Vegan runs to second national 24-hour title

The vegan runner completed 217.4 km (135 miles) to win by over 9 km, with the third runner 27 km adrift. But it wasn’t all plain sailing.

“The race date changed four times due to lockdown regulations in Israel” says Ariel, who had been preparing for a race on January 7th. “I had to re-build and re-taper again and again”.

Ariel also had to contend with the weather, which was hot for the first six hours, then a storm moved in overnight.

The run fell short of last year’s 228 km – when Ariel broke the national record.

“I was very well prepared and took great decision during the race” Ariel told Great Vegan Athletes. “I took pure liquid carbs – energy gels, maple, coke and fuse tea. It was fun !”

Ariel is an internationally recognised ultradistance athlete with national wins since 2011. He’s also completed the infamous 246 km Spartathlon twice. He was influenced by Gary Yourofsky to reconsider his eating habit.

“I’ve shifted to vegetarian diet in 2011” he says. “In my case that meant I was 95% vegan as I didn’t drink milk before. A year after, in 2012, I’ve upgraded my diet to 100% vegan.”

Ariel’s profile

Race results

Race website

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