Danish ultrarunner Stine Rex has been racking up high-level performances in ultrarunning for years, but her 2024 performances represent a step ahead for both her and the sport. However, one of her efforts has also exposed the growing pains that can happen when a sport progresses so quickly that its organizers and administrators can’t keep up.
At the beginning of September 2024, Rex reset the women’s six-day world record, running 913.606 kilometers (567.688 miles) at the 2024 6 dagsløb i Åbybro race in her home country. This record is still awaiting ratification, as is a normal part of the process for running records and a normal timeline.
Earlier this year, at the 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships in Hungary, Rex set a women’s 48-hour world record of 435.564 kilometers (270.646 miles). But now, many months later, Rex’s effort has not been ratified and is instead the center of an unresolved ratification debacle.
We spoke to some parties involved in this complex case, which serves as a cautionary tale to runners and event organizers, and tried to determine if this record-breaking run can ever be ratified.
Stine Rex on the way to setting a new six-day record at the 2024 6 dagsløb i Åbybro. Photo: Simon Haugaard
Stine Rex’s Women’s 48-Hour World Record at the 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships
The 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships took place on the weekend of May 31 in Hungary. GOMU stands for the Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoning. As mentioned above, Rex set a new women’s 48-hour world record by covering 435.564k (270.646 miles). This distance bettered, by 228 meters, the mark of 435.366k (270.505 miles) set by Camille Herron (U.S) at the 2023 Sri Chinmoy 48-Hour Festival in Australia.
Not only that, but second place Irina Masanova (Russia) ran 434.912k (270.2 miles), only 652 meters behind Rex and the third-longest distance recorded to date in a women’s 48-hour race. In third place was Viktória Brown (Hungary, lives in Canada), with 405.0k, making it a historic three women who surpassed 400k in one event.
To further illustrate the recent rise in performances at 48 hours, prior to this race, only three women had broken 400k for 48 hours — Herron, Poland’s Patrycja Bereznowska (three times), and Jo Zakrzewski (U.K.).
There was much excitement across social media and media outlets following this event, about both Rex’s record-setting performance and the depth of its women’s competition.
Stine Rex at the 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships. Photo: Runion/Pápai Heni
In the men’s race, Poland’s Bartosz Fudali ran 447.2k (277.9 miles), Nicolas de las Heras (Spain) covered 441.3k (269.6 miles), and Beda Szabolcs of Hungary went 433.9k (269.6 miles). These three distances were the fourth, fifth, and sixth best recorded in a men’s 48-hour race, behind three distances from the legendary Greek runner Yiannis Kouros, whose men’s 48-hour world record of 473.495k (294.296 miles), set in 1996, is still held in reverence.
Some eyebrows were raised about the large increases in personal bests over 48 hours by several of the athletes. However, for context, men’s winner Fudali had a previous 48-hour personal best of 433.3k (269.2 miles), set when winning the 2024 Taipei 48-Hour Ultramarathon. He was also third behind Harvey Lewis in the 2023 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra.
Second-place de las Heras has a 24-hour personal best of 261.6k (162.6 miles) from the 2023 IAU 24-Hour European Championships. Szabolcs in third place had a previous 48-hour personal best of 410.3k (255.0 miles) from 2022. He also won the 2023 EMU Six Day World Trophy with 803.7k (499.4 miles).
The final three (left to right), Bartosz Fudali, Ihor Verys, and Harvey Lewis, at the 2023 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra. Photo: Mike Trimpe
Rex, although only having a previous 48-hour best of 335.7k from 2018, does have a 24-hour personal best of 245.9k (152.8 miles), set when placing fifth in the 2023 IAU 24-Hour World Championships. Masanova was running her first 48-hour race, but came into it with a 24-hour personal best of 247.9k (154.1 miles). Brown, in third place for the women, had a previous 48-hour best of 349.7k (217.3 miles).
When you put a group of quality athletes together in one race, history shows that, whatever the distance, the collective effort pushes them to great performances. That was definitely the case for this event, in both the women’s and men’s races.
Complications With Ratifying Stine Rex’s Women’s 48-Hour World Record
The performances from Hungary took 48-hour running to a new level. However, the event did not appear to be sanctioned by the Hungarian Athletics Association (MASZ) or have received a label from the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU).
