Hacker News Reader

Big ups to all athletes that were involved with this, but a 50k is only about 10% longer than a regular marathon and feels awkward to get "ultramarathon" status. Great athleticism regardless, I just intuitively thought ultra means double marathon or above

View on HN

50K is actually closer to 20% more than a regular marathon. Also, as per wikipedia:

An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi).

Marathons are also generally on flatter ground aren't they? This is trail running, so off-road with much more variable ground to deal with, and often much more climbing and descending (although I don't know this race in particular).

Isn't ultramarathon just the category for anything longer than a marathon?

Yes

Yes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com