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WATCH: Golden Hour at Javelina Jundred (Kleenex suggested)

Watching the final finishers of a 100-mile race is truly a beautiful thing

Golden Hour Javelina Jundred

There are very few sports that celebrate the people finishing last, or at the back of the pack. Ultrarunning, however, does just that, honouring the runners finishing in the final hour before race cutoff, known as ‘golden hour’–with some of the largest crowds and fans surrounding the finish line of races that can run upwards of 30 hours. It makes sense–while we are inspired and awestruck by the leaders, setting records and breaking barriers in endurance, the humans most of us can connect with are those in the middle or back of the pack, putting in hour after hour of running.

Ultrarunner and author Brendan Leonard has written about this special part of the sport, and why it seems to resonate so deeply with all of us: “Running, unlike a lot of sports, is almost universal. Most of us have never (and may never) know what it’s like to drain a three-point shot over someone to win a game, or catch a touchdown pass, or tear down an Alaskan spine on a snowboard. But everyone knows what it’s like to run when you’re tired, to dig deep, whether it’s a mile or 100 miles. And when we see someone else doing it, trying hard, we’re moved. And we cheer.”

If you’ve run a few races of any distance, you probably know what it’s like to want to quit, to experience setbacks, and to persevere. Those who finished their 100-mile trek at Javelina Jundred in the Arizona desert began early Saturday morning and were finishing in the daylight hours of Sunday, having run through an entire day, night and into the day again. They’ve spent many more hours on their feet and troubleshooting than the leaders did, and watching them finish is truly a beautiful thing.

As Leonard says: “We’re not impressed with some athletic skill that we could never imagine mastering ourselves; we’re impressed that they’re out there, gritting their teeth through pain and pushing themselves to go farther and be a little better.”

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