An ultra-marathon athlete whose television series travels the world showing them competing in unbelievable races, has created a “top ten” of the world’s toughest events.
The list released this week placed the Yukon Arctic Ultra in sixth spot, and the Yukon River Quest was listed as ninth.
Simon Donato and Paul Trebilcock, co-hosts and co-creators of “Boundless” the adventure show released their list this week.
The Yukon Arctic Ultra features 161, 483, and 692 km distances for runners, mountain bikers and cross country skiers travelling day and night in the extreme February arctic temperatures following the trail for the Yukon Quest dog-sled race. Temperatures of -40 are common “Running through the dead of winter in northern Canada, this race follows the Yukon Quest trail, which is also the route of the world’s toughest sled dog race,” said Donato adding. “Racing non-stop, and entirely self-supported for days, athletes will battle extreme conditions, and can expect to add frostbite and hypothermia to mere exhaustion.”
The Yukon River Quest in June is billed as the world’s longest canoe and kayak race, along 715 km of the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City.
The based their decisions on a number of critera including accessibility, cost factors, amateur status only, lack of highly specialized equipment or aids (eg sailboats or dog teams) and the option to race as a solo competitor.
1. Tor des Geants (Ultra-run; Italy): This non-stop, week-long ultra running race through Italy’s Aosta Valley involves, sleep deprivation, technical terrain, steep climbs and brutal downhills which destroy knees, ankles and quads
2. Badwater (Ultra-run; USA/Brazil): This non-stop 135-mile running challenge take athletes through one of the hottest places on earth, through Death Valley and up Mt. Whitney during some of the hottest and most humid times of the year
3. Cape Epic (Mountain bike; South Africa): The eight-day Cape Epic is known as the Tour de France of mountain biking and covers around 700 km of South Africa
4. Race Across America (Road bike; USA): The 3,000 mile Race Across America is a long running trans-continental cycling challenge that takes athletes from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland.
5. 4-Desert (Ultra-run; Sahara, Gobi, Atacama): I’ve lumped a number of self-supported desert-based stage-running races here due to similarity. Dressing well can mitigate cold weather races, but the heat of desert races crush you because you can’t do any better than naked, and if you’re running in temperatures over 40C, there is no place to hide.
***** 6. Yukon Arctic Ultra (Multisport options; Canada):
7. Charlie Ramsay Round (Ultra-run; Scotland): Although not a race, this running challenge is a 60 mile fell running time trial on all the 3,000+ ft peaks encircling Ben Nevis, , only 74 runners have officially completed the round in under 24 hours
8. Salzkammergut Trophy (Mountain bike; Austria):
Marathon mountain bike racing is extremely popular in Europe, and this is the crown jewel of difficulty. You have 16 hours to complete a 210 km mountain bike course through the alps with 7,000 m of elevation gain
***** 9. Yukon River Quest (Paddle; Canada):
10. 11-Cities SUP Tour (Stand up paddle surfing; Holland): The world’s toughest, and currently longest SUP race happens annually in the Friesland canals of northern Holland. Run over five days, many of the worlds best marathon paddlers and enthusiastic amateurs will cover 220 km on their boards.
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