Category: Ultra Endurance
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Swimming Against the Tide — and the Pollution Hong Kong Island Swim, May 17, 1988 Ted didn’t just chase challenges.He chased meaning. While visiting Hong Kong in 1988, Ted set his sights on an ambitious goal: swimming around Hong Kong Island. But this wasn’t only about endurance — it was about awareness. The harbor’s pollution…
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Swimming — The Sport Ted Refused to Let Beat Him Ted Epstein had striking light blue eyes — the kind most people never noticed because they were usually hidden behind thick glasses. And those glasses were exactly why swimming terrified him. But triathlons don’t care about fears. When Ted signed up for a quarter triathlon…
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Stair Climbs — Turning Skyscrapers Into Mountains Ted didn’t always need a trail, a mountain range, or open sky to test himself. Sometimes, all he needed was a stairwell. Singapore, May 8, 1988 — A Vertical Marathon In 1988, the tallest hotel in Singapore was the Westin Stamford, and it hosted one of the most…
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Conquering Pikes Peak — Again and Again 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 Most people are satisfied to stand on top of a mountain once. Ted Epstein wasn’t most people. The Pikes Peak Ascent is not simply a race — it’s a vertical test of will. It begins in the charming town of…
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The Leadville 100 — A Test of Grit and Character (1988) Five years after his first attempt at the legendary Leadville 100, Ted was ready to take on the brutal 100-mile mountain race once again. This time, he wasn’t alone. A close friend had decided to try Leadville for the first time and asked Ted…
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The Leadville 100 — Learning to Endure the Mountains Leadville, Colorado | 1983, 1984, 1988 In 1983, Ted lined up for one of the toughest endurance races in America — the Leadville 100. One hundred miles through the Colorado Rockies meant relentless climbs, icy stream crossings, thin air, and strict cut-off times. Runners who didn’t…
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Climbing Mount Vinson — The Top of Antarctica (1987) One Arm, 100 Pounds, and the Coldest Mountain on Earth Mount Vinson is the highest point in Antarctica, rising 16,050 feet above one of the harshest places on Earth. It sits 750 miles from the South Pole on the driest continent on the planet, where temperatures…
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Running for a Cause For Ted Epstein, running was never just about miles.It was about meaning. The Freedom Run — 1985 In 1985, Ted ran more than 100 miles in the Freedom Run, an event sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League to support Ethiopian Jews seeking freedom and safety. It was one of the first times…
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Run Across Siberia — 1989 Forty Miles a Day Through the Edge of the World In the summer of 1989, Ted Epstein set out on one of the most unusual runs of his life — not around a track, not through a city, but across the vast wilderness of Siberia. He had read about an…
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The Return of the Six-Day Race Most runners measure their races in hours.A few measure them in days.Ted Epstein stepped into a world where the clock ran for nearly a week. The Six-Day race — one of the most punishing endurance events in history — dates back to the 1800s. Athletes once walked or ran…