Words could not express the emotions 12-year-old Gabriel Abbott felt when he crossed the finish line Sept. 7 at the Run Woodstock Hallucination 100 Mile race in Gregory, Mich.
In that moment, he became the youngest person to complete a trail run at that distance, a feat the family is hoping will soon be certified as a Guinness World Record.
“I was speechless,” Abbott said. “I was just like, ‘I did it.’ It was just a whole bunch of things going through my head. It’s just unbelievable. A little bit later I was like, ‘What’s next?’”
The Clay Middle School eighth grader finished the race in 29 hours, 7 minutes and 11 seconds. Out of 105 finishers, he placed 85th. In doing so he qualified for the prestigious Western States Endurance Run, otherwise known as the Super Bowl of ultrarunning, a 100.2-mile trek through California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Unfortunately, he’ll be too young to compete in it for five more years.
Abbott said the race started easily enough, but it became difficult to keep going after dark.
“So, about 1 o’clock in the morning, I started falling asleep on the run. It was just rough,” he said. “I had to talk a lot to keep myself awake.”
Thankfully he had his father by his side throughout the race to document it for the world record attempt. Partway through, however, both runners hit a point where they weren’t sure they were going to complete it before the 30-hour cutoff.
That’s when Abbott’s sister, Carmel High School junior Giulia Abbott, stepped in. Tapped to lead the family’s support crew, when her brother began to doubt she did the math and encouraged him that he had plenty of time to reach the finish line if he could maintain a comfortable pace a couple more times around the nearly 17-mile looping course.
Her conclusion: “There’s no way you’re not going to make it,” she said.
With his confidence restored, Abbott powered through the final laps to achieve his goal. His mother, Stephanie Abbott, said he was asleep before the family car made it out of the parking lot. His post-race request was a pepperoni pizza all to himself, but he slept through the opportunity to enjoy that, too.
The next day, he ran for the first time since completing the race as he eased back into cross country practice.
Abbott said he’d love to set another ultrarunning world record someday, but for now he’s planning to give himself a bit of a break.
“I’m going to probably drop down a little bit until next year,” he said. “I’ll probably do some 50 (milers).”
