Canadian to host Beer Mile World Classic in San Francisco

Canadian James Nielsen, who lives in San Francisco and one year ago became the first person to run under five minutes in the beer mile, has began planning the inaugural Beer Mile World Classic.

The beer mile, a race that has runners chug a beer before each of four laps around the track, has seen a boost in popularity from a once obscure, off-season ritual for track runners to stories in more mainstream sports publications.

The new event, scheduled for Aug. 22, will be hosted at Pier 7 in San Francisco and is looking for beer sponsors. The plan is to make it a yearly event and raise money for local charities. He claims national teams will be coming in from Canada and Australia.

“I will race and I will certainly be in shape to break the record,” Nielsen told the Times of San Diego, “Last year, I trained specifically to break five minutes. This year I’m going to make sure I’m in shape to run much faster.”

“I’d be happy if it’s just a couple hundred the first year, but I only thought a couple hundred people would watch my world record video — and look what happened. It’s very possible this turns into a huge event.”

Nielsen, who lives in San Francisco with this family, wanted to run a sub-five-minute beer mile last year and had his wife film him. The the following days the YouTube video went viral.

The 35-year-old was a standout runner himself, once winning the NCAA Division 3 title while at school in San Diego. He also twice represented Canada at the world cross-country championships in 2005 and 2006.

In December 2014, the American website Flotrack hosted the first-ever Beer Mile World Championships in Austin, Texas. Nielsen did not participate. Another Canadian, Corey Gallagher of Winnipeg, won the race in 5:00.23.

Here’s the video of him setting the world record: