CJ Albertson clocks 2:38:43 for 50km at the Ruth Anderson Memorial Endurance Run (© Organisers)
CJ Albertson clocked 2:38:43* to break the world 50km record at the Ruth Anderson Memorial Endurance Run in San Francisco on Saturday (8).
Despite his training being focused on the Valencia Marathon in December, USA’s Albertson decided to test himself over the longer distance and took 90 seconds off the mark of 2:40:13 achieved by Stephen Mokoka in Gqeberha on 6 March. That record is pending ratification, while the 2:42:07 run by Ketema Bekele Negasa in Port Elizabeth in 2021 was ratified as the inaugural men’s world 50km record at the start of this year.
Albertson, who had previously clocked 2:42:30 for 50km on the track, ran at an average pace of 5:05 per mile on the 4.5-mile loop course around Lake Merced to achieve his feat.
In a pre-race interview with Ultra Running Magazine, the 28-year-old had explained that his aim was to go out harder to give himself “a little bit of a buffer” and that’s exactly what he did, passing through 10km just outside 30 minutes and 20km in around 61 minutes. The 30km point was reached in around 1:32:20 and 40km roughly 32 minutes later, before he crossed the finish line well within the previous best.
“The 50km distance has never seemed super long or much different from a marathon,” he told Ultra Running Magazine. “The record now is almost three minutes faster than when I attempted it last time.” Now he has improved it by another minute and a half.
Albertson recorded his marathon PB of 2:10:52 in Minnesota in June. That came after a 2:10:23 run for 13th place in the Boston Marathon in April.
His aim in Valencia is to run a PB of around 2:08.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
