Eric Clifton Inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame

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Eric was the fastest and most dominating 100-mile trail ultrarunner during the 1990s as trail ultras became popular in America. His “go for broke” race strategy was legendary, as he demonstrated to the rapidly expanding sport that amazing speed on trails could be achieved. During that era, he had the most overall 100-mile wins in the world and would usually win by wide margins. His career-best 100-mile time on trails was 13:16:02. In 1994, he lowered the JFK 50 course record to 5:46:22, which stood for 17 years. He set more than 20 course records, still holding some of them after three decades and had more than 60 ultra wins. He also won at Badwater and had early “success” at the Barkley Marathons.

Visit Eric’s Hall of Fame page at:
https://ultrarunninghistory.com/hall-of-fame/eric-clifton/

Visit the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame at:
https://ultrarunninghistory.com/hall-of-fame/ Another 2021 inductee will be announced in December.

Read/Listen/Watch an Ultrarunning History Podcast episode featuring Eric:
https://ultrarunninghistory.com/eric-clifton/

About American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame

The American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame was originally established by The American Ultrarunning Association (AUA) that was founded in 1990. This organization was established as the USA representative organization to the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU).

The American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame came about out of concern that the USATF Hall of Fame, as large as it was with over 300 inductees, mostly from the various track & field events, was not well suited to properly recognize the giants of ultrarunning at the highest level of elite performance. A clear example was the fact that Ted Corbitt, universally regarded as the “Father of American Ultrarunning,” and a former Olympic marathoner, was not in the USATF Hall of Fame. Nor would it be likely that any of the subsequent American Ultra inductees ever be realistically considered for the USATF Hall of Fame, as it is almost exclusively focused on track & field events, with emphasis on success in the Olympic Games, which do not include ultrarunning.

In 2004, the AUA made the decision that it was time to recognize and select deserving members of the ultra sport with a Hall of Fame distinction. The initial inductees were Ted Corbitt and Sandra Kiddy. Beyond that, the aim was to maintain a certain stature of the HOF to insure it truly honored the best.

As we are now well into the 21st century, the sport of ultrarunning has seen tremendous growth in participation and performances, especially on trails. In a mere 20 years since the turn of the century, the sport has experienced ten-fold growth in participation.

The AUA was dissolved in 2020. The American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame has been transferred to ultrarunninghistory.com under the direction of Davy Crockett.