Run as One – CompTrain Goes the Distance With a 24-Hour Ultramarathon
In September, Ben Bergeron’s CompTrain community took on a challenge that most CrossFit athletes would never consider: 24 hours of running.
The Details
Forty CompTrain athletes made the trek to Morristown, TN, in late September to compete in The Dirt Circuit ultramarathon.
- What makes this ultramarathon especially challenging — and possibly mind-numbing — is that the course is a 2.9-mile loop that runners repeat for 24 hours, either alone or as part of a team.
Most of the CompTrain athletes chose the team version of the event; however, a handful opted for the solo version, which is documented in the new documentary, Run As One.
So, how far did they get? CompTrain’s top female finisher was Brooklyn Zablocki, who completed 81.2 miles, earning second place overall.
- The top male CompTrain finisher was Bryce Chambers. He ran 100 miles and came in third overall. Non-CompTrain athletes Mateo Vega and Jessica Rogers took the top spots for the men and women, respectively.
Why Tackle 24 Hours of Running?
Bergeron is adamant that he wouldn’t recommend an ultramarathon for a CrossFit athlete aiming to boost their CrossFit performance, as training for an event like The Dirt Circuit would be a “disruption” to their training, he explained.
However, for Bergeron, who has coached many top CrossFit athletes, including two-time CrossFit Games champion Katrin Davíðsdóttir and 11-time Games veteran Cole Sager, aiming solely for the highest level of performance in competition is no longer the primary focus of the CompTrain brand.
- “At CompTrain, we don’t just train for fitness. We train to live fuller lives. The Dirt Circuit was the perfect expression of that. It’s unpredictable, raw, community-driven, and far outside the comfort zone of barbells and whiteboards,” Bergeron told the Morning Chalk Up.
He added: “When you step into something you can’t fully control, you get the purest version of what CompTrain is really about: staying calm under stress, working as a crew, and proving to yourself that you’re capable of more than you think.”
An athlete rings in: About why he chose to partake in The Dirt Circuit, CompTrain participant Jamison Price explained it this way in the documentary: “Growth comes from stepping beyond the edges of your comfort zone…and there’s such a difference between saying it and putting yourself in the arena to actually do it.”
He added: “What’s on the other side is the life that you want, the person that you want to be, the impact you want to make.”
Featured image: @comptrain.co / Instagram
