Toughest is so relative to the day/weather and the individual strengths... but ohhh I gone done 3 of them on your list! :D (and never want to try 1 of them, Mark can stick his tunnel somewhere dark and tunnel like :D ) Not sure Arc deserves its place on the list as challenging as it is, but UTS 160 is deffo a 9+. Not convinced by Winter Downs 200 either but may give it a go sometime and report back!
Fascinating that such extreme events exist, because so many of us are seeking such life experiences. For me it was my first ultra. Unfortunately not an official event (due to cancellation of corona), 53km 3000m elevation along the Swabian Alb. Alone with 5 litres of water, it turned out I had underestimated the heat and lack of water on the course. I was forced to descend to a small village to buy some water. Unfortunately the only shop that was open was a butcher with warm ice tea. I purchased 9 little cartons (all they had) and carried on with the remaining 10km. Needless to say, warm ice tea didn't sit well with my stomach. Made it to the end though where my wife and kids were waiting to pick me up and was so happy to give them a story to tell. Thanks for another great vid, Lloyd and for reminding me of a great personal memory 👌
Hardest run I ever did was a 15k forest trail. It was an out and back and at the furthest point I slipped and fractured and displaced my humerus. As I was in forest tracks and in the middle of winter, it was pointless waiting for someone. I had to walk back to the start, holding my broken arm in absolute agony. Fortunately, once back at the start, my wife was waiting to take me to the hospital. Ouch.
I've run a couple of marathons which were fine, but I have my first trail ultra (60k) in September and I know that'll definitely be the toughest challenge so far!
My hardest race was my last race. Even though I pb it and still came last Run to Sea Brighton 50k. I did in 2022 fell down 13 miles in and still completed it. Then did this years. My hips started hurting 8 miles in on the downlink. Then the South Hills killed them. The tail runner and the guy on the bike picking up signs were very supportive. I even managed a sprint finish. A slow sprint finish but a sprint finish all the same
Some fantastic events in their Loyd, love the inclusion on the Tunnel, not my sort of thing but certainly challenging. No place for UTMB Snowdonia 100? #1down5togo
I ran a 50k where the trails were bone dry the day before, and the night before the race we got 8 inches of powdery snow to run in! It felt like running in Narnia. It was cold and difficult, but also a lot of fun.
The Classic Quarter was my toughest race to date. It wasn't my longest but it was a super hot day and half way I almost dropped out. It was a mental battle that I'm proud to have overcome.
My toughest race wasn’t the hardest race I’ve done but because of forgetting to top up my electrolytes at the half way point, the Classic Quarter was my toughest race. To overcome severe cramp the only way I could continue was the walk/jog backwards for 4 miles. I finished but I want to go back to do it justice.
I am starting to explore the world of ultrarunning and it’s really starting to catch my attention. As I’m seeing all these examples of beautiful scenery my motivation to become an ultra runner myself starts to increase more and more. The hardest run for me was turning out to be a half marathon around my hometown in the Netherlands. It only took one wrong road to increase my run by 10 km. There I realised that running isn’t only about exploring physical limits, but mental limits aswell. What a feeling to finish after that. Now a 36km trail awaits me in October, I can’t wait!
I can definitely vouch for the winter downs 200 being super tough! The sheer distance and the sleep deprivation were really challenging factors!.. oh and the mud!
My toughest race was the 2017 inaugural Spartan Ultra World Championship in Iceland. It was my first Spartan obstacle race. My brother came to crew me. The challenge with the event in the cold & ice was tough, but fun. I was inspired by northern lights to persevere & finish the race.
