Idaho Springs – He looks like a normal guy.
But Marshall Ulrich is the antithesis of normal. The 53-year-old packs a lot of punch in his unimposing frame. Ulrich – “Marsh” to his pals – recently completed a two-year-plus effort to summit the tallest mountain on every continent, a feat fulfilled by only 100 people in the world.
“There’s nothing particularly remarkable about that,” he says with his trademark modesty, noting only after a prod from a friend that he is the second oldest man to claim the revered Seven Summits in such a short span. “It’s respectable.”
The mighty Seven is Ulrich’s latest distinction in a two-decade career steeped in accomplishments that make him one of the world’s most venerated endurance athletes. The father of three has run 110 ultra-marathon races averaging 100 miles, garnering a truckload of medals, records and first-ever honors. He’s the only person to complete the Leadville 100 race and the marathon up 14,110-foot Pikes Peak … in the same weekend. He is the first person to run up and down Pikes Peak twice in a row.
He’s one of three people to have completed all nine Eco Challenge adventure races. In July he will compete in his 13th Badwater ultra-marathon, a 146-mile race from 300 feet below sea level across California’s Death Valley to the summit of 14,492-foot Mount Whitney. He has won it four times.
Ulrich has raised more than $220,000 for charities, most of that going to Religious Teachers Filippini, an institute that works to empower women and children in the world’s most impoverished corners.
Last week Ulrich gathered some of the most accomplished endurance athletes and mountaineers at his log home near St. Mary’s Glacier. It was a celebration of what he calls his “Triple Crown of Extreme Sports” – ultra-running, adventure racing and Seven Summit mountaineering feats.
“The endurance the guy has is out of this world,” says Dave Lien, a Colorado Springs climber who accompanied Ulrich up Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro and Antarctica’s Vinson Massif. “You get the impression Everest was a walk in the park for him.”
Marsh tales flew at his shindig.
“He’s an inspiration not just to me but for so many of our colleagues,” says Aspen’s Aron Ralston, who recently completed the first solo winter ascent of every Colorado fourteener and climbed North America’s highest peak, Denali, with Ulrich in 2002.
Ulrich, who owns a beef byproducts plant in Fort Morgan, is finished with competitive racing. He wants to write a book about his adventures. He is planning to guide fundraising mountain tours in Europe, Africa and South America.
“It’s all about giving back,” he says, just before a short speech thanking his many friends for visiting.
“No, thank you for the inspiration,” came a voice from the back of the room.
Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
