Ultrarunning, like several sport, thrives on its hero tales, and Jim Walmsley has captivated audiences along with his triumphs and failures since his first go to to the Western States 100 in 2016, the place he made his notorious flawed flip after main the race till mile 93.
In 2017, he once more took the race out quick in extremely scorching climate, with the course document as his publicly said intention. He fell behind on fueling and hydration and in the end dropped, incomes himself multiple critic for his pacing and race execution.
Following that yr, his dominance of the occasion in 2018, 2019, and 2021 is the stuff of lore. It’s the last word hero story of getting back from setbacks and failure to in the end succeed.
After which he did all of it once more with UTMB.
Throughout his debut on the occasion in 2017, he ran on the entrance along with his good pal François D’Haene earlier than in the end fading to fifth. Then in 2018 and 2021, he failed to complete his 100-mile lap round Mont Blanc. In 2022, he once more fell in need of the rostrum with a fourth-place end after going out quick.
However his 2023 race was one for the historical past books — not solely did he develop into the primary American male to win the occasion, however he set a brand new course document alongside the best way.
All of us love our hero tales, however behind each hero is an precise particular person, and the just-released, feature-length movie, “Walmsley: The Movie,” provides followers a peek into the story behind the general public determine.
The movie begins with Walmsley speaking about his early years within the sport. Seemingly uncomfortable with answering what was in all probability an open-ended query posed by filmmakers about his previous, his spouse, Jess Brazeau, asks him what are some issues that not many individuals find out about him.
He solutions nonchalantly, “I used to be a twin, I used to be accountable for nuclear missiles in a missile silo within the airforce.” He continues, “My favourite ice cream is pistachio.”
“Walmsley: The Movie” delves deep into Walmsley’s private life, together with discovering his favourite taste of ice cream. All pictures are screenshots from the movie.
Within the movie, he admits that early on in his working profession, earlier than Hoka picked him up as an athlete in 2017, he was selecting races the place he may win prize cash and that if he hadn’t gained these races, he would have had a tough time paying lease. When he first gained a Golden Ticket entry into the Western States 100 in 2016, he needed to ask the race group for further time to afford the entry charge.
Brazeau additionally talks about her impressions of him when he was youthful. “He would state his targets to everybody, which had been tremendous outlandish on the time,” she says. “Everybody was simply shocked by it.” She admits, “I simply thought he had a very huge ego.”
The movie delves into Walmsley’s relationship with Brazeau and the way it developed over time, his numerous failures and successes on the Western States 100, the couple’s transfer to France to attempt to crack the UTMB code, and their adventures in attempting to determine the right way to thrive in another country.
It additionally explores how Walmsley has modified path working along with his daring strategy. He factors out, “Most likely most athletes which have success of their sport go away their mark by doing it a little bit bit in a different way.”
Each ultrarunner has a narrative, and this movie takes an in-depth and humorous look into Walmsley’s life and evolution.
Combining distinctive behind-the-scenes views into Walmsley’s life, coaching, and relationships with stunning pictures of surroundings from world wide and race footage, the movie paints a fascinating image of ultrarunning’s modern-day hero.
It’s additionally not brief on humor, completely capturing Walmsley’s goofy facet, together with scenes of him embracing snowboarding as winter cross coaching. Skinning up a mountain with Brazeau, he jokes, “Poles and pack is the life for me,” and goes on to say that UTMB had pressured him to, “develop into one with the poles.”
Each runner has an fascinating story, and Walmsley’s willingness to share his on this movie permits followers a uncommon glimpse into the lifetime of one of many biggest within the sport, following him from a younger runner with one thing to show to the skilled he’s now.
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