My last 50 miler at the Sulphur Springs Trail Race. It started raining at about the 2 hour mark and continued for the next 8 hours, and because it's a 20 km loop with about 700 runners doing various distances the course turned into an absolute mess... My hips were trashed by the end from all of the slipping and sliding. Definitely turned an enjoyable race into a monster.
i have not yet competed in an ultra but i have run over 50k in a day, i ran from an out and back from newquay to constantine bay via the coastpath, once i had got back to newquay i had about 10k to complete so i had to a full road loop of newquay and then got back home for around 10pm. love the content lloyd and will hopefully get my first race in sometime soon
Mines going to be the Brecon Way 100 that I'm doing this weekend 27th July. Furthest I've ever ran is 50k. This is double the distance, technical and through the night. I'm only doing it because a friend that had signed up is no longer able to do it. Training hasn't been great but dnf is not an option
Most Challenging to date for me; 2021 London Marathon. Committed to run for my chosen charity but at the time had Plantar fasciitis. Very painful, numbness and a real mental/physical battle but got it done! 👍
Toughest race for me was the 2024 Cape Wrath Ultra. Injury on Day 3 meant I couldn’t complete the full race, but still finished the Explorer which meant I still got to run to the iconic Cape Wrath lighthouse.
Endure 24 in Leeds in 2022, solo running in the middle of a thunder & lightning storm, course closed eventually and then back out in the early hours after a feeling like I had hypothermia!
UTMB CCC. Was easily the toughest race I've ever done. Spent many hours sitting on the side of the trail in the dark on huge alpine climbs wondering how I'd get to the finish. But I am too stubborn to give up, so I made it to the finish with only half an hour to spare. #keepmovingforward
My hardest run was Chester 50m Ultra by GB Ultras and this year was really muddy and was a proper slog. Great race though want to try on a dry year if possible.
Lakeland trail in 2016- Helvellyn 10k. Weather appalling. First race since having bacterial meningitis and over coming only being able to walk to the toilet and back, sleeping downstairs as couldn’t get up them. Very emotional and proud day- lots of amazing people met at the race and in pub afterwards!
Great selection of races - which one are you thinking of doing for the channel ? , other contenders would be the Montane Cheviot Goat in Northumberland/Scottish borders and The Berkeley Marathons ( British version of The Barkley Marathons).
Toughest for us was Ultra-Trail Snowdonia! Almost no hills around here for us to train on, so whilst the trail aspect of the race was fine, doing that ascent up Snowdon was absolutely was brutal. Add on the intense heat on the day, and it made for some really difficult mental and physical battles to keep on going! And this was just the short 25k route! Gained so much respect for those doing the longer distances, and humbled by the lessons learnt on the mountain. ⛰
One of the toughest and most embarrassing experiences I had was about 40 miles into the 50 mile Mourne Way Ultra... At half way, I'd forgotten to reapply anti-chafe cream to my nether regions and could feel the skin starting to really rub - nonetheless, I stopped in the middle of a very muddy bog to relieve myself, because when nature calls, you gotta go, eh? I was wearing cycling shorts and didn't pull them down fully, so unbeknownst to me, I hadn't quite got rid of all the pee... Content I'd managed to do what I needed to do, I pulled the shorts back up again but the dreaded dribble ended up running down into my chafed gonads... Safe to say I hit a very high note and proceeded to have a very uncomfortable final 10 miles!
To be fair, the last 25 miles of the Arc route is pretty straight forward. From St Ives you have a short section of coast path that isn’t technical at all. Then you arrive at Lelant church and you have around 4 miles of flat tarmac. Once off the road you’ll have to run through the Towans and up to the North Cliffs, this is all runnable. The trickiest section is when you hit the dips on the North cliffs and the hill to the finish line 👍 It’s actually a very runnable 25 miles 😁
My toughest was the Fox Ultra 2024, not that the route was particularly challenging per se but because my left knee went at around halfway I had a big mental battle for the remaining 30k to avoid DNF and get to the finish line where my family was waiting for me!
Bromont, Quebec, 2022. My first 55km ultra. I trained, but probably not enough. At around 28k my guts were roiling. After that I ended up running maybe 500m at a time, then having to pause and walk, while off-gassing. Every time I thought I could get away with a quick hop into the bush, someone would run by me. I was also pretty conscious of the fact that the way I was dressed I looked like a traffic pylon, easily visible in the mid-autumn bush after the leaves had fallen. So I pushed on. I was around 10k out when I was passed by the pre-sweepers. They chatted with me and reckoned I would have no worries making the cut-off at the last checkpoint. Then they left me. Night closed in and in the hills it got pretty dark. I figured that at the checkpoint, I'd get in with enough time to spend 10 minutes in the thunderbox, clear myself out, and complete. But I ended up missing a turn. And while I was recovering from my mistake, the sweepers went by me. By the time I reached the checkpoint the sweepers' lights were disappearing into the cloud up on the last climb. Knowing that I still needed to paint the porcelain, I figured I'd never catch them. So I abandoned with seven kms to go, and spent the next 20 minutes exploding. The people at the checkpont actually came to check on me, to see if I was still alive. I felt sorry for my Runderware. Perhaps it's time for a new pair of CXP gruds? (P.s., I completed last year.)