Some readers may think, No big deal, what is the problem here? It’s a world championships event, with athletes running phenomenal distances. Let’s celebrate. However, the IAU is the global body that ratifies and keeps records for most standard ultra distances. Having an IAU label at any ultra-distance race is a prerequisite for a performance to be ratified for both rankings and records.
This is not a unique situation. Earlier this year, the French athlete Marie-Ange Brumelot surpassed the current women’s 100k European record, and became only the second woman to break seven hours, running 6:56:54. The event in France, the 2024 100km à Pied de Steenwerck, did not have a permit from the French federation or an IAU label, so it Brumelot’s run was ineligible for ratification.
What Is the IAU, and What Is an IAU Label?
The IAU has evolved over the years to be the global ultra body — recognized by both World Athletics and regional bodies like USA Track and Field and European Athletics — to stage and promote world championships for the 50k, 100k, and 24-hour events. It also works with the International Trail Running Association and World Mountain Running Association, which respectively administer the sports of trail running and mountain running, to stage the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC).
The start of the 2023 Trail World Championships 80k. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
The IAU also works to ratify and keep absolute and masters age group records for ultra distances at all the main events from 50k through to six days.
The IAU labeling system has evolved to ensure certain basic organizational standards are met. As with permitting for any track, road, trail, and mountain race around the world, it ensures uniformity and fairness. It also alerts athletes that the organizers have these basic requirements in place. The IAU does not make big demands before issuing a license, only four main ones:
- The event must first have a license from the local national federation, and follow the national federation’s rules.
- For a point-to-point road course, or a paved lapped event, the course must have been measured by a federation-qualified course measurer with the course measurement certificate available for all to see.
- A suitably qualified federation-approved referee, with judges as required, must be appointed in advance.
- Also, if appropriate, manual timekeepers acting as a backup to any chip timing system must oversee the event. For record purposes, manual timekeeping is needed as an essential backup, and the referee must also ensure the course raced is the same as what was measured. For a loop course, this is essential as a small discrepancy in course layout can lead to significantly more or less distance being raced.
For the 2024 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships, we have seen a measurement report undertaken by Péter Pignitzky, an Association of International Marathons and Distance Races/World Athletics grade B measurer. GOMU told us that Pignitzky was a qualified referee, ticking two key boxes. Sadly, since the event took place, Pignitzky has passed away.
However, neither a MASZ sanction nor an IAU label was issued before the race, and it’s this fact that’s prevented Rex’s distance from being eligible for ratification. Since national federation permits and IAU labels are a common occurrence, the question is, what happened in this instance?
The answer to this question is proving somewhat difficult to obtain, but we’ll spend the rest of this article exploring what we know so far.
Who Actually Organized the Race?
A local club called the Balatonfüredi Atlétikai Club organized the race, and incorporated the GOMU 48-Hour World Championships within it. The club is listed as affiliated with MASZ on its website. The club’s website indicates that they organize many events.
The permitting issue seems to center around the relationship with the local organizers and MASZ, and some stipulations for the event that the federation was enforcing. Mate Baranyai, the local organizing coordinator, when asked for comment, said:
“No one knows or understands, including GOMU and the IAU, why the federation has not issued a permit. MASZ did not give reasons for the rejection. My athletics club is Balatonfüredi Atlétikai Club, and the competition organized by me, for the past three years, is called the Balatonfüredi UltraFutó Fesztivál (BUFF). Every year, we received a bronze label from the IAU, and in 2021, it played the role of the Hungarian 48-Hour [National] Championships.”
He went on, “The association knows my club’s reputation for running excellent competitions that adhere to all IAU and World Athletics rules and regulations. We could not understand the delay in sanctioning, so we asked the IAU for help. This took place over several months, and we are still in ongoing negotiations to try and resolve it.”
Baranyai continued, “A month before the competition, GOMU and I told the athletes that there was no [IAU] label, but they wanted to come anyway. It was the largest and strongest 48-hour field in the sport’s history. We had five world age group records and Stine Rex’s overall, legitimate 48-hour record. We arranged for her to be drug tested after the event as well.”
We asked MASZ for comment but haven’t received a reply.
What is GOMU and How Does It Relate to This Story?
According to the GOMU website, “The Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoning (GOMU) tracks and maintains records for all standard and non-standard multi-day distances/times for women and men. We organize the GOMU multi-day world championships, where athletes can contest these records and be inspired to transcend their limits. We embrace the past to inspire our future.”
