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Staff USA ultrarunner Jeff Colt’s childhood was formed by operating, snowboarding, and adventuring within the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The third of three kids from an athletic household, he grew up with a aggressive streak and a powerful spirit of journey.
This successful mixture has led him to climb up the ranks of ultrarunning during the last six years, culminating in taking his place on the USA crew that introduced residence gold within the males’s 80-kilometer race on the 2022 Path and Mountain Operating World Championships. Over the course of our hour-long chat, I acquired an perception into not solely the proficient athlete however the stubbornly decided character behind his outcomes.
The USA males’s 80k crew being offered with gold on the 2022 Path and Mountain Operating World Championships. Jeff Colt is on the precise. All images courtesy of Jeff Colt until in any other case famous.
Jeff Colt was born and raised in Hanover, New Hampshire, close to the White Mountains. His older brother and sister have been each robust athletes, and he stated, “my childhood was positively formed by chasing them round!” By age seven, he was already each snowboarding and operating competitively.
Though his aggressive operating was within the track-and-field and cross-country codecs, he all the time had a passion for operating on trails and stated, “It was very simple for my brother and me to go away the home and go for runs by way of the woods and are available again residence and probably not have our mother and father fear an excessive amount of. We lived proper subsequent to this large nature protect, so operating on trails was my introduction to operating. I’ve by no means actually cherished operating on the observe … Operating on trails is de facto the place I really feel that sense of move state.”
Colt’s father was a middle-school observe coach, and he stated that though he and his siblings have been inspired to discover completely different sports activities, they have been by no means pressured, which helped them all the time to take care of their love of sport. Colt stated, “I had early success as a cross-country runner in elementary faculty after which center faculty. In highschool, I had a outstanding coach named Jim Eakin, and he succeeded at difficult me whereas additionally impressing the worth of operating as a lifelong ardour.”
A newspaper slicing saved from when the younger Jeff Colt certified for the Junior Olympics.
When it comes to his snowboarding profession, Colt pursued each Alpine snowboarding and Nordic mixed as a young person. He stated, “I used to be very targeted on Alpine ski racing till I used to be 16 years outdated or so. That’s after I additionally began performing higher at Nordic mixed. Within the ski racing world, I acquired to the FIS [Federation of International Skiing] stage of ski racing.”
He developed a choice for Nordic mixed, because the format for racing led to a extra wholesome fashion of competitors. Colt defined, “In an Alpine ski race, one skier is on the course at a time, after which when you’ve finished your run, actually all you are able to do is hope that nobody else beats you. And in my thoughts, that all the time stood out as very poisonous. To be simply standing there, ready and hoping nobody else beats you, it didn’t really feel nearly as good as Nordic or Nordic mixed the place everyone seems to be out struggling by way of the identical race collectively.”
Colt continued pursuing Nordic mixed, in addition to ski leaping, till the tip of highschool — when a fall made him look in another way on the risk-reward stability of the game. He stated, “I landed on my head, I went unconscious for a few minutes, and I ended up having a compression fracture in my decrease again. And it was like, Alright, perhaps I shouldn’t proceed making an attempt to do that.”
Whereas this incident, for essentially the most half, marked the tip of his aggressive snowboarding profession, snowboarding continues to be an enormous a part of Colt’s life and coaching round his residence in Carbondale, Colorado. He stated, “Snowboarding in so some ways is my stability to operating. I do them each on the similar time. I run proper by way of the winter as nicely … It’s been a extremely nice stability for me. And there’s quite a lot of parts of snowboarding which have confirmed advantageous for my operating, when it comes to sturdiness and common strengthening.”
He’s additionally co-owner and operator of ZipFit customized ski boot liners, at which he continues to work full-time alongside coaching and racing.
In faculty, Colt continued to pursue cross-country operating however was progressively falling out of affection with the self-discipline. Concurrently, his summer season job working within the hut system of the White Mountains led him additional into the world of long-distance path operating.