Man vs Coast 2018. Hottest day of the year. 200m into the race it had a sea dip on Marazion beach when my (cycling product) chafing cream wash off as it was not waterproof. 41k later mostly in wet shorts, as more sea dips during course, and my groin looked and felt like surface of the sun.
13 valleys ultra 182 km across the Lakeland, I ran the 7 valleys last year, 110 km, that is one tough but beautiful race. Back this year for the 13 Valleys.
I know the Hardmoors events are tough races, I must give one a go one day. The only reason one didn’t feature in the list is because I don’t know enough about them 👍
2022 Midnight Man Marathon. A trail marathon in the Brecon Beacons that started at 3.30pm and had a midnight cut off. Just to make it harder we had to run carrying a 16kg bergen as well!
A mate also the run organiser for my group finished The Tunnel last year 2023. To truly grasp its assault on your mental faculties here are some of things he hallucinated, 1st. A night sky with stars and everything, 2nd towards the end there was a point were he thought he made the wrong turn and stopped, thinking he was heading in the wrong direction (there are no turnings it's a straight tunnel).
It was definitely going to be the Glen Coe skyline ultra for me but due to bad weather the course was cut short so never got to traverse over Aonach Eagach ridge on race day, turns out the recce was harder than the race.
My hardest race was just an everyday half but I was a year out from chemo and under trained due to multiple infections. I just feel like if I can do that I can do anything. Spine race at? New goal unlocked.
The hardest run I’ve done is the Saints Way Ricochet down here in Cornwall. This was my worse run I’ve done due to things going wrong, however, it was the run that I learnt the most from. Turning a negative into a positive.
@@Run4Adventure i’m doing great! Building up my mileage and enjoying running again thanks in large part to the Superblast. I been around jsyk but was using different tag names because of my affiliation with some gaming channels that has ended 😅
After this years Lulworth Cove Ultra I'd add that to the list haha Unfortunately though The Trail Events Co have gone bust!! Shocking to hear and a shame as that's one less company to run events for us 😔
Hardest race was trying to do a quin ironman 2 days after the covid all clear in 2022. Managed the 19km swim and 3 days on the bike before the heat and exhaustion combined with a shoulder injury defeated me. Barely exercised since due to issues and trying to get back into some sort of fitness now
Hardest run was today. My uncle showed up to my house thursday with a cold and he got me sick. Fridays gym workout sucked, saturdays easy run sucked and todays trail run out in the malibu canyons totally sucked!! What i usually run i had to walk, it was hot, i was light headed and felt really weak. Next time im kicking him out of the house😂
My hardest ever race was the Doi Inthanon 100k Thailand, a UTMB Major race in 2023. My body was so sore and in pain that i had to literally crawl to bed in the rest area after the race. If everything goes to plan, will be doing the UTMB final in 2025 🙏
I almost went with UTS 100 miler because it is a super tough race but I didn’t want two races in Wales. I wanted to try to spread them out across the Uk Michele 👍
@@Run4Adventure Your technical top looks good too. Is it pretty lightweight? I find I get pretty hot in anything that isn’t (even in Yorkshire!). Will it be back in stock again?
@@pauljennings2425 unfortunately we’ve just left on our trip to Chamonix so we had to take certain items of the website because we won’t be at home to post them out. They’ll be back on the website when we get home in September 👍 Sorry for the inconvenience 🙂
Loyd, you have it the wrong way round. You should sign up for the spine or/and dragons back today if you want to do it. Only then will you improve your navigation and mental strength skills, not before. Burn the boats!
I don't know if there's anything harder than these in the UK but if we're talking globally, the Iditarod Trail Invitational comes to mind. 1000 miles through Alaska in winter. Or the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race in New York that takes place around a single city block.
