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Podcast: Ultrarunning History
Episode: 52: Charlie Trayer – 1980s Ultrarunning Legend
Description: By Davy Crockett
Charlie Trayer, of Reading, Pennsylvania, was one of the greatest “short-range” American ultrarunners of the 1980s. During his ultrarunning career, he accumulated at least fifteen ultra wins from 1981-1990, including several national championships. He was known for bolting out into the lead like a “wild banshee” at the start of a race with a “kamikaze attitude” no matter what the distance. It was a winning strategy that he used very effectively.
Trayer went from running in the Olympic Marathon Trials to ultrarunning. He was one of the very few elite American ultrarunners of the 1980s who competed against the be...