Items25The creator’s order
  1. 1Endurance (1999)Endurance (1999) 6.3/10 on IMDbReleased 14 May 1999Part documentary, part reconstruction: Haile Gebrselassie's childhood in rural Ethiopia is re-enacted, and the film builds to his 10,000 meters gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It is quiet, unhurried and more interested in family, landscape and the long run to school than in race tactics, which…0
  2. 2Running the Sahara (2007)Running the Sahara (2007) 7.1/10 on IMDbReleased 9 Mar 2007Three ultrarunners, Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab and Kevin Lin, set out to cross the Sahara on foot from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and the film follows the 111 days it took through six countries. This is the expedition film of the list: heat, wrecked feet, a diplomatic snag in Libya, and the strain…0
  3. 3Spirit of the Marathon (2008)Spirit of the Marathon (2008) 7.4/10 on IMDbReleased 24 Jan 2008The Chicago Marathon seen from both ends of the field: elite runners chasing places alongside ordinary people training for their first 26.2 miles. That mix is the point. Nobody here is superhuman, the training looks like real weeknight runs, and the finish line lands harder because you have watched…0
  4. 4Unbreakable: The Western States 100 (2012)Unbreakable: The Western States 100 (2012) 7.7/10 on IMDbReleased 22 Nov 2012The 2010 Western States 100 brought Geoff Roes, Anton Krupicka, Kilian Jornet and Hal Koerner to the same start line, and JB Benna's film follows all four across 100 miles of California mountain trail. It plays like a sports thriller, with a real head-to-head over the final miles and about six…0
  5. 5Finding Traction (2014)Finding Traction (2014) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased 4 Aug 2014Ultrarunner Nikki Kimball tries to become the fastest person to run the Long Trail, America's oldest hiking trail at 273 miles, and the film stays close as the attempt grinds her down. It is honest about the low points, the doubt and the toll on the body, rather than cutting straight to triumph. A…0
  6. 6The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014)The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014) 7.7/10 on IMDbReleased 26 Oct 2014The funniest documentary here, about the cruelest race. Gary Cantrell, who goes by Lazarus Lake, runs the Barkley in Tennessee's Frozen Head State Park: five laps, closer to 130 miles than 100, a 60-hour limit, a $1.60 entry fee and a license plate from your home state or country. In its first 25…0
  7. 7Free to Run (2016)Free to Run (2016) 7.3/10 on IMDbReleased 24 Feb 2016Pierre Morath's history of how running went from an odd pastime to a mass movement over five decades: the fight for women's right to race against conservative federations, the rise of big-city road races and the jogging boom. Kathrine Switzer and Steve Prefontaine are among the figures it brings…0
  8. 8Boston (2017)Boston (2017) 7.3/10 on IMDbReleased 23 Feb 2017The history of the Boston Marathon, from a first field of 15 runners through the women who forced their way in, to the 2013 bombing and the race that answered it a year later. Jon Dunham, who made Spirit of the Marathon, directs. The closing stretch is heavy going, so it suits a thoughtful evening…0
  9. 9Breaking2 (2017)Breaking2 (2017) 7.2/10 on IMDbReleased 20 Sept 2017Be clear about what this is: a Nike project, co-produced with National Geographic, about Nike's own attempt to break two hours for the marathon on the Monza motor-racing circuit in Italy. Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa train for six months, and Kipchoge finishes in 2:00:25, 25…0
  10. 10Where Dreams Go To Die (2017)Where Dreams Go To Die (2017) 7.9/10 on IMDbReleased 12 Oct 2017The Barkley again, this time from inside one runner's obsession. Ethan Newberry follows Canadian ultrarunner Gary Robbins through two attempts at the race, and the second ends in one of the most painful finishes in the sport, which is best left unspoiled. Where the 2014 Barkley film is a comedy of…0