Scott Jurek, vegan ultramarathon runner

Great Vegan Athlets present

Leading ultra runner of his generation

Few athletes have made an impression on their sport like Colorado-based Scott Jurek has made on the demanding sport of ultra marathon running.

Scott has led the sport with some amazing performances including multiple wins and course records. Ultramarathon running starts at the distances beyond the standard marathon of 26.2 miles (42km), while Scott has excelled up to 246k.

Career highlights include:

• winning Western States 100 mile endurance run seven times
• winning Millwok 100k three times
• becoming the first American winner of the Spartathon (246k), before winning a second time
• winning Leona Divide 50 Mile four times
• setting ten ultramarathon course records
• winning at least 24 ultramarathons between 77km and 246km
• setting the American 24 hour record with a run of 165.7 miles
• the record for the 2189 mile Appalachian Trail

Scott was described in Chris McDougall’s book ‘Born to Run’ as “the top ultrarunner in the country, maybe in the world, arguably of all time.” The Washington Times names Scott as one of the top runners of the decade 2000-2009, and Ultrarunning Magazine names him Ultra-Runner of the Year three times.

Among his achievements lies a two week period in 2005. After winning his 7th consecutive Western States 100 mile event, Scott entered Badwater Ultramarathon just two weeks later. Badwater is known as ‘the world’s toughest footrace’.  It is a 135 mile event starting below sea level, ending on a mountain and crossing Death Valley, the world’s hottest region. This amazing double challenge ended with Scott winning Badwater and setting a course record.

In 2015 he made an attempt at the world record for the 2189 mile Appalachian Trail (read more here).  Despite adverse weather conditions and other setbacks he broke the record.  He was later voted Vegan Athlete of the Year (read more here).

Running on plants

Scott has been vegan since 1997 and practices and advocates a 100% vegan diet and claims this is crucial in supporting endurance, recovery and health.

In 2013 he featured in a Runner’s World article about the greatest runners of all time, over all distances.  He was named as one of the top eight (read more here).

In Eat and Run he talks about his life and career (portion of amazon sales goes to support this site)

No Meat Athlete is a great running resource. Full disclosure: 50% of any book you buy on there goes to support this website but there’s also a ton of free resources there