Words: Ultra Magazine
“It is not an understatement to say that ultrarunning as we know it today exists largely because of Andy Milroy.”
Andy isn’t an ultrarunner but he has been one of the most important figures in world ultrarunning over the last 60 years. A quiet figure hailing from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, Andy Milroy is now a – possibly the - world authority on ultramarathon running, juggling his teaching vocation with travels around the world to major running events and meticulously compiling data of running records across road and track. Full disclosure, although Andy has been heavily involved with the initial setup and curation of the UK Ultrarunning Hall of Fame, his own inclusion is purely the work of Robbie and Andy - and we are sure that nobody will disagree.
A founding member of the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) in 1984, and later its technical director, Milroy oversaw the organisation of the World Ultrarunning Championships from 1990 to 1999, and co-founded the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is 2003. He has written or co-written several books including Training For Ultrarunning, The Ultramarathon Race Handbook (translated into many other languages including Greek and Korean) and The Long Distance Record Book (with progressive record lists for 10 miles up to 2,000 miles going back to the Middle Ages and even ancient times) along with many articles for a cornucopia of publications. Additionally, Milroy has been an official at many races including referee, race director and chief recorder.
“Andy Milroy is among the giants on whose shoulders we stand.”
Despite only going to America once, for Duluth World 100km, the US National 24-hour running team showed his global importance with this social media post, in 2022: “It is not an understatement to say that ultrarunning as we know it today exists largely because of Andy Milroy. His meticulous management and compilation of records across road and track, particularly ultrarunning, are legendary.
He is one of the reasons why athletes like Ann Trason and Yiannis Kouros and now, Aleksandr Sorokin and Camille Herron and so many others have world, national and AG records to chase and in turn, set.
Through Andy’s advocacy, he helped shape how ultrarunning distances and records were viewed and they became legitimate, alongside the traditional shorter track and field distances.
We are reminded of the quote: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” Isaac Newton wrote in a 1675 letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke.
For everyone involved in ultrarunning - runners, crews, fans and supporters - we owe gratitude and acknowledgment to those giants who helped grow and define the sport into what it is today. Andy Milroy is among the giants on whose shoulders we stand.”
Now retired, Andy continues to work with the Deutschen Ultramarathon-Vereinigung (otherwise known as DUV), the German Ultrarunning Association, to ensure that their worldwide historical results are complete.