Mark Dowdle, a runner from Chicago, Illinois, recently completed an impressive 475-mile run, arriving in Windsor, Ontario, on Friday afternoon. His goal? To participate in the Beer Mile World Classic at the University of Windsor on Saturday.
Dowdle’s road to Windsor began on July 31. It was part of his personal running challenge, where he celebrates the end of each month with a beer mile. When Dowdle discovered that the beer mile world record holder, Corey Bellemore, hails from Essex County in Canada (the county in which the Beer Mile World Classic would be held), he decided to make the trek to meet him and join the local event.
Speaking to CTV on his motivation, Dowdle said, “I run so I can drink beer. And this is the extent I’ll go to be able to drink four beers. It’s funny, I’ve stopped at pubs and bars along the way, and every one of these guys and gals at the bar is like, I love that idea. I would do that. Let’s just remove the running aspect to it. Like, fair enough.”
Dowdle arrived in Windsor in time to compete in the beer mile, extensively documenting his journey on Instagram along the way. He clocked a new personal best of 5:51:57 (which is already pretty impressive for a standard mile) and placed second in the “Legends and Emerging Beer Milers” division.
