This Is a Real Thing

Beer Mile World Championship

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 6-9pm
Yellow Jacket Stadium, 1156 Hargrave
www.flotrack.org/beermileworlds

Drink a beer, run a lap, repeat three more times, and hope not to hurl. It's called the Beer Mile, and the first-ever world champion will be crowned this week at Yellow Jacket Stadium.

This endurance test of legs and livers began in the late Eighties as a way for college athletes to blow off steam, but over time the Internet has brought the cult tradition to a much wider audience. The sport now has a governing body (www.beermile.com), official set of rules, and a verified ranking of the fastest racers of all time.

It may sound like a joke, but the runners aren't kidding around. This year, former two-time NCAA 5,000m champion James "The Beast" Nielsen set a new world record of 4:57. You read that correctly, four beers and four laps in under five minutes.

The Beast won't be running in Austin, but the elite field of athletes competing for a $2,500 prize includes everyone from Olympians like Nick Symmonds to Austinite Chris Kimbrough, a mother of six who recently set the women's record at 6:28 while drinking Hops & Grain Alt-eration.

The malty German-style Altbier isn't a typical choice for the beer mile. Most runners go with Budweiser because the lower carbonation is easier on the stomach, but official rules state that anything over 5% ABV is fair game, as long as it doesn't feature performance-enhancing packaging like "super mega mouth cans" or "vortex bottles." Coincidentally, Hops & Grain have signed on as a sponsor of the event and developed a beer specifically for the race.

"It's a German-style blond ale, very similar to a Kölsch, but we added a small amount of dry-hopping to give the beer a spicy hop character and a clean, crisp finish. Perfect for chugging on a track," says Hops & Grain owner Josh Hare.

Spectators at Yellow Jacket Stadium will be able to try the beer for themselves, as well as enjoy fresh-squeezed beverages from Juice Austin and sandwiches from Burro Cheese Kitchen.

The event is organized by Flocasts, a local media company that has found a niche producing online broadcasts of under-represented sports like track, wrestling, and gymnastics. Although these sports have a core dedicated audience, competitions like track meets are long and have lots of downtime, making them a tough sell to spectators. Adding beer helps, and Flocasts co-founder Mark Floreani hopes the lesson can be applied more broadly.

"If you've been at a track meet all day, rarely do you leave saying 'that's amazing.' For the Beer Mile we're trying to push the envelope on production to make it more fun, and hopefully we learn something about having a good time that we can bring to real track meets."

In addition to testing the strength of their stomachs, much of what draws elite athletes to compete is this increased exposure for their sport.

"You can't compare Beer Mile to the running I do professionally at all – it's apples and oranges," says Symmonds. "That said, I really support anything that helps bridge the gap between our sport and popular culture."

The men's and women's elite races are the main event, but amateurs are invited to participate in the Open Mile category, and several local tech and running companies will be proving their sense of humor by participating in the four-man corporate relay.

Despite the serious athleticism involved, Floreani admits that there's definitely a NASCAR element to the event: Most fans are really there to see the crash, or in this case, the hurl.