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66-year-old ultrarunner, after 12 failed attempts, completes Ontario 100-miler

After 12 successive failures at completing the Haliburton Forest 100-Miler within 30 hours, Jack Judge came through with less than six minutes to spare on his 13th attempt

Jack Judge
Jack Judge
Photo: David Sweeney.

Jack Judge’s streak has come to an end… in a good way.

The Kingston, Ont. ultrarunner, racing the Haliburton Forest Trail Ultra, completed the 100-mile (160K) course, within the allotted 30 hours, for the first time on Sunday. It was his 13th attempt. In the past, he had either completed the necessary distance but over the time limit or he had dropped out.

This year, the race came down to the wire. Judge, 66, finished in 29:54:13, agonizingly close to being on the wrong side of the 30-hour mark. Members of the running community call him The Legend or Gentleman Jack, according to a story in the National Post from 2016.

The Haliburton Forest 100 is a gruelling ultramarathon in the Haliburton Forest close to Algonquin Park in Ontario.

Judge first entered the race in 2005. He completed the necessary distance in 2014 but came in more than two hours after the race’s time cutoff. This year, Judge was able to dip under 30 hours by less than six minutes. As news began to spread, there were plenty of comments within the Haliburton Forest 100 Facebook group congratulating Judge given his lengthy history at the race.

Judge was the final runner to cross the finish line within the allowable time. The men’s winner, Brian Grant, clocked 18:59:47 while the women’s winner, Michelle Leduc, came in at 22:02:31.

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