Matthieu Bonne and Zsuzsanna Maràz, winners of the 2024 GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships. Photo: GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships
The organization’s president is Canadian-born Trishul Cherns, an experienced multi-day runner himself. Speaking with iRunFar, he said, “A few years ago, myself and others were concerned that the IAU was not giving enough credence to multi-day events.”
Although the IAU was organizing and promoting what Cherns regards as shorter ultra championships well and ratifying records at all distances, they didn’t seem interested in promoting longer multi-day events.
“That’s why GOMU came into being,” said Cherns, “to help promote the longer multi-day events from 48 hours upward. We have promoted previous 48-hour and six-day events as world championships. More and more people are embracing multi-day races, and we feel that is the way forward, to raise the profile and increase participation for all and improve standards at the elite end.”
Asked about the issues with not having a permit for an event billed as a world championships, he said, “All the athletes were made aware of the labeling situation four weeks before the race. We told them everything else was in place, but we were open and transparent that we didn’t yet have an IAU label. The athletes still wanted to come, as they valued competing against each other…”
Cherns continued, “The feedback I get from runners after the race is fantastic. They are telling us, ‘As long as you guys ratify it, if GOMU ratifies any records and lists them in the GOMU-approved, multi-day records, that’s all fine with us.’ We put on the greatest 48-hour race ever, with some fantastic performances, and the athletes clearly want this type of competition with each other.”
As previously mentioned, this event arguably provided the most competitive 48-hour race ever seen. GOMU’s vision to provide that experience for the runners is also not in doubt. However, that still does not answer the question of why the IAU may not ratify the record.
When asked what he has to say to some experienced ultra observers, who admit that GOMU has good ideas and intentions and that their hearts are in the right place, but that maybe they should be a little more patient and allow a longer lead time into events to avoid a repetition of the issues experienced in Hungary, he responded:
“We had the patience of Job on this one. The process of working with MASZ, with the IAU’s assistance, started in November 2023 and dragged on until days before the [event], which was held at the end of May/early June.”
He continued, “Our lead time was seven months, and it should not be seen as a sign of impatience or that we weren’t allowing a longer lead time, as others have suggested. MASZ … is the party that caused delays by stringing [the local organizing coordinator] Mr. Barayani along and requesting more than the IAU’s criteria, which stumped us all.”
Cherns added, “The athletes want these races, so we are going to keep staging them.”
Since our conversation, GOMU has successfully staged the 2024 GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships in September in Hungary, which did have an IAU silver label, where Mathieu Bonne set a new men’s six-day record. GOMU also has a 2025 six-day world championships in France next April.
Matthieu Bonne on his way to setting a men’s six-day world record at the 2024 GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships. Photo: GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships
“We have also just agreed to stage the next GOMU 48-hour world championships in Poland at the [UltraPark Weekend 48 Hour] on the weekend of April 30 to May 1, 2025,” Cherns added, “and the first-ever 72-hour world championships next September, again with the Balatonfüredi organizers [in Hungary].”
Are the GOMU World Championships Genuine Championships?
So, are the GOMU world championships genuine championships events? That depends on where you are coming from. IAU championships events have World Athletics and national federation backing. GOMU does not. That said, it seems apparent that the IAU, in this case, has been trying to support GOMU with the labeling issue as best they can.
At present, GOMU does not have links with national federations offering invitations to send teams, as happens with the IAU 24-Hour World Championships, IAU 100k World Championships, and the World Athletics-supported World Mountain and Trail Running Championships.
GOMU has a bidding process in place to host its world championship events. Bids are open annually from November 1 until March 31 of the following year. For example, applications to host its world championships events in 2026 will open in November 2024 and close on March 31, 2025. The GOMU organizing committee reviews each application and votes on the best venue.
Currently, the way it seems to work is that athletes just enter the races as normal and form their own teams, with no backing or selection criteria laid down or support given by their national federations.
Cherns says, “The athletes who come to our GOMU world championships are not chosen by the national federations, despite our efforts to initiate a dialogue [with the various national federations] … At this time, GOMU chooses to offer self-selected open races that cater to our robust global multi-day family of athletes, hungry for recognition and inclusion. This method also accommodates elite age-group athletes unlikely to be selected for a federation-selected national team.”
