American Elizabeth Laseter and Canadian Corey Bellemore put on quite a show at the Beer Mile World Classic on Saturday afternoon in Leuven, Belgium.
When it comes to chugging suds and running fast 400-meter laps around a track, they were the best-in-show among the 65 runners from 13 countries participating in .
Running a beer mile is simple: a runner chugs a 12-ounce (or 355ml) beer, runs one lap around a track and repeats that three more times, a beer for each lap, as fast as possible 鈥 all without having it come back up, what is politely referred to as a 鈥渞eversal of fortune.鈥 The clock stops for each runner after the fourth lap is completed, unless they spew, when an additional fifth 400-meter penalty lap is required.

There are only a few basic rules to keep these speedy time trials in Belgium from looking like raucous beer-guzzling scenes choreographed to polka music at Oktoberfest in Munich. One rule is to make sure the beer in each can is fully finished. A second rule is that each beer is completed within the 9-meter 鈥渃hug zone,鈥 between the waterfall starting line and the finish line of each lap.
Laseter is a competitive runner鈥攕he ran for Johns Hopkins University in college and runs for the Bat City Track Club running club in Austin, Texas. But the 33-year-old food writer and photographer is also an exceptional beer chugger, a critical skill when it comes to running a beer mile for the podium.
Unfortunately, Laseter鈥攁s well as several other top runners in the women鈥檚 race鈥攚as flagged for appearing to step outside of the 鈥渃hug zone鈥 before she had finished drinking a beer at the start of her fourth lap, thus negating what would have been a world-record 6:15 mile and a 25-second victory.
Aside from that small hiccup, those who 鈥yes, the beer mile world championships was broadcast via livefeed鈥had to admire her high-performance execution. (Her effort broke down to roughly 25-30 seconds of chugging while running a 5:45-5:50 mile.)
Not only was Laseter given an 鈥渦nofficial鈥 finish, but so too was runner-up Laura Riches of the United Kingdom, who originally finished second in 6:30. That left American runner Melanie Pozdol, the third runner to cross the line in 6:41, as the one . (Her pace was fast, too, roughly the equivalent of a 6-minute mile with 40 seconds of chugging beers.)
Meanwhile, Bellemore, a 27-year-old professional runner from Tecumseh in Ontario, Canada, won the men鈥檚 race for the fourth time by a huge margin, even though his time of 4:50 was well off the overall beer mile world record of 4:28.1 that he set last year. This year鈥檚 edition of the Beer Mile World Classic stipulated that runners must swig 5 percent ABV beers from cans, which most competitors find to be slightly slower than racing with beer in bottles. And no,聽 鈥渟hotgunning鈥 the beer in the cans is not a legal tactic.
All runners were listed as drinking Juliper beer, a pale Belgian lager with 5.2 percent ABV, the country鈥檚 best-selling beer.
Despite being the third-fastest woman on the day, Pozdol was thrilled with her new personal best time for a beer mile with cans, after racing against 20 other women from seven countries. A former professional oboist who took up running for fitness in college, she was fifth in the back in August, with a 6:37 personal best.
鈥淚 was happy with how it went,鈥 said Pozdol, 34, who lives in Chicago and works as a data analyst for Northwestern University. 鈥淐ans are different than bottles, for sure, but I practiced with La Croix, which is more difficult to chug than beer. Too much carbonation!鈥
In the women鈥檚 race, Belgium鈥檚 Lana Ryckaert took an early lead after drinking the first beer, but it was Laseter, Pozdol, and fellow American Kassandra Marin who were the first to complete the first lap and start pounding the second beer. Laseter was the first to start the second lap, and by the time she looped the oval to start drinking her third beer, she had built a 25-meter lead on both Marin and Pozdol.
Although Riches came on strong as Pozdol and Marin were slightly slower on their beer-chugging, it looked as if Laseter would run away with the title. But after finishing her fourth beer, she was walking out of the 鈥渃hug zone鈥 and put her can back to her lips, to make sure the can was empty, and was flagged by an official. She ran a fast final lap and crossed the finish line with a massive lead over Riches, but both were later DQ鈥檈d.
Marin was the fourth-fastest runner, just four seconds behind Pozdol in 6:45 (her beer-mile PB for slurping out of cans), but after the DQs she was moved up to second.聽聽was the fifth-fastest runner in the women鈥檚 race with a 6:49, but she was DQ’ed for leaving too much beer in her cans. Germany鈥檚 Katja Tegler (7:07) was third, while Sweden鈥檚 Ella Sj枚berg (7:24) was fourth.
The U.S. women won the team title as Pozdol and Marin finished 1-2, while the British beer swiggers took the men鈥檚 team championship based on the finishes of Joe Gebbie (4th, 5:17), Ritchie Gardiner (5th, 5:22) and Brogan McCawley (10th, 5:26).
鈥淯nfortunately, it was not a good one for me,鈥 said Morgan, who holds the and won the in August. 鈥淭hey required cans and I have never chugged cans and couldn鈥檛 quite get it right. I still finished as well as I could. It鈥檚 one of those challenging races that can go so many ways. I was out of my comfort zone from the start and behind significantly due to chugging poorly.鈥

Bellemore, meanwhile, was never been challenged in the men鈥檚 race. As a runner who has made a living at running fast open miles and beer miles鈥攍iterally, given that he鈥檚 sponsored by Adidas鈥攈e lived up to his billing as the men鈥檚 favorite. (For reference, Bellemore owns a 3:57.42 PB in an open mile.) He didn鈥檛 disappoint this year, but instead put on a clinic and , 15 seconds ahead of Sweden鈥檚 Emil Granqvist (5:10).
Dutch runner Thijmen van der Loop was third (5:17), then British runners Gebbie (5:17) and Gardiner (5;22), who were fourth and fifth, respectively. The highest-placing U.S. runners in the men鈥檚 race were Will Rial (17th, 5:38) and Zach Teed (18th, 5:39).
鈥淭he race was an absolute blast!鈥 said Pozdol, who runs for the Chicago Fleet Feet Racing Team. 鈥淭he entire experience of coming to Belgium was honestly amazing. I feel so grateful to have been a part of Team USA and to help rep women’s beer miling!鈥
The 2023 World Beer Mile Classic will be held July 1 in Chicago, Illinois, and runners will be allowed to use bottles. Better start training.