He stated, “I actually began dipping my toes into the long-distance path stuff whereas I used to be working within the huts by way of the Hut Traverse, which connects the eight AMC [Appalachian Mountain Club] huts within the White Mountains. My first summer season working within the huts, in 2011, I tried the 46-mile Hut Traverse. I believe I made it 32 or 33 miles and ended up dropping out. I simply had no thought the best way to tempo over that form of distance. I returned to it in 2014 and had extra success — I completed the route — however I nonetheless very a lot wished to enhance.”
Jeff Colt at Carter Notch Hut within the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
In 2015, Colt ran the Vermont 50 Mile and failed to complete, admitting that “I went out actually onerous, pondering I wished to win.” The next fall, having gotten to grips considerably with ultramarathon pacing, he received his first 50k race.
Upon transferring to Colorado in late 2016, by way of each his new residence and his work, Colt discovered himself additional immersed on the planet of ultramarathon racing. He stated, “In Colorado, the races are very a lot a part of the operating tradition. On the time, I used to be working in public relations, and my account that I labored on was for Hoka.”
From 2016 to 2019, Colt set about pursuing essentially the most aggressive races, with the principle targets in thoughts of incomes a Golden Ticket into Western States 100 and securing a model sponsorship. He was transferring up by way of the sphere, taking fifth on the Bandera 100k in 2018 and transferring as much as third the next yr.
In 2019, he traveled to Chamonix to race the CCC. He stated, “I figured if I might place prime 5 at CCC, I might perhaps land a partnership with a model.” It was not his day, nevertheless, and in opposition to the run of play, Colt failed to complete the race.
He stated, “I ended up hurting my foot, however I used to be in completely the unsuitable headspace. Coming into Champex-Lac, I used to be in perhaps twenty fifth place, and I used to be discouraging myself, pondering, There isn’t a approach I can shut this hole. And I had this foot ache that was getting worse. I actually broke down. This objective that I had been working so onerous to get to was getting additional and additional out of attain.”
Following CCC, he elected to take a while out from racing, however with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, this break proved longer than initially deliberate. Satirically, it was throughout this lengthy break from racing that Colt lastly acquired the breakthrough model partnership he had been making an attempt to race his approach into.
He stated, “I ended up beginning a partnership with On Operating throughout that yr out from aggressive operating. Generally the universe works in these unusual methods, and after I stepped again from making an attempt to get a sponsorship — I acquired a sponsorship.” He went on, “I felt I had a brand new wind in my sails as a result of this firm believes in me and needs me to signify their model.”
In 2021, Colt might lastly resume racing, and his first objective race was the IMTUF 100 Mile, which he received by greater than an hour. A part of the importance of this race for Colt was that it was a Hardrock 100 qualifier, and he stated, “My dream race is the Hardrock 100. I’m keen to be affected person, and hopefully, sooner or later, I get in.”
Greater than something, Colt’s psychological headspace had modified within the time away from racing, and he returned with a brand new perspective. He stated, “I went into [IMTUF 100 Mile] with only a few expectations. I had recalibrated my life stability and checked out my priorities, and whereas I really like operating, it’s not my highest precedence.”
The IMTUF 100 Mile was simply the boldness increase Colt wanted earlier than going into 2022 — the yr when he would actually come into his personal. He stated, “I didn’t know what to anticipate at Black Canyon 100k [in February 2022], and I knew folks didn’t have any expectations of me. I used to be exhibiting up, and I knew that I wished to present the Western States 100 [Golden Ticket] a shot.”
Colt ran a strategic race, intentionally holding again within the first half and specializing in hydration and retaining himself intact for the second half when the race would actually start. He had been advised by earlier opponents that many fall into the entice of racing onerous within the first 20 miles, which is downhill and really runnable, however few are recent sufficient to be able to race the ultimate part.
