17 hours and four minutes.  That’s the course record-breaking time it took Nicholas Kopp to run the 100-mile “7th Annual Oil Creek 100” ultra marathon in October.

Kopp, 23, who grew up in Loudonville, Ohio and worked several summers at Mansfield Plumbing while in school, is a legacy employee for the company.  His grandfather, uncle and father have all worked for the company over the years.  John Kopp, Nicholas’s father, recently celebrated his 27th anniversary with Mansfield Plumbing and works in the Grade and Pack Department as a grader.

“We definitely have family history at Mansfield,” says Kopp. “I grew up around the plant. During high school I ran hurdles, which ignited my passion for running. Then when I turned 20 I started training and running the ultra marathons.”

In the 7th Annual Oil Creek 100, Kopp beat the previous course record for the event by 21 minutes. “This was my personal best time … I felt really good and ran continually from 5am to around 10pm,” says Kopp, a former Mansfield Plumbing employee. “There were about 150 people in the race and we ran mostly on remote trails through the Allegheny Mountains.”

Next up for the athlete is the Ouray 100 in Colorado in July. “That’s an entirely different kind of race because of the terrain and the altitude,” says Kopp. “I’ve already started training for that event!”