This episode of the Hard Men Podcast is brought to you by Joe Garrison with

backwards planning financial by our friends at Alpine Gold, MaxD Trailers,

Full Stadium Marketing, Salt and Strings Butchery,

Premier Body Armor, Reformation Heritage Books,

and by Forge Beard Company. In recent years endurance sport has seen the popularization of the ultra marathon.

Not content with the challenge of 26.2 miles or less

trail runners in particular have started reaching further

pushing the boundaries of the human body in the arena of perseverance by taking

on foot races beyond the 200 mile mark. The first organized ultra marathon races began in the

1920s in South Africa, but the sport of ultra endurance really took off

half a century ago in the dust and sweat of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, not with a foot race,

but with a horse race. The race, which continues to this day, is called

the Tevis Cup, a savage 100-mile endurance horse race conceived by Wendell Robbie in 1955.

Robbie was what you might call a hard man,

the kind who believed that a person's worth

was measured by their ability to endure pain, hardship, and challenge.

The Tevis Cup was his brainchild. pain, hardship, and challenge.

The Tevis Cup was his brainchild, a grueling race through the rugged terrain of the Sierra

Nevada's.

The race was designed to test the limits of both horse and rider. They quickly gained reputation as one of the most

challenging endurance events in the world. Finishing the Tevis Cup on horseback was a

badge of honor, a testament to a rider's toughness and ability to push his horse to the limit. a 71 and 72 Gordy Ainsley, an Air Force veteran of the Korea and Vietnam Wars, a farrier by trade,

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