Comments on: 6 Races That Make Marathons Look Wimpy

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:52:59 +0000

I live in Santa Clarita and a couple times my older brother Jason once competed in Bad Water. He lost though!

By: UltraRob

UltraRob — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:43:40 +0000

I’ve finished one of these (the 508) which qualfied me for the one that I made 2,000 miles before dropping out.

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:29:54 +0000

Ha! #2 & #3 look like home to me :)

As one of the closest (and largest) communities to Death Valley, Ridgecrest, CA is the proud home of many Ultra Marathoners. Our local track & bike clubs put on lowest to highest events that are open to the public as well as many other fun events throughout the year.

120 degrees.. yes it gets that hot, and sometimes worse!

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:48:38 +0000

Check out the 100 Mile Western States Run here in California

By: Jordan Wilberding

Jordan Wilberding — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:08:00 +0000

This fails in comparison to what marathon monks do.

http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm

The first 300 days are basic training, during which the monks run 40km per day for 100 consecutive days. In the fourth and fifth years they run 40km each day for 200 consecutive days. That’s more or less a full marathon every day for more than six months. The final two years of the 1000-day challenge are even more daunting. In the sixth year they run 60km each day for 100 consecutive days and in the seventh year they run 84km each day for 100 consecutive days. This is the equivalent of running two Olympic marathons back-to-back every day for 100 days.

By: AS

AS — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:52:59 +0000

Another race that deserves at least to be in the top 10 would be the relatively new “Canadian Death Race” which is run through the wilderness over 3 mountain summits and 125KM. The race is ran in August and runners should be prepared for extreme heat and extreme cold, having had heavy snow during some of the races.

Go to
www (dot) canadiandeathrace (dot)com

By: dolface

dolface — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:43:46 +0000

There is also Primal Quest: the 2008 edition features over 100k feet of elevation gain, and 450 miles of navigation through the wilds of Montana.
Teams of 4 will take 5 – 10 days to complete it, and there are no rest periods, they nap when they can’t go any longer, then go some more.

By: tomh

tomh — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:38:56 +0000

how about triathalons, the London to Paris relay stands out in some ways. OK I don’t think it’s continuous, but the combination is still quite a feet…

“Running from London to Dover [~75 miles], swimming the English Channel (no wetsuits) [~30 miles] and then cycling from Calais to Paris [~184 miles].” [total 289 miles / 465 km]

By: Seamus Sweeney

Seamus Sweeney — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:45:56 +0000

Go to www dot msm dot no to read about – and enter – an event which combines in a pleasing degree of extreme-ness and doability. It’s the Polar Night Halfmarathon in Tromso (sic – there’s one of those Norwegian lines through the o things there) Norway, held every january. There’s also a Midnight Sun marathon in the summer, when its always day light. A half marathon may hardly cut the non-wimpy mustard of these events – but then again, its in the arctic circle. In January. it’s cold. And dark.

I did in just over 2 hours. Slightly humiliatingly, the winner of the over 70s category (male) did it in about 2 minutes less (i was 28 at the time) It’s a great feeling as you reach the 11 to 12 mile mark – the sweat is freezing to your eye lids, you’re fantasising about the food you’re going to eat after this half marathon dealy, the smell of home fires in the town is hitting the old nostrils….

I can highly recommend it.

By: CK

CK — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:34 +0000

These are insane! I have a hard enough time running to the end of the block!

Oh, and not to take away from the post, but there are a couple of typos in there that you guys at mental_floss might want to correct.

“Swimmers looking for a ridiculously difficult even..” I think you mean “event.”

Here’s the other one I found: “Runnes would head from Badwater…” I think you mean “Runners.”