THE HOKA CARBON X IS HERE!!!
If you haven’t seen it, if you haven’t heard about it…HOKA ONE ONE has a brand new racing flat!! The Carbon X brings all of the classic elements that you’ve come to know and love about a HOKA and puts them into a world class racing flat. And HOKA isn’t just going to tell you this is an awesome shoe. They’re going to show you!!
PROJECT CARBON X is a world record attempt, but not just any world record attempt. HOKA superstar, and our friend, Jim Walmsley (and others), will be trying to run the fastest 100k EVER. The current record is 6 hours, 9 minutes and 14 seconds. That’s 5:56 per mile for 62.1 miles. And that’s not all folks. Along the way, he’ll be trying to break the record for 50 miles, and that record is 4:50:51 (5:49 per mile). The ultimate A+ day would be to break the 50 mile record, break the 100k record and finish under 6 hours (5:47 pace). Other competitors include HOKA’s Tyler Andrews and Mike Wardian, as well as Japan’s Hideaki Yamauchi.
As if that wasn’t cool enough, the women’s race features HOKA’s own, Sabrina Little–a 5-time National Champion and a World Silver Medalist in the 24-hour run. She’ll face off against Japan’s Aiko Kanematsu, the owner of a personal best of 7:49:18 (7;33 per mile) for 100k. Expect this one to be close.
And finally…we’ll be there as well! HOKA will have six teams racing a 10 x 10k mixed gender relay, going for the world’s best in that event–6:01:35. Scott Smith and Dani Shanahan will run the ninth and tenth legs for “Team Carbon.” Dani is coming off a big three-race stretch that saw her set a huge personal best over 10,000 meters (32:22.59), finish third at the Carlsbad 5,000 on the roads, and run her second-fastest 5,000 meters ever (15:44.19) at the Mt SAC Relays. Scott is prepping for next week’s USATF 25k Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. where he’ll look to try and win his first National title.
HOW TO WATCH/FOLLOW: Join two of our sports best commentators, Carrie Tollefson and Toni Reavis, as well as HOKA NAZ Elite podcast host, Eric Senseman, who will bring you the 100k World Record Attempt from start to finish on Saturday morning.