Runner Wins Three 200-Milers Within Two Months to Complete Triple Crown – Runner’s World
Michael McKnight didn’t think he was going to win any of the three 200-mile races that make up the : the , , and . While he set the Triple Crown record in 2017, it was just as the runner with the fastest cumulative time of all three. He didn’t win any of those races.
He had completed the Triple Crown in its first official year with a total time of 205:04:18, and knew the record was soft. No one surpassed it in 2018, but McKnight wanted to take it on again to bring more prestige to the feat and the distance.
“These races are amazing,” McKnight, 29, told Runner’s World. “If you want to see Lake Tahoe, Moab, or the Cascades, there’s no better way to do it than being by yourself for a few days and running them.”
Going into the 2019 races, McKnight’s goal was to take 20 hours off his overall 2017 time.
So he started preparing for it: Making time for his long runs could be difficult, since he had a full-time job with Altra and a family. He managed to get his runs in early before his family awoke, spending hours in the mountains near his home in Salt Lake City.
His coach, Altra athlete Jeff Browning, helped McKnight not only to prepare, but also to explore a still relatively-uncharted distance among pro ultrarunners.
“My coach always says when we schedule workouts that it’s tough because the distance is still pretty new,” McKnight said. “We’re pioneering the distance, and it feels good to pioneer with everyone doing this we hope that gets this distance some popularity.”
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Then, it was time to strategize with Browning on how to run these races in under 60 hours each—McKnight’s other goal. This would involve a steady pace to start and attacking later, per Browning’s orders.
The first test came at Bigfoot in August. McKnight executed the plan, starting out slower than the leaders and not catching up and passing until around mile 150. Once he had the lead though, he never surrendered it. He broke the tape in Mt. St. Helens, Washington, for the first 200 win of his career.
“Winning Bigfoot really took me by surprise,” he said. “I just thought it was a cool perk to add to the record I was going for this year, and that would be it.”
Recovery began immediately. McKnight took the week off from running, but ended up in Denver with his wife for the week after that painting the house they would be moving into shortly—Altra was sold earlier this year, and McKnight’s new office is Colorado. A week on his feet was not ideal with only four weeks between the first and second races.
He ran very little in the next week and a half before it was time to take on the Tahoe 200. The race played out just like Bigfoot: He started comfortable, and attacked later, passing the leaders at the 150-mile mark. Again, he found himself as a surprise winner, besting his Tahoe 2017 performance by 17 hours with a time of .
Now, he was hungry for the crown.
“When I won Tahoe, I had it in my mind that I just had to go for the sweep,” he said.
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McKnight wouldn’t be the first person with wins at every race. However, he could be the first to win all three in the same season. All he had to do was conquer the longest of the 200 milers: the Moab 240.
The idea consumed his mind, but again, the move to Denver would hurt his recovery between races. The actual move day came about two weeks before Moab. He and his wife spent two weeks unpacking, and once the last box was emptied, they were back in the car, driving to Moab.
This was the race that went differently. Feeling good, McKnight went out with his normal strategy, but this time, he found himself in the lead around mile 60. Whether because of the heat or the tough, technical course, many runners blew up early, McKnight said.
McKnight, though, was strong, and just kept running until he had a 30-mile lead at one point. That’s when he ran into a little trouble. Some course markers had been knocked down by wildlife, and led a number of runners off course, including McKnight, who was lost for nearly three hours.
Eventually, he found his way back, and remained in the lead. In the final miles, it started to hit him that he was going to take the Triple Crown in spectacular fashion.
“I don’t cry a lot, and I didn’t cry when I finished, but as I came toward the finish line, it was the greatest feeling to win all three and see my son, Kilian, my wife, and my parents waiting there for me,” McKnight said. “I rode the bench when I played football in high school, and when I started running ultras in 2013, I never thought I’d be here.”
Scott Rokis
McKnight finished the Moab 240 in , beating the second-place finisher by 22 miles and 11 hours. Not only that, he had crushed his Triple Crown record by more than 43 hours. His final time? . That’s about six hours short of a week straight of running.
The other stats from his run are just as crazy. For sleep during the races, McKnight says he had a total of 30 minutes. That while covering roughly 650 total miles—Bigfoot is 206, Tahoe is 205, and Moab is 238.
For his diet, McKnight typically sticks to a low-carb, high fat diet. However, for races, about 90 percent of his fuel comes from fruit-based products. Between aid stations, that looked like a lot of and freeze dried fruit. At aid stations, he’d consume fruit smoothies, grape and apple juice, and occasionally some dark chocolate.
“When a sports drink hits my tongue during a race, I’d gag and feel sick,” he said. “Juice was always refreshing, and I never got sick or sick of it.”
McKnight stayed in town with his family for the days after the race, even assisting at some aid stations and posting up at the finish to cheer on runners. He’s also taking a break from his diet for a few days, relying heavily on pub food—sweet potato fries and Buffalo wings—and a daily pint of ice cream.
Otherwise, his legs feel sore, but have no swelling, and the only pain he has is from a rock that hit his shoes wrong and bruised his foot. And he’s already looking forward to getting back to more running feats in 2020—he’s currently eyeing the Tor de Géants or Big’s Backyard.
For now though, he’s just happy he doesn’t have to run another 200-miler three weeks after this one. Moreover, he’s ecstatic about his record, which he hopes will be competitive enough to draw in some new runners who want to overtake it.
“In 2017, I knew that time was soft,” McKnight said. “I know someone will take this record too, but I’m confident it will stand for a while. At least not until some big names start going after it.”
Gear & News Editor Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand.