Ultrarunning

Ultra culture-ultra reality: a content analysis of YouTube depictions of ultra endurance sport and comparisons to scientific literature

“…Despite this, we do not believe that presence of a mental health condition implies that it is a prerequisite for participation. We are therefore left to hypothesize that perhaps the use of these colloquial terms might serve to set UEA apart from “normal” people by suggesting that they are “abnormal” ( 114 ), even though habits and behaviors in UES communities likely become normalized within those spaces ( 33 ). This could further exceptionalize UEA who may enjoy being different from other athlete groups ( 59 ).…”

“…Elsewhere, others have contended that UEA might conceivably pursue an athletic challenge in UES that is designed to heighten the emotional experience and engender a sense of life-affirming pleasure ( 32 ). As Hanold suggests, the more challenging the athletic pursuit, the more it is valued, not just by the individual, but by society; through this link, individuals within communities can enjoy a certain prestige ( 33 ). In sum, UES may ostensibly encompass athletic pursuits, but in sociocultural contexts, participation represents more than just a game.…”

Running away from the taskscape: ultramarathon as ‘dark ecology’

“…Drawing on the spatial triad developed by Lefebvre (1991), Hanold (2016) convincingly shows how scientific measurements of time and distance are priveleged by traditional cultures of distance running, which is evident in both the measures used to determine an athlete's success (minutes per mile/kilometer), and the experiential feedback that guides the pace and rhythm of their movement (heart rate, breathing, sweating). Similar findings are evidenced in studies concerned with the phenomenology of running; in which aspects geared towards measurable and linear standards of success, include: 'thermoregulation' (Hockey and Allen-Collinson 2016); 'aural attunement' (Allen-Collinson and Owton 2014); 'footwork' (Allen-Collinson 2011).…”

“…According to Hanold (2016), however, ultramarathon running has been noted for transforming and subverting dominant neo-liberal sensibilities, including those relating to linear movement. As a result, Hanold (2016) argues that, though not totally free of these tendencies, ultramarathon runners are able to destabilise the relationship between time and space by focussing on the distance moved as opposed to the time in which this distance is run. As a result, the athletes' movement is much more variable, shifting constantly between walking, scrambling and running.…”

“…In addition, even when dwellings are constructed as taskscapes there remains the possibility for alternative interpretations to emerge. Ultramarathon runners engage with nature in ways that are very different from more orthodox sports, in that the body and the athlete must anticipate and react to the constantly changing environment (Hanold 2016). In so doing, they reveal the need for an expanded understanding of nature that moves away from simple causal explanations in favour of the kind of theorising that understands nature as a complex virtuality (Thrift 2001).…”