27 January 2016

"Skyrunning"

"If you think running a marathon is a feat in itself, imagine doing an ultra-marathon up a mountain. At "The Rut Mountain Race" in Big Sky, Montana, nearly 400 athletes from around the world gathered to compete across 31 miles. They cover more than 10,000 feet of elevation. The sport is known as skyrunning."
Posted for Skip, a friend up in northern Minnesota, who has competed in the Rut Mountain Race.  Awesome.

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2016 at 3:40 PM

    There's a race in Vancouver, BC., called the KneeKnacker. It's 30 miles long and has 16,000 ft elevation climb and descent. I've done it twice. It takes place in July. The second time I did it, we had a winter with lots of snow -- so by the time July rolled around, there was still a lot of snow in the mountains. The race organizers had search and rescue on hand in several locations where the trail was dicey (ie we were climbing icy hills). On race day, there's usually (or used to be) a bagpiper at the top of the first big hill.

    http://www.kneeknacker.com/race-info-course/course-info/course-description/

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2016 at 5:52 PM

    There's also a series of similar races in California which I know have been run for some decades (I knew several participants in the 90's)

    The races are typically 60-70 miles in length, and start on the West side of the Sierra Nevada mountains and end on the East side. Typical altitude gains are +/- 7000 feet. The time limit is 24 hours to complete . The prize is a belt buckle if you complete it in 24 hours.

    There's also the Angeles Crest 100 miler in the mountains along the edge of LA. Starts on the north side of the San Gabriel mountains, and goes up and along the crest of the Angeles, coming down to the Altadena/ Pasadena for the end. Elevation gain is only +3500' but you end up about 8000' lower than the peak.

    There's also the Western States 100 up near Squaw Valley CA every year. I don't know anyone who's run that, but it claims it is a cumulative +18,000' and -23,000' in total

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2016 at 10:59 PM

    Reminds me of the Death race, 125 Km long, 17,000 ft elevation change and I believe is all above 4200 ft. Normally done in a relay of 5 but there are some people who run the whole 125 km solo.

    (http://www.canadiandeathrace.com/what-is-the-canadian-death-race)

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