U.S. Army Master Sgt. Mike Morton, a U.S. Army Special Operations Command liaison officer at U.S. Special Operations Command, has been voted the 2012 UltraRunning magazine North American ultramarathon runner of the year.
Morton, 41, won all five races he entered in 2012, including Badwater, a 135-mile race across Death Valley in July. He set course records at both the Umstead 100-Mile Race in North Carolina and the KEYS 100-Mile Race in the Florida Keys. His year culminated in winning the World 24-Hour Championships at Katowice, Poland, where set an American record with
172.457 miles.
Morton’s 24-hour record run in Poland was voted outstanding performance of the year
for men. He averaged 8:21 per mile for the entire 24 hours, breaking Scott Jurek’s 2010
record by nearly seven miles.
A panel of 24 race organizers from all regions of North America submitted ballots this
year. An ultramarathon is generally defined as any race longer than a 26.2-mile
marathon. Ultramarathon running is one of the fastest growing sports in the country,
with participation more than doubling over the past five years. There were 717
ultramarathon races held in North America in 2012.
Full voting statistics are available at
http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/features/news/morton-and-greenwood-name.shtml