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The New Pioneers: Ultra cyclists, runners and adventurers
If you think skateboarding is an extreme sport, try running 135 miles through Death Valley. "It is the world's toughest footrace," says one of the event organizers, Chris Kostman, who is also a triathlete and Iditarod veteran. "People are drinking a liter of water a mile and just trying to survive." The Badwater race is just one example of a range of incredibly grueling competitions on the fringes of the sports world. The competition draws 80 or so runners to the deserts of southeastern California, in the middle of summer. This year, a woman - Pam Reed, 41, of Arizona - won the event for the first time. Twenty contestants weren't able to finish. Many applicants are turned away each year. With temperatures hitting 123 degrees, the wind was as refreshing as a furnace blast and runners say the pavement began to melt beneath their feet. And Badwater is almost entirely uphill; racers climb almost 9,000 feet by the time they cross the finish line. Competitors are responsible for their own support vans, which carry gallons of liquids, bags of ice, and several pairs of running shoes in different sizes, to accommodate the runners' ever-swelling feet. And the reward at the finish line? An official Badwater belt buckle, but only if you finish in less than 48 hours. Beyond Badwater: A range of truly extreme sports Extreme endurance sports have been quietly carving out a niche for themselves among people who shrug off plain old 26.2-mile marathons and 100-mile bike rides. There are mind-numbing, backbreaking events to suit every stripe of fitness fanatic: ultramarathons ranging from 50 to several hundred miles, extreme cycling events that run 12 hours or even several days straight, multi-day "adventure racing" in the wilderness, and 9-mile swims. The standard Ironman race - a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run - may seem like the ultimate test of how far athletes can push their bodies, but it has led some people to even more extreme challenges. There are now double- and triple-Ironman competitions held every year. For the triple, that's a 7.2-mile swim, then a 336-mile ride, and finally a 78.6 mile run. Top competitors typically finish in 42 or so hours. Athletes looking to push their bodies even further might consider the annual Race Across America - a nonstop 3,000-mile bicycling race from West Coast to East Coast. "Once the gun goes off the clock doesn't stop," explains John Hughes, the head of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association. And then there are the "Through the Looking Glass" events so extreme they are hard to fathom. The so-called longest race in the world, the annual Sri Chinmoy 3,100-Mile Race, is held on a road loop in Queens, N.Y., over some two months. It drew three contestants last year. The 3,000-mile, eight-contestant Run Across America finished in New York City on Saturday.
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