Dutch physicist tracks hamster's nightly miles on Strava, outpacing his own runs

Physicist Thijs de Buck of Utrecht created a magnetic tracking system that measures every rotation of his hamster wheel and automatically posts the figures to Strava. His pet, Mollie, now logs an average of roughly 10 km each night, with a top run of 11.15 km, amounting to almost 70 km a week. The hamster’s activity earns about a thousand kudos per session, dwarfing the 40 or so de Buck received during his half-year marathon training.

De Buck built the setup to satisfy his curiosity about the hamster’s nightly exertion and to combine his passions for running and data analytics. The quirky experiment has been highlighted in Runner’s World and has sparked interest among runners who appreciate both pets and engineered gadgets. He updates Mollie’s stats each morning after the nocturnal runs, noting that such behavior mirrors that of wild hamsters, which are active at night.