Japanese athlete covers 270 km in 24 hours to break ultramarathon record

Super fit Japanese ultramarathoner Miho Nakata ran over 270 km in an impressive feat to break the record for the farthest run 24 hours ultra distance (female).

At the 14th IAU 24 Hour World Championship, she covered an impressive distance of 270.363 km (167.995 miles).

That's the equivalent of running a little over six full marathons.

This record has been broken multiple times in the past two decades: Edit Berces hit a distance of 155.4 km in 2002, followed by various athletes such as Mami Kudo (Japan), Patrycja Bereznowska (Poland), and Cameille Herron (USA).

Nakata says she never saw herself becoming a competitive athlete.

"I played basketball during elementary and middle school. I entered a track and field club in high school, but I wasn't much of anything. I continued doing track and field for the first two months of University but I had enough back then."

Nakata's discovery of running a 200 km race came in 2021. That was when major marathons were cancelled due to covid.

"A small organization decided to do a 200-km event of a modest scale in Okinawa, so that disheartened runners can redeem themselves. I decided to give it a go," she explained.

Nakata's first ultradistance was painful; she had to walk multiple times. However, once she stacked up her training, Nakata was able to improve her time significantly. That improvement got her hooked on the sport.

During the day, Nakata works for the city council. Because she doesn't like getting up early in the morning, her training during weekdays happens at night. However, in order to hit a monthly mileage of 600-650 km, Nakata needs to run a bulk of her mileage in the weekend, often around 50 km at a time.

On the day Nakata broke the world record, her condition was far from perfect.

She told us: "I often get something wrong before competing abroad, getting stomach bug and whatnot. And a week before the race, I tripped over horribly."

Nakata's spirit wasn't too low, however. That's because her personal bests were always achieved overseas.

Earlier in the race, Nakata kept up with the top group with a relaxed pace. However, after two to three hours, she decided to get out in front to run with her own rhythm.

About 12 hours into the race, over 20 athletes had to drop out, which significantly increased Nakata's chance of winning. Instead of increasing her pace, she held back so she had enough in reserve towards the end of the race.

With four or five hours remaining, Nakata had around a 14-km advantage against her competitors. She decided to keep a fast enough pace that no one could catch her. Meanwhile, her team realized she had a chance to break the world record, but did not tell her as they didn't want to put any extra pressure on her.

However, Nakata realized towards the last 10-20 minutes of the race what was at stake.

"My coach told me that if I do another lap and run further than the tent that they were in, I will break the world record. So I gave everything I had left in me. It was only around 200 metres more than the previous record, but I just made it."

After the race, all she wanted to do was lie down. And it took months for the fact she's a world record holder to sink in. However, after a while, people held parties to celebrate what she had achieved.

Receiving a Guinness World Records certificate was an added surprise, Nakata says.

"I wouldn't say ultramarathon is a major sport, and I didn't think someone from Guinness World Records would ever contact me. I think this is once-in-a-lifetime thing to receive a certificate, so I was really happy."

According to Nakata, the trick to her achievement was tailoring her training to make sure she always enjoyed herself.

"I just did what I liked. If I ever hated some training, I'll find something else that gets me the same result. From my experience, it's easier not to give up if you eliminate the things you hate."