What is a "Beer Mile"?

the Beer Mile. In the vast world of extreme sports, there exists a sub-culture at its heart best known as "digestive athletics." The most famous, glorified, respected, and celebrated of all the events of this underworld is The foundation of any true beer mile is built upon two things: drinking beer and running a mile. The most common format of the beer mile requires a single participant to drink a full-sized beer, run a quarter mile, then repeat the process three times. This results in the consumption of four beers and the running of four quarter miles (hence the beer mile ). The entire process is timed. The total time is often used as a measuring stick of competency.

Where and when did the beer mile originate and who was the first to complete one?

The truth is no one knows for sure. It's "invention" was not dissimilar to the invention of calculus, where it was rumored that Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton developed the notion independent of each other in the late 17th century. Like calculus, the concept was not necessarily an invention, but more of a discovery. It was inevitable that beer miling would surface, and because of that, multiple parties can claim they were the first to dance with the demon known as the "chunder" mile. The roots of the beer mile family tree can accurately be traced back to parts of Florida and New England college campuses in the U.S., Hash House Harrier events in Indonesia, and to many places (most notably Ontario) in Canada. The earliest documented races (whose records still exist today) occurred in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Legendary stories spread of a mysteriously brutal event but many details were lost in the telling of the stories. Rules were approximated and a race of more than 5 people at once was a rarity. With the emergence of the internet and instant digital communication, information was shared and rules became more consistent in the early 1990's. The first known set of rules to be posted in a public place was by a group in Kingston, Ontario where beer-miling had taken place regulary for a few years. Since many beer milers elsewhere were competitive, they took it upon themselves to indoctrinate the Kingston rules into their own festivities. And so, the set known as the "Kingston Rules" was born. In the late 90s, Beermile.com chose to adopt some of the basic Kingston Rules, then add a few more in an attempt to standardize the sport.

How many people have run a beer mile?

Beermile.com has more than 100,000 entries and 7,000 races in its database. Not everyone enters race results into the site (only about 1 in 8 according to a recent rough survey).

What are the modern-day standards or rules?

Beermile.com's standard ruleset is posted here. Variations on the rules are posted here.

I want to run a beer mile. How should I go about it?

Beermile.com does not currently orchestrate beer mile events itself at this time. It aggregates events from around the world. Most events are small, fun, and safe events organized between friends. If you try one, make sure you follow the rules to be considered for an listing on this site. If you think you're hot shit and want to run a big event, consider registering for two of the biggest, The FloCast Beer Mile or The Beer Mile Classic, hosted by our friends and generally sanctioned official. You are encouraged to join our Facebook Community to find others if you can.

What is the mission of Beermile.com?

Beermile.com is a collection of running and drinking enthusiasts who set out to standardize the sport of beer miling in the early 1990s. The site strives to stay objective, formalize and define the ruleset, and aggregate results and newsworthy efforts. We encourage the community to submit and curate results, and we lean on a wide variety of beer mile experts both new and old to stay relevant and organized. Any variation of the standard Beermile.com rules is allowed to be submitted to the site, it just might not recognized as "official" by Beermile.com.

My friend ran 5:35 and he's not on any of your lists. What gives?

We are missing race results, obviously. Not everybody wants their race results on the internet, particularly athletes currently on scholarship or ex-athletes applying for non-beer-friendly jobs. We know people have run fast incognito. Our lists are not intended to be definitive; they're for entertainment. Along these lines, if you would like to have your name removed from our site, e-mail admin@beermile.com. Want to submit your own results? Register here.

Where did you get your "Masters" age group numbers? I thought "Masters" was 40+.

In most competitions, "Masters" participants are over 40. You're on this site, so you understand beermiling is not like most competitions. Unlike normal running, age is especially brutal and unforgiving on beermilers. We therefore classify various flavors of "Masters" as: Masters - Age 30 and up

Super Masters - Age 40 and up

Grand Masters - Age 50 and up

Super Grand Hash Masters - Age 69 and up

Clydesdale - Age 35 and up, 200 lbs and heavier - Age 30 and up- Age 40 and up- Age 50 and up- Age 69 and up- Age 35 and up, 200 lbs and heavier

Wait, I'm in the UK and we drink 4 pints instead of 4 12 oz. cans. Why are our rules not "official"?

It's said that the record for the 4 pint "Chunder Mile" is close to 5 minutes, an impressive feat. However, drinking from a glass or cup has proven to be much much faster than from a can or bottle. Of course, there's a lot more alcohol, hops, and carbonation to consume. At the same time, most "Chunder" contests don't penalize vomiting. It's hard to compare these times to "Kingston" / North American times. Few argue that logistics should compete with sheer drinking ability, but the "Chunder Mile" format has not been as popular online as the the "Kingston" version. For those that scoff at this site's standard rules, you can still share your stories here. Anybody is allowed to submit any event for public display. We'll post record lists for the most popular rules. If a variation becomes more popular, it will definitely be celebrated appropriately.

What are other common variations of the Beer Mile? Are records kept of variations?