Jeff Colt took third on the 2022 Black Canyon 100k. Photograph: iRunFar/Alex Potter
He stated, “Once I determined to essentially begin racing round mile 34, it was a wild sensation as a result of it felt like everybody else was standing nonetheless … I simply ran the remainder of the race and witnessed all these different runners fall again and fall behind me.” Colt climbed up by way of the sphere to complete in third place, lastly securing his long-coveted Golden Ticket into the Western States 100.
Colt factors to being in a optimistic headspace going into the Black Canyon 100k as being essential to the race’s good end result and to optimistic outcomes in ultrarunning on the whole. He stated, “You may practice as a lot as you need, however for those who’re not mentally able to race on that day, you’re not going to have what it takes.”
Sadly, COVID-19 scuppered Colt’s plans to race to his full potential on the Western States 100. He stated, “I acquired COVID-19 simply earlier than the Western States 100, and honesty, that was as large of a letdown as I might think about. I had been manifesting a top-10 end for therefore lengthy.” Regardless of nonetheless struggling the after-effects of the virus, Colt made the perfect of the chance to run States and nonetheless managed to grind out an Eleventh-place end.
Jeff Colt (proper) on the 2022 Western States 100 together with his pacer, operating by way of the village of Foresthill at about mile 62 of the race.
For the weeks that adopted the 2022 Western States 100, Colt struggled massively to get better from the hassle, which was compounded by the lingering results of the virus. He stated, “My physique simply didn’t get better. It was so onerous to assume I used to be recovered and exit for a run — solely to get a few miles in and have my coronary heart price spike and begin feeling actually dangerous.”
He had conceded that maybe that was a wrap on his 2022 racing season, however by September, his physique was beginning to come round, and he was beginning to consider one final roll of the cube for 2022. He stated, “I began brainstorming — perhaps I’ll do the Moab Path Marathon, perhaps I’ll do the Deadhorse 50 Mile after which return to Bandera 100k. And that week, I acquired the e-mail from USATF to say I’d been chosen for the 80k crew [at the 2022 Trail and Mountain Running World Championships in Thailand in October].”
Colt was immensely grateful to be a part of the crew and described the expertise as “virtually like an grownup summer season camp. For every week, you might have this crew facet, which is absolutely missing from our sport. The camaraderie that Adam [Peterman], Eric [LiPuma], Adam [Merry], and I skilled out on the course — we have been very a lot operating for one thing larger than ourselves — we have been operating for one another and for Staff USA. That had a extremely robust influence on me.”
By means of conversations with different Staff USA runners, notably final yr’s third-place girl at UTMB, Kaytlyn Gerbin, Colt determined that his traditional conservative fashion of racing was not the best way to go for the world championships and that he should as an alternative keep in touch with the entrance of the sphere from the get-go. He stated, “I did really feel a distinct stage of strain.”
The crew was all the way down to 4 males, with the lack of David Sinclair as a consequence of an damage, and Colt and the others felt that they had little probability of a podium place. However with Peterman in the end taking first place, LiPuma taking seventh, and Colt 14th — they got here away with the crew win. Colt stated, “I believed we have been combating for third place … and to search out out that we had received, I used to be dumbfounded.”
Eric LiPuma (proper) and Jeff Colt rejoice their respective seventh and 14th locations on the 2022 Path World Championships 80k, which helped Staff USA take males’s crew gold. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
With out a lot time for an low season, Colt went straight right into a promising new yr with a win on the 2023 Bandera 100k. Though it appeared like an amazing run on paper, Colt stated he had struggled and felt dangerous all day.
He stated, “There are a few of these races the place issues simply aren’t clicking, and also you don’t really feel good, even for those who’re operating nicely.” However even when it was one thing of a wrestle, the tip consequence was nonetheless a win and a Golden Ticket for an additional shot on the Western States 100.
Jeff Colt celebrates successful the 2023 Bandera 100k males’s race. Photograph: Jesse Ellis/@letswanderphotography
Colt is now working with Corrine Malcolm as coach and is focusing his power on an enormous efficiency at this yr’s Western States 100. Having already seen what he can do on a nasty day, we wait with bated breath to observe him unleash his full potential on the historic course.
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