The first official “Man versus Horse Marathon” took place some 42 years ago in the Welsh hamlet of Llanwrtyd Wells. Naturally, the event was founded in order to settle a heated, nonsensical dispute between two patrons at the Neuadd Arms, a 19th-century inn that sits on the side of the road in Britain’s smallest town. One man contended that a runner could defeat a rider on horseback, were both to cover a significant distance — say, 22 miles or so. The other disagreed. The owner of the bar, a man named Gordon Green, decided to put the debate to an actual test. For those who must know: the horse has defeated humans in 38 of 40 races, and our species hasn’t brought home a win since 2007, when Florian Holzinger, a German triathlete, beat a horse named Lucy by 11 minutes. Decades later, it’s fair to say that each drinker had a point. But walk into a pub in 2022, and you’re more likely to hear any locals arguing about whether an ultrarunner could outlast a fully-charged Tesla Model 3. Who in their right mind would attempt something so insane? Well, it isn’t just possible; it was accomplished last week, by endurance-athlete-extraordinaire Robbie Balenger. The 37-year-old California native has pulled off some stunning efforts over the years — he’s run across the country in 75 days, he owns the world record for the most consecutive loops around Central Park, he once completed the infamous Colorado Crush — but the Tesla Challenge was Balenger at his most daring and creative. Backed by New York-based Ten Thousand, as part of the brand’s ongoing “Feats of Strength” series, Balenger’s modern riff on the man vs. horse model involved three straight days of running, a battle with oppressive Texas heat, lonely miles in the middle of the night, gastrointestinal issues, zero hours of sleep and somehow, some way, a 100-foot victory over everyone’s favourite electric car, which officially conked out after 242 miles on a single battery. How did he do it you ask? Well, below we’ve put Robbies biometric stats from the challenge, but let’s start with burning 31,000 calories over 3 days is a start and with a side order of just 4 hours and 50 minutes of downtime throughout the 77-hour effort. The rest? Pure hard graft and determination.

• Mileage – 242.01
• Elevation Gain – 12,959ft
• Elapsed Time – 76:54:46
• Avg. Pace – 19:04
• Avg. Heart Rate – 110 bpm
• Best Mile – 9:09
• Calories Burned – 30,555

Find out more about Robbie and follow him @robbiebalenger