5 minutes and 37 seconds.
Limping, reserved and exhausted, Gingerich thanked the six members of
his crew who accompanied him during his race, feeding him snacks,
running behind him as pacers and spraying him with water as
temperatures reached into the 120s.
"People think of running as a solo sport, but I couldn't have done it without my crew," said Gingerich, considered one of the top ultramarathoners in the country.
Gingerich's time improved by 21 minutes over last year, when he came in third place and stunned race officials by beating his previous time by 12 hours. The first time he did the race, in 2008, Gingerich finished in 37 hours.
"It's never about winning; doing something like this, you just try to do as well as you can," Gingerich said after accepting his prize: a medal given to anyone who finishes the race under 60 hours, and a belt buckle given to anyone who finishes under 48 hours. There is no special prize for first place.
The Badwater Ultramarathon, considered one of the toughest foot races in the world, starts at Badwater basin, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest point in the country, and climbs to 8,360 feet elevation at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mt. Whitney.
"People think of running as a solo sport, but I couldn't have done it without my crew," said Gingerich, considered one of the top ultramarathoners in the country.
Gingerich's time improved by 21 minutes over last year, when he came in third place and stunned race officials by beating his previous time by 12 hours. The first time he did the race, in 2008, Gingerich finished in 37 hours.
"It's never about winning; doing something like this, you just try to do as well as you can," Gingerich said after accepting his prize: a medal given to anyone who finishes the race under 60 hours, and a belt buckle given to anyone who finishes under 48 hours. There is no special prize for first place.
The Badwater Ultramarathon, considered one of the toughest foot races in the world, starts at Badwater basin, which at 282 feet below sea level is the lowest point in the country, and climbs to 8,360 feet elevation at Whitney Portal, the trailhead to Mt. Whitney.
Nicely done, Zach! I followed this race mainly through twitter posts provided by the overworked staff of the race (seeing as how no news outlets chose to cover it) and was thrilled to see that a Chicagoland person did so well. I have to know though, how does one train for Badwater in Aurora?