The modern-day sport of trail ultramarathoning began 45 years ago when a man showed up to a 100-mile horse race — without a horse. (WBUR)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the modern-day sport of trail ultramarathoning began 45 years ago when a man showed up to a 100-mile horse race — without a horse.
Gordy dreamed of owning a horse of his own. And years later, while attending college at University of California, Santa Barbara, he finally bought a horse named Rebel. "I remember this one day — I think it was second grade. I came out on the playground with a bag lunch. Grandma had packed the lunch, and I just couldn't see anybody I could go up to and say, ‘You want to have lunch?’ I panicked. And I just felt like I couldn't breathe. And I just dropped my lunch, and I ran home for lunch."Gordy says that was his first run. Soon, he was running to school whenever he missed the bus so that he didn’t have to bother his mother for a ride.
"Drucilla came up to me — and she always spoke for Wendell, I mean, they were just like one voice — and she invited me to run the next year, which was ’74," Gordy says."You know, I've always been a terrible procrastinator," Gordy says."It's historic. And so I expected, ‘Oh, I'll just get another good horse by that time.’ Well, I didn't."
"I told my girlfriend, ‘Well, I'm leaving at such and such a time. Can you go up with me?’"Gordy remembers."And she says, ‘Oh, no, I'm going to the jalopy races with Margaret Friday night.’ And I go, ‘What?’ You know, I felt really left alone and abandoned. Somehow, I knew I'm about to do the most important thing I've ever done in my life. And she's not going with me.Gordy drove to camp on his motorbike and met up with a good friend — he calls her his sister.
"About 10 minutes before the start, I went up to Ralph and Betty Deaver. They were sitting around with a gas lantern — one of those old kind that goes, ‘Chhhhhhh.’ And I said, ‘Well, I guess I'll be going.’ And they said, ‘Well, good luck, Gordy.’ And I just disappeared into the darkness. "And I thought that’d be plenty," Gordy explains."I mean, 10 quarts. I mean, how much could you need? Well, I found that you need a lot more than that.""And I couldn't believe it," Gordy says."It's like a half hour later, I just felt fine."So, Gordy kept running. He ran all the way to the finish line in Auburn.
A year later, in 1976, a runner named Ken Shirk decided to give the Western States 100 a try. Everyone calls him"Cowman."Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with Gordy.
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