Vincent Kennedy ran 137.61 miles through Manhattan over 33 hours this past weekend to win the second annual $1 Ultra, a backyard race that starts outside a sports bar near Times Square and ends only when every other runner has dropped out.
The race uses the format invented in 2011 by Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, the co-founder of the Barkley Marathons. Runners start a 4.167-mile loop on the hour, every hour, until one person finishes the last lap alone. The New York version skips an entry fee. Each runner drops a dollar in a jar before every lap they start, and the last person standing takes the pot.
Per the official results, Kennedy finished his 33rd lap in 47 minutes and 43 seconds. Thomas Garvey, a retired professional triathlete, came in second after 32 laps and 133.44 miles. The jar held $1,764, though Garvey told Runner’s World it was probably closer to $2,000 once no-shows and extra cash were factored in.
A backyard race in a city without backyards
The race was the work of Austin Lo and Victor Zeitoune, two friends from the city’s unsanctioned running scene who scribbled the idea on a napkin at Teddy’s Bar & Grill in Williamsburg last year, according to the Runners of NYC newsletter. The first edition drew 57 runners to the West Side Highway last July. Kieran Calderwood won after 25 laps, took home $397, and says he still hasn’t opened the jar.
“The $1 Ultra started off as a silly idea,” Lo told Runners of NYC. “But in my mind and Vic’s mind, it’s kind of our thank you to the New York running community, and a way to spread the joy or spread the passion of ultra-endurance events to a broader audience.”
This year’s race started at 6 a.m. Saturday at Printers Alley, a sports bar just south of Times Square, with just over 200 racers. There was no fixed course. Runners had to navigate on their own to checkpoints that organizers announced 30 minutes before the start, and the checkpoints could change mid-race. The timing didn’t help. The race fell on opening weekend of the World Cup and Game 5 of the NBA Finals, with the New York Knicks chasing their first championship in 53 years.
Around mile 80, with crowds packing Midtown, organizers cut the route down to 0.20-mile repeats around the block of the bar for safety. Runner’s World reported that competitors spent roughly 30 miles going up and down a single block, police barricades on both sides, until their watches ticked over to a full lap.
“When I heard that was the new route, my mind wanted none of it,” Kennedy told Runner’s World. “I complained to my crew how this just felt silly.”
Garvey, talking to the same outlet, said the stretch ended up bonding the field. “As crazy as it sounds, this is when the camaraderie and friendships really started to form. We were passing each other dozens of times every hour, and every single pass got a cheer.”
Kennedy said he came close to dropping out on that block. He called his fiancée looking for a reason to keep going, and she asked him, “What would your tomorrow say to you today?” He told Runner’s World he played a 16-second motivational clip on repeat for an entire lap, then switched to music. The section he had dreaded turned into one of his favorite parts of the race.
What the prize was actually for
Kennedy said the pot was not the reason he kept running. “I love the work,” he told Runner’s World. “Running is a huge part of my life and who I am, so being able to have a big achievement in something I care about so much means a lot.”
Calderwood, last year’s winner, told Runners of NYC before this year’s race that he still hasn’t touched his prize. “The jar is a trophy. I have not opened it. I have not counted the money. If I ever open that jar to get money out of it, it’ll mean I am in the worst, most down bad spot imaginable.”
This year’s race ran from Saturday morning into Sunday afternoon. When it ended, Kennedy was the only one still moving.
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