Vegan runner breaks course record in six hour volcano run

The Portland based athlete was recently part of the team that broke the record for the 725 km Oregon section of the Pacific Crest trail.  He now looked to break the record for the shorter 51 km route.

The trail contains over 2000 metre of height gain and the terrain includes sand, sharp volcanic rocks and debris from the 1980 eruption.

“It is very technical terrain and slow and tough to navigate” Yassine explains.  “I had scouted the route by completing it 6 times over the years with friends on training runs and adventures, and I raced it at the Volcanic 50 put on by Go Beyond Racing.”

The record (2 seconds under six hours) has been standing for seven years and was never going to be easy to break.  Yassine’s run proved just enough, taking 42 seconds off the previous FKT.

11 years vegan

Yassine turned vegan in 2008.

“My wife had been reading about it, and I had been listening to podcasts by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (Compassionate Cooks). Myth after myth was de-bunked in a smart, scientific, and non-condescending way and I was actually blown away by how naive and close-minded, and/or brainwashed I was in certain areas.”

“I think more and more endurance athletes are realizing that it is not necessary to consume animal products in order to excel, and in fact are shown many benefits such as speedy recovery and more energy (that has been the experience with me).”

Vegan fuel for a gruelling trek was readily available.

“I ate Spring Energy vegan gels (Canaberry, SpeedNut, etc.) as well as Tailwind and other goodies such as Trail Butter. I filled water in the streams and mountain springs along the way.”

Congratulations to Yassine on another deserved accolade in a very tough undertaking.

Yassine’s profile

See our other vegan runners

More on the attempts (including a video)

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