Something extraordinary just happened in one of the most brutal corners of the planet.
In the scorching heat of Death Valley, two athletes didn’t just win a race — they rewrote history in a single night.
Max Jolliffe and Carmen Maria Perez each shattered long-standing course records at the Badwater 135, one of the most grueling ultramarathons on Earth, within minutes of each other — on their very first attempts at the race.
Here’s how an unforgettable Tuesday evening unfolded across 135 miles of desert, mountain, and absolute suffering.
Jump to:
- What Is Badwater 135 — And Why Does It Matter?
- Jolliffe Makes History — Breaking the 21-Hour Barrier for the First Time Ever
- Perez Wasn’t Far Behind — And Her Time Is Even More Mind-Blowing
- Two Records. Seventeen Seconds Apart in Margin. One Night.
- How the Race Actually Unfolded
- The Rest of the Podium
- A Record-Breaking Night in a Year of Change
What Is Badwater 135 — And Why Does It Matter?
The Badwater 135 is not a race for the faint of heart.
Starting at Badwater Basin — 280 feet below sea level — the course cuts 135 miles through Death Valley’s punishing heat before climbing to the Whitney Portal trailhead at 8,360 feet of elevation.
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Runners accumulate 14,600 feet of cumulative climbing across three mountain ranges. It is regularly ranked among the hardest ultramarathons in the world, and conditions this week were every bit as extreme as the race’s fearsome reputation promises.
Jolliffe Makes History — Breaking the 21-Hour Barrier for the First Time Ever
Max Jolliffe, 34, of Costa Mesa, California, crossed the finish line in 20:53:41 — becoming the first person in the race’s history to break 21 hours.
That performance obliterated the previous men’s course record of 21:33:01, set by Yoshihiko Ishikawa in 2019. Jolliffe slashed nearly 40 minutes off that mark, taking 39 minutes and 20 seconds from a record that had stood for six years.
What makes it even more staggering? It was his first time running Badwater.
Perez Wasn’t Far Behind — And Her Time Is Even More Mind-Blowing
Just eleven minutes and fifty-one seconds after Jolliffe finished, Carmen Maria Perez crossed the line in 21:05:32 — demolishing the women’s course record by 39 minutes and 3 seconds.
The previous women’s mark of 21:44:35 had been set by Ashley Paulson in 2023. Perez, 44, of San Juan de Requena, Spain, didn’t just break it — she destroyed it.
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Her finishing time is the second-fastest in Badwater history across all genders — meaning she ran faster than every man who has ever finished the race, except for Jolliffe on that very same night.
Like Jolliffe, it was also her first time toeing the Badwater start line.
Two Records. Seventeen Seconds Apart in Margin. One Night.
The symmetry of what happened is almost too remarkable to believe.
Both records fell by margins just 17 seconds apart — Jolliffe’s by 39:20 and Perez’s by 39:03 — according to results published by race organizer AdventureCORPS. Two athletes, two records, two waves of history crashing down on the same desert night.
Both runners had started in the final wave at 10 p.m. Monday, meaning they carried the burden of racing through the full heat of a Death Valley day.
How the Race Actually Unfolded
For the majority of the course, it was actually Perez leading the way.
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She held a slight edge over Jolliffe through nearly every checkpoint — at Furnace Creek (mile 17.7), Stovepipe Wells (mile 42.2), Panamint Springs (mile 72.8), and Keeler (mile 108.4). The gap between them rarely exceeded five minutes across more than 100 miles of racing.
Then came Lone Pine at mile 122.8, and everything shifted.
Three runners arrived within seven minutes of each other — Hungary’s Tamás Bódis led through in 18:07, with Jolliffe at 18:13 and Perez right behind at 18:14. What separated the podium would be the final 12.2 miles: the brutal Whitney Portal climb.
The Climb That Decided Everything
The Whitney Portal ascent is no ordinary finish stretch. AdventureCORPS lists it at 4,750 feet of gain over 12.2 miles, averaging a 7.4 percent grade — with the final mile being the steepest section of the entire course.
Jolliffe flew up it in 2:40:41. Perez followed in 2:51:32. Bódis, who had been leading at Lone Pine, took 3:27:47 on the climb and dropped to third overall.
The one-minute gap between Jolliffe and Perez at Lone Pine had grown to nearly 12 minutes by the finish line.
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The Rest of the Podium
Bódis, 37, finished third in 21:34:47 — a time that would have come within two minutes of Ishikawa’s old record on any other year. Ivan Penalba Lopez of Spain was fourth in 21:57:44, and Francesco Perini of Italy rounded out the top five in 23:14:47.
Remarkably, four runners finished inside 22 hours — an almost unthinkable depth of performance at a race this demanding.
Pete Kostelnick, the 2016 Badwater champion, finished sixth in 23:50:12. Ashley Paulson — the woman whose record Perez erased — was also in the field wearing bib 1, finishing seventh overall in 24:59:36 and second among women.
A Record-Breaking Night in a Year of Change
This year’s race came with an additional layer of pressure. AdventureCORPS tightened the overall time limit from 48 hours down to 45 hours, raising the stakes for all 98 athletes from 21 nations who entered.
Sixty-five of those entrants were Badwater rookies, with an average competitor age of 46. Runners had until Wednesday evening to reach Whitney Portal within the new cutoff.
Looking ahead, the 2027 race is scheduled for July 19–21, when AdventureCORPS plans to bring Eleanor Adams Robinson back to Lone Pine to mark 40 years since she won the very first Badwater race in 1987 — a reminder that this race’s history runs as deep as its course is long.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
