World’s Toughest Endurance Races (Only 1% Can Finish)

These are the TOUGHEST endurance races in the world, where athletes need to push themselves mentally and physically beyond their limits. Taking place in some of the world's harshest environments, find out if you've got what it takes to complete some of the toughest endurance races in the world. 😳

⏱️ Timestamps: ⏱️
00:00 The hardest endurance races in the world
00:19 These races are iconic, but painful
00:38 Spartathlon
01:33 Dragons Back Race
02:22 Marathon Des Sables
03:17 Norseman Xtreme Triathlon
04:51 English Channel Swim
06:16 The Barkley Marathons
08:29 Strathpuffer
09:17 The Old Pueblo
09:31 Race Across America
10:27 Badlands
11:08 Ultra Trail Mont-Blanc (UTMB)
11:52 Ironman World Championships

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Would you want to race any of these? Have you already tried? ❤️‍🔥 Which one do you think is the most brutal? 😮‍💨

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#gtn #triathlon #swimbikerun #swim #bike #run #hardestenduranceevents #races #endurance #events #spartathlon #norsemanxtreme #barkley #marathons #marathon #badlands

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[gtn]

Which one do you think is the most brutal? 😮‍💨

[glendownton]

The Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan is something that one day I hope to go and .. watch other people do.

[NobleTries]

BADWATER 135, MOAB 240, Ultraman, and ST 3100 are some other crazy ones

[GrooveyBobby]

I was waiting for you to say Badwater, but some of the scenery from these events is magnificent, and congratulations on the T shirt ❤

[anfibocris]

Look into Australia & New Zealand. We have some tough events, too. Maybe you can do part 2 of this. The most iconic: Australia = Race to Rock. New Zealand = Coast to Coast.

[XEinstein]

Rather disappointing that adventure racing wasn't mentioned, as it is the toughest endurance sport on this planet with some races lasting well over a week of nonstop racing.

[Ali_z]

Superb collection of mega-challenges. Great video Mark.

[freddielloyd-wyatt]

The Tunnel Ultra is in my view the most brutal endurance event around…an ultramarathon through a 200 mile pitch black tunnel in the UK, no natural light until the literal light at the end…bonkers!

[mmarcheto]

IM WC is not even close to the difficulty of the other races

[brannmacfinnchad]

You forgot a couple brutal ones which come to mind; The Alaskan Iditarod Trail Invitational--1000 miles of the Iditarod trail, self supported by bike, foot, or ski, taking up to 30 days.
And the Antarctic Ultra-marathon just came on my radar...it's exactly what it sounds like.

[diedrino]

I should add the muretti madness. It’s a cycling climbing event usually held in Florence around October. It's nowhere near the events depicted in the video, but it's a 100-120km with at least 3000m of elevation. It doesn’t sound like much, but the climbs are all very steep, always in double figure, often in the 20%. Muretti is an Italian word for short steep climbs, did it a few years ago, was totally unprepared. It's not official though, it's just a bunch of people around a Komoot gpx.
More interesting is maybe the Tuscany Trail, which in itself is not that hard, around 450km with 6-7000m of elevation on Tuscany beautiful unpaved roads, but it's hard if you try to push it and it's also full of very steep hills, and it can be very hot too. It's mainly beautiful though and many take days to finish in order to appreciate the view

[Choedron]

You guys need to update on ultra endurance races. Include Trans Continental Biker Race (Around 4000 km across Europe - changes every year), Trans American Bike Race (6, 800 km across the US) and Indian Pacific Wheel Ride (5500 km across Australia, including the Nullabor dessert - longest stretch without any shops or water "holes" are 192 km) - all nonstop unsupported unlike the RAAM. Riders have to bring all they need and stock up on food and find places to sleep during the race. They are not allowed to get service cars to come with supplies.

[GakGreco]

Greeting's From Greece !!! We have also Olympus Ultra trail !!!

[gybium]

I also would like you to at the centurion race. Walk 100 miles within 24 hours. Is held in different parts of the world. But the official one is on the island om Mann

[lwittrock]

The old Pueblo race is our race, that is to say, the one we here do every year.

[GALEFORCETV]

Nice list. I have done the full 250km Marathon des Sables 3 times. (These are covered on my YouTube channel). My first was the usual one in Morocco when I was 60. I had so much fun I immediately signed up for the first one in Peru 5 months later. Peru was not so popular, only 300 starters (Morocco has about 1100) due to the weather being cloudy (but hot) we were down to 200 by the second day as many crashed out with extreme dehydration. I think about 120 of us finished at the end of the 7 days. I did my 3rd in Morocco last year (2023 aged 67). They are totally a head thing. Just keep going. Fantastic scenery (see video), fantastic organisation. Highly recommended for any one that can do a single marathon and likes camping :-) The strangest thing is that on the last day I found it very sad to say a final good bye to our tent - I really wanted to keep

[anthonyfeatherstone]

How is the winter Spine Race not on this list?

[larsronning]

I’ve done MDS and Norseman. You also forgot Cape Wrath Ultra 400K by the same organizer as Dragon’s Back.

[JustOneWolf]

Big's Backyard Ultra and Tor des Géants

[SBoots]

Nope. I'm too old for that stuff.