Michele Graglia takes roadside nap, wins Moab 240

Late Sunday evening, Michele Graglia of Italy won the Moab 240 in 61 hours, 43 minutes, and 15 seconds. The Italian-born model, coach, and ultrarunner beat second-place finisher David Goggins by just shy of two hours. Goggins finished in 63:21:29. Isaac Wison of Bellevue, Washington finished third.

#Moab240 update from pacer: photo from mile 215 @MickeyGraglia laid down on the street. He gave him 1 minute to get up and start running, was scared he would get hit by a car. Currently in lead at 234 miles, @davidgoggins next in 221.

Our sport is weird. pic.twitter.com/fZwYKim86q

— Billy Yang (@BillyYang) October 11, 2020

The MOAB 240 is a 243-mile foot race across the desert surrounding Moab, Utah. After a long battle with Goggins over the first half of the race, Graglia led the race from halfway to the finish line, stopping around mile 215 for a brief nap before continuing. While sleeping on the road may look concerning to some, for most trail runners, the ‘dirt nap’ is common practice. Graglia timed his rest well, building up some stamina for the final push without getting overtaken. 

10 miles to go for #MicheleGraglia. His lead on #DavidGoggins is now almost 20 miles. The battle for the third place is still on with #IsaacWison having 1.8 miles on #RobertHarem. #JassieMortonLangehaug 1st woman, 7th overall, 3 miles from 5th!#Moab240#trailrunning pic.twitter.com/RqIOV7WLUK

— Emiliano Marzoli (@EmilianoMarzoli) October 11, 2020

RELATED: Canadian high school teacher finishes 13th at Badwater 135

This is Graglia’s first time winning the event, but he’s no stranger to ultra endurance, becoming the first person to run across the Gobi Desert, which spans Northern China and Southern Mongolia, earlier this year. Other notable results from the Italian runner (who now lives in Los Angeles) were his win at the Badwater 135 in 2018 and his Guinness World Record for completing a crossing of Chile’s Atacama Desert in eight days, 16 hours, and 58 minutes. Graglia becomes the first runner to win both the Badwater 135 and Moab 240.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGF3swbnXBo/

Jessi Morton-Langehaug of Sandy, Utah was in first position on the women’s side at mile 219.8 and continued on to become the women’s champion. Her total time was three days, eight hours, and one minute. Jodi Semonell of Omaha, Nebraska finished second, three hours behind her. 

The ever-impressive Courtney Dauwalter holds the women’s course record at 57:55:13 (which is also the overall record), and the men’s is owned by Michael McKnight at 59:30:12. 

While both the men’s and women’s course records will be safe for today, this has been a remarkable run. Full results and live tracking can be found here. 

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