WINDSOR’S GOLDEN BOY LOVES TO CHUG AND RUN
Corey Bellemore doesn’t always wait until he’s crossed the finish line before he pops a brew. Or four.
But the reigning beer mile champion of the world — yes, that’s a thing — was in Edmonton earlier this month to run as his alter ego, a sober member of the University of Windsor track and field team. Bellemore left the U Sports nationals with a decent haul: gold in the 1,000 metres, silver in the 4x800 relay and a bronze in the 1,500 metres.
He’s a serious track athlete who also happens, on occasion, to chug beers while running the mile in as little as 4:34.35.
Think about that. The world record for the normal race, sans the four barley sandwiches consumed in the beer mile, is 3:43.17, set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. It might never be eclipsed.
Bellemore and fellow Ontarian Lewis Kent are similarly situated at the head of the beer mile class, according to beermile. com. Bellemore owns the world record and world title, which he took from Kent last December in Austin, Texas. Together they own the top three times ever recorded.
The world champ gets US$2,500, double that for a world record. Bellemore signed a shoe deal with Adidas, Kent had a shoe custom-made for him by Brooks. Bellemore gets a keg of beer delivered to his home each month by Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery, his sponsor. Kent appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“It’s a cool thing,” said Bellemore, 22. “It’s fun. I think it should be taken lightly. Obviously, I take my track career very seriously. This is a side thing. I just try and enjoy it, to get my mind off all the serious aspects of life. My friends love it.”
There’s a movement afoot to turn their dominance into an elite Canadian beer mile, perhaps in Edmonton. Montrealbased agent Kris Mychasiw, who represents Kent and Bellemore and other track athletes, thinks there’s an untapped market for the beer mile in Canada.
“I think there is something big there. I think the timing is getting close and I’d love to run an event in Edmonton. It’s the ideal market. Edmontonians love their beer.”
We do so. And we love elitelevel competition. It needs to happen.
“We’ve seen Canadians dominate the beer mile since it became mainstream. So I think having an event in Canada would be extremely exciting,” said Kent.
It’s one of the items on a to-do list being penned by the TrackTown Canada folks. They have decided to put the TrackTown Classic meet on hiatus, but are still busy preparing bids for upcoming nationals and the 2020 world juniors. They’re also planning to take their sport directly to the people of Edmonton.
“We are actively seeking a range of new formats that can take track and field ‘off track’ and engage with the public in new, creative ways,” said Jerry Bouma, chair of TrackTown. “Possibilities include the beer mile, high jump in (Churchill) Square, a sprint on 104th (Ave.) in Ice District.”
Bouma was just in Ottawa to receive an award from the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance for staging the event of the year, the Canadian Track and Field Championships at Foote Field, which also served as the Olympic and Paralympic trials.
The FloTrack beer mile worlds, on the other hand, were held in the parking lot of an Austin, Texas newspaper. So yes, it is truly a race of the people, for the people, run by the people who can chug a bottled beer in as little as seven seconds and keep four of them down while finishing a very fast mile. Anybody who throws up has to run a penalty lap. Kent has never thrown up.
“Never in a beer mile, at least,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve stayed clean, and knock on wood, will hopefully keep it clean.”
Racers don’t actually have to drain every last drop. The empty beers are stowed in a bin and the dregs measured. Anyone who left less than a cumulative four ounces in the bottles is good to go.
There’s a secret to swilling and feeling swell, and Kent is willing to share.
“The biggest thing is definitely getting the burps up early in the race. When you chug that beer, your body burps a little bit, but if you don’t get all that gas up, the gas fills up your stomach. If you don’t burp enough, then by the third beer, it’s not like you’re drowning in it, but you feel bloated. That’s my one tip. Burp a lot.”
Kent ran his first beer mile in 2014 in Hamilton, which isn’t too far from Kingston, where the official rules of the beer mile were formulated by former national team middle-distance runner Graham Hood and a halfdozen university friends.
“I ran the first one in just over six minutes and it was quite painful,” said Kent. “I didn’t think it would change my life the way it has.”