Badwater: Baddest race on the planet
DEATH VALLEY—The 38th AdventureCORPS Ultramarathon was held in Badwater on Tuesday evening. This year 96 runners from 24 countries and 22 American states faced off in a grueling 135-mile course from Badwater to Mount Whitney, California. The race is widely known as the "world's toughest foot race."
The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280 feet below sea level. The race finishes at Whitney Portal at 8,300 feet above sea level. The course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 14,600 feet of cumulative vertical ascent and 6,100 feet of cumulative descent. Whitney Portal is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the continental United States. Competitors travel through places with names like Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil's Cornfield, Devil's Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Panamint Springs, Keeler, Alabama Hills, and Lone Pine.
Temperatures are expected to peak at 115 degrees this week.
The racers have 48 hours to complete the course and the PVT will have complete coverage of the event on Friday.