Beermile.com's standard ruleset is the most common version of the beer mile. If you've done something amazing involving food and running, let us know and we'll considering adding your race to popular variations. In the meantime, Beermile.com will attempt to track down outstanding performances in:



4 x Beer Relay (4 team members - 1 12 oz. beer, 1 quarter each)

Best known effort: 3:46.6

(4 team members - 1 12 oz. beer, 1 quarter each)

The Queen's Chunder Mile (20 oz. imperial pint from cup/glass, quarter, pint, 1/4, pint, 1/4, pint, 1/4; vomiting allowed )

Best known effort: 5:08.7

(20 oz. imperial pint from cup/glass, quarter, pint, 1/4, pint, 1/4, pint, 1/4; vomiting )

The Racing Wheelchair Beer Mile

Best known effort: 8:04



The Female 3-Beer Mile (quarter, beer, 1/4, beer, 1/4, beer, 1/4)

Best known effort: 6:42.1

(quarter, beer, 1/4, beer, 1/4, beer, 1/4)

The Beer 2-Mile (8 beers, 8 quarters)

Best known effort: 11:39.0

(8 beers, 8 quarters)

The Beer Mile with Penalty (4 beers, 4 quarters + vomit = 5 quarters)

Best known effort: 7:30.0

(4 beers, 4 quarters + vomit = 5 quarters)

The 4-Lap Beer Steeplechase (4 beers, 4 quarters, 16 barriers, 4 water pits)

Best known effort: 8:52.0

(4 beers, 4 quarters, 16 barriers, 4 water pits)

The 3000m Vodka Steeplechase (7 shots, standard 3k steeplechase)

Best known effort: 10:16.0, 11:08.0

(7 shots, standard 3k steeplechase)

The Vodka 2-Mile (8 shots, 8 quarters)

Best known effort: 13:01.5

(8 shots, 8 quarters)

Clydesdale Division (standard beer mile, 35 or older and 200 lbs+)

Best known effort: 8:01

(standard beer mile, 35 or older and 200 lbs+)

The Lite Beer Mile (standard beer mile, any beer)

Best known effort: 5:35.1

(standard beer mile, any beer)

The Shotgun/Cup Mile (standard beer mile, drink from any container)

Best known effort: 5:08.7

(standard beer mile, drink from any container)

4 x 40 Beer Relay (4 team members - 1 40 oz. beer, 1 quarter each)

Best known effort: 13:24

(4 team members - 1 40 oz. beer, 1 quarter each)

The Soda/Pop Mile (standard beer mile, soda instead of beer)

Best known effort: 7:21.0

(standard beer mile, soda instead of beer)

The Chocolate-Milk Mile (48 oz. chocolate milk, 4 quarters)

Best known effort: 5:49.0

(48 oz. chocolate milk, 4 quarters)

The Egg and Milk Mile (3 eggs, 500ml milk per lap)

Best known effort: 8:32.0

(3 eggs, 500ml milk per lap)

The Rubik's Cube Mile (solve a cube, quarter, cube, quarter, cube, quarter, cube, quarter)

Best known effort: 11:43

(solve a cube, quarter, cube, quarter, cube, quarter, cube, quarter)

The Joggling Beer Mile (run a beermile while joggling)

Best known effort: 11:18

(run a beermile while joggling)

The Ben and Jerry's 4x4 (4 pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream - 300+ calories/serving, 4 miles)

Best known effort: 47:16, 1:06:55

(4 pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream - 300+ calories/serving, 4 miles)

The T-Shirt Run (put on a t-shirt and run a quarter under 2 minutes)

Best known efforts: 50 laps/t-shirts, 48 laps/t-shirts (twice)

(put on a t-shirt and run a quarter under 2 minutes)

The Beer Half-Marathon (13 beers, 13 miles)

Best known effort: 1:43, 2:14, 5:07

(13 beers, 13 miles)

The 24 and 24 in 24 (24 beers, 24 miles, in 24 hours or less)

Best known effort: rumored to be 14 hours

(24 beers, 24 miles, in 24 hours or less)

The Bicentennial (100 beers, 100 miles, any order)

Best known effort: rumored to be 104 hours, 151 hours

(100 beers, 100 miles, any order)

The Renaissance Mile (1 mile, solve a Rubik's cube, drink a 40oz of malt liquor, dunk a basketball on a 10' rim, play Chopin's Minute Waltz, eat a pint of ice cream, any order)

Best known effort: rumored to be 29:09

I want to sanction a race and insure my participants. How do I do it?

Hold your horses, we're not quite that big yet. We're standardizing rules for "official" events with suggested guidelines, but if you host and organize and event, the safety and legality of the event is your responsibility.

I want to submit some race results, how do I do it?

First, don't be an idiot and hurt yourself or others. If you try a beer mile, Beermile.com is not responsible if you do something because you're underage or you binge drink or break open container laws. This is just for fun. But, if you want to submit results register and click "Submit new race results". You have the ability to first create a race, then put in times and notes for each participant. You can come back and edit any race results you created. Note - if you edit a result that has already been approved as "official", it must be re-approved after the change.

How do my records become "official"?

A Beermile.com committee will approve the validity of the results (improvements to the process are constantly being made). Most times over 7 minutes will be considered official if there is ample documentation and/or race notes. To be considered for an official sub-7 minute performance, you must submit video footage or something proving the validity of the race. Mostly, this is to provide entertainment for Beermile.com visitors, but it's also to prevent bogus results from contaminating record lists (any more than they already are). Registered users can vote up or down efforts to make a case for a really fast time. If you would like to be considered for the Beermile.com Approval Committee, mail admin@beermile.com.

Beermile.com already has my race results listed. How can I edit the changes or add pictures, notes, and links?

Register a Beermile.com username, then e-mail admin@beermile.com to tell us what user you are. We can assign the race to you and give you rights to edit it.

This site sucks. Can I redesign it, or submit artwork for consideration? Is there anything else I can do to help?

Send ideas to admin@beermile.com. All designers will be credited if their art is used. Also, feel free to e-mail us with any ideas and ways you want to contribute.

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