By convening a formal championship, the organizer of the event, Flotrack, an Austin sports media company, is pitting top beer milers against one another for the first time, can to bottle, on a single track. Each elite runner decides which beer he will consume, though it must be at least 5 percent alcohol by volume.

In the men’s elite field, Gallagher and Finlayson have eight challengers, including an Olympian, an equity analyst and a couple of students. They are competing less for money or fame than for a special sort of glory, in the rare footrace that rewards more than sheer speed.

“I could never keep up with these guys in a regular mile,” said Gallagher, a 185-pound former hockey player. “But as soon as you include beer, that’s where I seem to excel.”

Not everyone does. Lance Armstrong recently tried to qualify for the championships but dropped out after the first lap. Afterward he said, “That was not what I expected.”

Those who did make it relied on varying training strategies.

Finlayson said he kept carbonated water on his night stand and set his alarm for the middle of the night. “When it rings, I have to sit up and drink the water as quickly as possible,” he said. “Without thinking. Without preparing.”

To simulate drinking fast while deprived of oxygen, Finlayson holds his breath for a minute, and before breathing again he downs a pint. Other days he sprints 100 meters out and back and chugs a bottle of beer between repeats.