Although Cherns says GOMU has reached out to several national federations to support its world championships events, he has not been met with any tangible response so far, making these 48-hour and six-day championships arguably championships in their name only, although valued by the participating athletes.
Runners Beware and Plan When Aiming for Records
In some ways, Rex’s situation is not unique. Two recent examples come to mind. As mentioned before, in 2024, the French athlete Brumelot surpassed the current women’s 100k European record and became only the second woman to break seven hours, running 6:56:54. The event at which she raced did not have a French federation or IAU permit, so the time was unable to be ratified for record purposes.
Great Britain’s Sarah Webster also had a women’s 100k European record unable to be ratified but for a slightly different reason. In March 2023, she ran her first 100k at the 100k British National Championships in Northern Ireland. Surpassing most people’s expectations, including the organizers, she ran 7:03:40. This was inside the current women’s 100k European record of 7:04:03, set by French runner Florianne Hot, when winning the 2022 IAU 100k World Championships in Germany. On that occasion, an IAU label and all other technical requirements were in place, but no drug testing was available, meaning that although her performance appears in rankings, it was inadmissible as a European record.
This spring, when running the 100k British National Championships at the 2024 Sri Chinmoy 100k event in Perth, Scotland, the organizers arranged for doping control. Webster ran 7:03:48, and now this women’s 100k European record ratification is pending. Other examples exist over the years, too, and extend beyond ultrarunning.
Sarah Webster (left), alongside Carla Molinaro, and Andrea Pomaranski, when she took third at the 2023 IAU 50k World Championships. Photo courtesy of the IAU.
The message for athletes is clear. Although organizers always strive to have everything in place, runners with any chance or aspiration to set a record of any kind — national, age group, or world — should do some homework to ensure all is in place before committing to an event.
The 2024 lululemon FURTHER six-day event in California this spring, although in some ways a manufactured, stand-alone event, went to meticulous lengths to ensure all was in place beforehand for record ratification. The organizers worked with USA Track and Field to ensure that runners knew any records set could be ratified.
Similarly, the 2024 GOMU-EMU Six Day World Championships held in Hungary in September 2024, where Bonne reset the men’s six-day world record, was sanctioned by MASZ and issued an IAU label.
What Is the Path Forward?
In the future, as with other major championships, securing and ensuring the support of host nation federations would seem to be the key to the credible growth and further recognition of multi-day championships. As with any sport, as events and participation grow, governance and guidance will always be needed to help shape this in an orderly fashion.
The reality is that although participation in multi-day running is growing, the participation numbers fall way short of the numbers at marathon, 100k, or even 24-hour events — let alone the global explosion in ultra-distance trail races and mountain races.
Federations, although sympathetic and often operating with very tight budgets across the whole diversity of athletic events, will take some persuading that supporting yet another world championships is a good idea. GOMU and others will certainly be striving to present a good case. There is also a case for the IAU and GOMU to perhaps join forces and work together more concretely toward a sustainable future for the sport of ultrarunning.
Stine Rex rests at the finish of the 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships. Photo: Zoltan Schmidt and Louise Kjeldmann
Regarding whether the IAU will ratify Stine Rex’s record, an IAU spokesperson responded, “The 48-hour event currently has no IAU label, but we are still looking at the situation. The … EMU six-day race in Hungary has an IAU label pedigree for at least a decade. It is talking with MASZ at the moment about a label for next year. We gather that MASZ has tightened its requirements for races with a large international component.”
We await news of the ongoing discussions and will update this article when more information becomes available. MASZ may still retroactively sanction the event, and the IAU may issue a label retrospectively, which it has the power to do. While history shows this rarely happens, it seems a retroactive ratification might be an excellent decision by the stakeholders. It’s hard to imagine that the sport’s leadership will allow an athlete’s stellar performance to be the collateral damage of its failure to work together effectively.
The runners are the essential people in all this. They will always be willing to push their boundaries and explore new limits. One hopes that, for the runners’ sakes, future events will not throw up the same challenges that beset the 2024 BUFF/GOMU 48-Hour World Championships.
Call for Comments
- What are your thoughts on this situation?
- Do you think the record should be retroactively ratified?
- What are your ideas for a sustainable future of ultrarunning, especially multi-day ultrarunning?
