Badwater 135 – Scott Jenkins

British ultrarunner and Johnson & Johnson employee Scott Jenkins is poised to make history after completing this year’s edition of the Badwater 135, “The Worlds Toughest Race” for Operation Smile!

Welsh-born endurance athlete and charity Operation Smile ambassador, Scott Jenkins was set to run the 2020 Badwater race in Death Valley that starts at Badwater Basin (-282ft below sea level, the US’s lowest point in the continental US) and finishes at Mount Whitney 8,000ft above sea level).

Badwater 135 is known as the worlds toughest footrace due to it recording the hottest temperatures on earth!

In fact, only this July, Death Valley recorded a new highest temperature, with figures reaching a scorching 130 degrees Fahrenheit! Temperatures, on average, typically reach anywhere between 49 degrees and 52 degrees Celsius.

Scott’s 10-year dream was put on hold due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the 2021 edition, Scott only found out that he was able to attend the race, two weeks prior to the event. This meant that Scott had to train without knowing if he would ever get to the race, and due to the short timescales of approval to fly, Scott was only able to take a 2 person crew (versus the other competitors where the majority had a 4 person crew).

Training for a race like Badwater is gruelling enough, without the administration of all the travel restrictions and logistics due to COVID-19.  Scott still wasn’t 100 per cent certain that he would be able to fly until he had received a negative PCR test, which he got on a Wednesday, before being able to fly out on the following Friday. The tight timelines also meant he didn’t have the optimal pre-race time in the US to overcome jet lag as the race started on Monday 19th July and Scott landed the Friday night 16th July.

“It was mentally taxing, training and not knowing if I was going or not, but I guess that’s good mental training for the race. I felt very lucky to be able to tow the start line as the only brit able to make the trip over”.