Running News Daily

Elizabeth Laseter has once again conquered the beer mile, capturing her fourth consecutive Beer Mile World Classic title in a breathtaking women’s final in Cologne, Germany.

The American food writer clocked 5:56.1 at the 12th Beer Mile World Classic on September 18, holding off world-record holder Shelby Houlihan by just 0.8 seconds in the closest women’s finish in championship history.

The final brought together three of the biggest names in women’s beer-mile racing for the first time: Houlihan, the world-record holder; Laseter, the three-time defending champion; and Melanie Pozdol, renowned as the sport’s fastest chugger.

What followed was a race for the ages.

Laseter had built a small advantage alongside Pozdol by the third beer, widely regarded as one of the most difficult stages of the beer mile. But Houlihan refused to let the race slip away.

The world-record holder produced a ferocious closing lap, running the final circuit in around 59 seconds, and suddenly all three women were level heading into the final bend.

From there, it became a three-way sprint for the world title.

Laseter found the extra strength when it mattered most, crossing the line first in 5:56.1 to secure her fourth straight championship. Houlihan followed in 5:56.9, while Pozdol completed the podium in 5:57.9, setting a personal best and moving to third on the all-time list.

The margin between the three was just 1.8 seconds.

It was a landmark moment for the discipline. Before Cologne, only two women had ever broken the six-minute barrier in the beer mile. Now, three have done it — in the same race.

Laseter’s victory also saw her lower her own Beer Mile World Classic championship record, adding another achievement to an already remarkable run of dominance.

Houlihan, however, remains the outright women’s beer mile world-record holder with her spectacular 5:43.81 run in Berlin in 2023.

And Laseter’s celebration provided the perfect ending to an unforgettable night. At the finish line, she marked her fourth world title with a shoey, pouring beer into her running shoe and drinking from it as the celebrations began.

The men’s race produced another remarkable achievement, with Corey Bellemore extending his dominance by winning his sixth consecutive Beer Mile World Classic title.

But Cologne belonged to Laseter and a women’s final that pushed the boundaries of the discipline.

Three women under six minutes. Just 1.8 seconds separating them. A championship record. A fourth consecutive world title. And a finish that came down to the final few metres.

Elizabeth Laseter did not simply defend her crown — she turned the 2026 Beer Mile World Classic into another chapter of her own remarkable story, proving once again that when the race reaches its most unforgiving moment, she knows exactly how to find that final ounce of strength. Four beers, four laps, four straight world titles — and a shoe full of beer to celebrate it all. 

World-class runner Allie Kieffer keeps a low racing profile here in Austin, but when she does race, she wins.

A last-minute entry in this year's 3M Half Marathon, Kieffer took advantage of ideal running conditions Sunday morning — mid-40s and clear — to add another victory to her Austin racing résumé, while Joseph Gray, a World Mountain Running champion, topped the men’s field.

Even though Kieffer has a perfect record in Austin, Sunday's 3M win was somewhat of a redemption for her. Running in the highly competitive Barron Collier Companies Naples Half Marathon last week in Florida, she went off course, losing her lead and placing fourth.

“I took a wrong turn at the Naples Half, so I couldn’t cross the line first,” Kieffer said. “So today I was thinking, ‘I want to win.' I was feeling pretty competitive.

“I wasn’t intending to race today,” she added. “Initially I was just going to pace it with a friend, but I couldn’t find him at the start.”

Kieffer took off from the starting line on Stonelake Boulevard in North Austin at a brisk pace of 5 minutes, 52 seconds per mile, with Karen Bertasso-Hughes and Shannon Gaden about 50 yards back. Kieffer hit the 5-kilometer split in 18:14, with Bertasso-Hughes just nine seconds behind.

The 3M race is known for its “downhill to downtown” course, and Kieffer worked every downhill. By the 10K mark (36:31) on Great Northern Boulevard, she had a 23-second lead on Bertasso-Hughes.

“When I took the lead around 3 miles, I just didn’t look back,” Kieffer said.

She stepped on the gas after the 15K mark (9.3 miles) on Shoal Creek Boulevard, dropping the pace to 5:50 a mile, gaining more than a minute ahead of Bertasso-Hughes in the process. Kieffer crossed the finish line on San Jacinto Boulevard in 1:16:24, leaving Bertasso-Hughes and Gaden to battle for second. Gaden prevailed 1:17:00 to 1:17:49. Caroline Brooks came in fourth in 1:17:53, with Elizabeth Laseter rounding out the top five in 1:18:04.

“Allie was so far ahead that we were just racing for second place,” said Gaden, a newcomer to Austin by way of Denver. “I was able to catch her (Bertasso-Hughes) around 10 miles.”

“I’m really happy. … I felt surprisingly good. I needed to win this race,” said Kieffer, who plans to run the Ascension Seton Austin Half Marathon next month and is looking to run an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifying time next fall at the BMW Berlin Marathon.

The men’s race featured a stirring duel between Colorado Springs’ Gray and Austin’s Mitch Ammons, a 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.

Gray, Ammons and University of Texas ace Kobe Yepez formed the lead pack in the early miles, passing through the 5K mark together in 15:17. But after that it was a two-man race as Gray and Ammons pulled away. Ammons took the lead at 10K, passing the mark in 30:33, just six seconds ahead of Gray. But by 15K (45:52) they were stride for stride, with 2019 3M champ Michael Morris moving into third place ahead of Yepez.

In a sprint to the finish line, Gray edged Ammons 1:04:23 to 1:04:27. Morris, the track and cross-country head coach at San Marcos High School, took third in 1:06:07, with Al Maeder fourth in 1:06:31 and Yepez fifth in 1:06:51.

“This was my first race of the year. Actually my first race in a while, so I wanted to be smart and run a progressive effort,” said Gray, a dominant figure in Colorado’s mountain running scene. “Mitch is a strong runner and made it an honest effort.”

Approximately 4,500 runners finished the race, the fifth in the Austin Distance Challenge. The sixth and final event is the Austin Marathon on Feb. 19.

“I found out two minutes before the race that there was a champion mountain runner entered, who’d gone 1:03 for the half-marathon," Ammons said. "We were yo-yoing back and forth the whole way. He’d pull ahead on the uphills, and I’d lead on the downhills. It was a lot of fun. My time was a personal best for me by more than a minute, and I wouldn’t have run this fast if it weren’t for Joe. He pushed me a lot. I really, really tried to catch him on the final straight. I gave it everything I had.”