Long Distance Running

The main focus of this site is, of course, events that take several days or more to complete and this is a specialist area of running that has a community of no more than a few thousand members spread all over the world. Just to clarify the meaning of terms associated with running a long way, I've included standard definitions of categories below.

Long distance covers the 5 kilometre, 10 kilometer, half marathon and marathon events which is a prelimnary stage of running -, most runners don't venture beyond these distances although some indications are that there are more people making the transition to the 50 k distance than previously.

Ultra distance is usually referred to as beyond the marathon distance of 26.2 miles and ultrarunners usually take the 50 miler as a true ultra rather than 50k which is some 4 miles more than a regular marathon. It also extends up to and beyond the 100 k,100 mile and 24 hour distance .

The multiday or multi-day distance covers, as its name implies, those distances that take more than a day - 48 hours and up to the super long distance races like the 3100 and the trans-national races.There are a whole range of adventure races incorporating a multi-disciplnary approach and the popular stage races like the Transe-Gaule or the Trans Korea races and of course the Marathon des Sables.

Ultra Relays
There are a number of team events that can span over a day to complete, for example in the US one of these events is the Blue Ridge Relay - a 208 mile event with most teams finishing well over the 24 hour mark and also in the UK, the Welsh Castles Relay

The Trans-Am races are among the most famous multiday stage races and stories and accounts can also be found on Alan Firth's invaluable site, Run Across America