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Welcome to the new Multiday Wiki

The Multiday Encyclopedia is an online reference for the who's who and what's what of this endurance sport, multiday running.

What are Multiday Races

Multiday races are a test of a runners' endurance, skill with pacing, and ability to recover from the stress of constantly moving. The competitors run with minimal sleep, all the while trying to accumulate as many miles as possible. This event is akin to the old six day endurance events held in the latter part of the 19th century, popularly known as 'pedestrianism'. Those races were held on indoor short tracks made of compressed earth and tree bark or sawdust. The athletes would run in a style known as 'go as you please'- they could run or walk. Nearly 100 years before the six day races were in their heyday, attempts at 1000 miles within a 20 day timeframe had been undertaken by highly trained professional walkers, with large amounts of money waged on their outcomes. Most of these contests were solo events in which a walker would cover one mile each hour for 1000 consecutive hours. Because so few of these contests were competitive, it took nearly a century before larger fields and more do-able events like the six-day became popular. (Sahishnu Szczesiul 2002)

Since the 1980's multiday running has enjoyed a rennaissance as has ultrarunning as a whole. Despite the amopunt of time required to complete these events the perception that one has to be crazy to even attempt these races has begun to be replaced with the understanding that these races are a tremendous opportunity to test one's capacity, to transcend perceived difficulties and learn to operate most efficiently within a structured environment.

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Marathons, Ultramarathons and Multiday Events
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