The Ultimate Desert Stage Race: Marathon des Sables
Marathon des Sables, French for Marathon of Sands (or MdS for short), is known as the “Toughest Footrace on Earth.โ Why? Because it is roughly a 250-kilometer journey in seven days run in the hot sands of the Saharan desert. It is fully self-supported meaning there are no race crews, and you have to carry ... Read more
Marathon Des Sables – An Honest Account From An Under-Prepared Runner
The Marathon Des Sables is a 250km self-supported race across the Sahara desert. Now with over 1200 entrantsย each year, the event is the biggest of it’s kind on the planet. Participants usually train for months to condition their bodies and prepare for the race – butย often other commitments and time limitations mean many runners turn ... Read more
UK’s “Hardest Geezer” Completes 16,300 Kilometer Journey Across The Length Of Africa After 352 Days
After nearly a year of crossing deserts, mountains, and rainforests spanning 16 countries, Russ Cook, more commonly known as the Hardest Geezer, has accomplished his journey of running the entire length of Africa. Originally scheduled to conclude by Christmas 2023, the daunting task of covering over 16,300 kilometers, equivalent to more than 385 marathons, extended ... Read more
TotalEnergies Bilbao Night Marathon Delivers Triumphant Racing And Electric Environment Under The Lights
Last night in Bilbao, a city in the Basque region in Spain, runners took to the start of the TotalEnergies Bilbao Night Marathon. The event featured three categories: a marathon, a half marathon, and a 10k. The race would begin at San Mamรฉs Stadium and finish at Guggenheim Musem, taking participants along an urban route ... Read more
The 6 Hardest Marathons In The World
Every marathon is inherently difficult, as covering 26.2 miles on foot will always be a tough physical and mental feat. While many runners are keen on running the fastest marathons in the world or flattest marathons in the world to nail a PR, others are looking for the hardest marathons on earth. But what are ... Read more
The Marathon Monks of Japan: The World’s Toughest Ultramarathon
The Marathon Monks (gyoja) of Mt. Hiei, Japan take on kaihลgyล, a spiritual challenge of endurance in pursuit of enlightenment. The journey lasts over seven years and the stakes are high. If they fail, the monk must perform Hara-kiri – โhonourable suicideโ. If they survive, they become a living saint. They wear white, the Buddhist ... Read more
What Is Ultra Running? A Beginner’s Guide
Ultra running has met a big boom over the past years, from the rise of UTMB races, The Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc, 100-milers, and stage races to your local, long-distance races of 50Ks and 80Ks. An ultramarathon is a run that covers a distance longer than that of a standard road marathonโtherefore, any run longer than ... Read more
Here’s Our Team’s Pick Of The World’s 10 Toughest Races
Crossing the finish line of any race is an accomplishment, whether it’s a 5k color run fun run or the New York City Marathon. But, ultra runners take the cake in terms of tackling the world’s toughest racesโrunning distances of 100 miles or upwards or 200 miles or more! And, if that wasnโt tough enoughโrace ... Read more
Karel Sabbe Smashes Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) FKT By Over Five Days
Amidst all of the tremendous performances that took place over the past couple of weeks at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, many runners have had their eyes steered only on the daily results piling up from the preeminent international event. After all, most of the top running news outlets are naturally going ... Read more
Preparing for Racing The Planet Georgia – Update
With 10 months before Racing The Planet: Georgia kicks off, I spent a bit of time this week reviewing my gear and mapping out how Iโm planning to train for the event. (to date Iโve done essentially no specific training, and havenโt done a stage race in > 3 years). Vardzia โ part of the ... Read more
Stage Race Training Plan
This Stage Raceย Training Planย is a key part ofย the Stage Race Handbookย โ my complete guide to preparing, training, and running races like Marathon des Sables, or the 4 Deserts series . . . multi-stage races over several days and hundreds of kilometers! Who Is It For?: Anyone preparing for a Stage Race! How Long?: Six months ... Read more
Nick Butter Is Running The World
Nick Butter is a 28-year-old from Bristol, England who is currently in the middle of a World Record attempt to be the first person to run a marathon in every country in the world. That’s 196 marathons in total. One in every single country. Two years in the planning, Nick set off in January 2018 ... Read more
Meet Dion Leonard – Extreme Runner and Gobi’s Master
Dion Leonard is an extreme runner and stage race veteran. He has tackled the Marathon des Sables several times, along with 3 x KAEM (Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon – which he won in 2017), MdS Peru, Gobi March 250km and Global Limits Cambodiaย (where I first met Dion) to name a few โ regularly bagging podium ... Read more
Filippo Rossi: the Globetrotting Ultrarunner
Filippo Rossi is a globetrotting journalist originally from the Swiss-Italian town of Lugano. In the last few years, Filippo has thrown himself around the world, running some of the most prestigious and challenging ultras and stage races in far-flung locales. His medal collection includes Marathon des Sables,ย Transgrancanaria, Endurance Life Dorset, Ultrabericus, Vulcano Trail and every ... Read more
Runner Profile – Sarah Sawyer, Stage Race Extraordinaire
Sarah Sawyer makes no secret of the fact that she loves multi-day races, primarily because they combine two of her favourite pastimes – running and travel. She has completedย a number of multi-day stage races around the world, including the Racing the Planet 250km Patagonia in 2017 (1st female), Racing the Planet 250km Ecuador (1st female) ... Read more
