Welsh TV Host Finishes Arctic Race
Welsh television personality Lowri Morgan ran 563 kilometres on ice and tundra to finish the 6633 Extreme Ultra Marathon this past weekend, making her the only competitor to finish this year’s extreme Arctic foot race.
Morgan completed the full ultra-marathon late Friday, arriving at 4 p.m. MT to a cheering crowd in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T.
She ran along the Dempster Highway and on Arctic ice roads from Eagle Plains, Yukon, to Tuktoyaktuk in a time of 174 hours and eight minutes, according to race organizers.
The 36-year-old TV personality was the only competitor out of 12 to finish the full distance of the extreme marathon, which began on March 18.
Competitors ran — and pulled sleds packed with their food, water and camping equipment — in one of two distance races.
Most of the competitors opted to run just 193 kilometres from Eagle Plains to Fort McPherson, N.W.T., while Morgan and two men went for the full 563 kilometres to the banks of the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk.
Fellow competitor Matt Davies dropped out of the race on March 21, while Tony Kelly withdrew the next day.
Toughest race
Morgan is no stranger to extreme adventures, she has gone deep-sea diving to the wreck of the Titanic and run 200 kilometres across the Amazon jungle. However, she said the 6633 Ultra was by far her toughest race.
“It’s been a very personal battle — a physical, a mental and an emotional battle. I’ve cried nonstop over the last few days and I think about everything,” Morgan told CBC News last Wednesday, while she was departing from Inuvik, N.W.T., on the marathon’s final stretch.
“I think about the scenery, I think about the country, and I’ve been to places in my mind where I don’t think we go there enough. It’s really been an awe-inspiring and a very humbling experience.”
Only six runners in the 6633 Ultra’s five-year history have completed the full 563-kilometre distance, according to the race’s website.
Morgan’s progress before and during the Arctic marathon was captured by a documentary crew for a four-part series that has already started airing on the Welsh TV network S4C.
