http://www.iditarodtrailinvitational.com/iti-1000 ?

Ironman isn't remotely an extreme individual sport.

If I were thinking of an extreme individual sport it would be more like BASE jumping, Hangliding, solo rock climbing etc.

As for individual extreme endurance events,

- Marathon des Sables
- RAAM
- Cape Epic (700 km mountain bike race in South Africa)
- Badwater Ultramarathon
- Tor des Geants (week-long ultra race in Italy)

The ironman isn't remotely close.

Ok how about events like Ironman.

But your examples are pretty good other than Raam.

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50/50/50 by IG fitness models

Barkley Marathons

Everest isn't really a solo thing, nor an "event" in the sense that ironman is... and more to the point, Everest is somewhat of a walk up compared to other 8000 meter peaks. K2, for example, is waaaaay harder to climb

But.... if you are looking at races:
Iditarod
Badwater
Barkley
Trans Rockies

And while not a race, making a solo unsupported attempt at the fkt for the JMT is pretty gnarly, and sort of like a race.

RAAM hands down

Not an event, but K2 without supplemental oxygen is pretty badass

I'd probably include The Barkley Marathons, like others have said, because of the small finishing percentages

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"There are two ways to slide easily through life- to believe everything and to doubt everything- both ways save us from thinking "- Korzbyski

My experience is only between IM and Ultra: The 100 mile ultra and 100k ultra were more challenging than any of the three full distance IM's I've done (IMLT '13, Boulder '17, and Santa Rosa '18). Running for 25 hours is brutal particularly the last 25 miles. The Canyons Ultra this year ended up sidelining me for most of the summer. 63 miles, 16,000'+ elevation gain...6000' of that in the last 15 miles.

1) Rio Del Lago 100M
2) The Canyons 100k
3) Death Ride
4) IMLT
5) IM Boulder
6) IM Santa Rosa

This event here in my little town of Waterloo, Ontario is pretty cool:

http://www.endurrun.com

7 Stages in 8 days:
- Half Marathon
- 15km Time Trial
- 30km Trail Run
- 10mi Hilly run
- 25.6km 'Alpine' Trail Run (5 loops with 2 times each up and down our local ski hill)
- 10km Time Trial
- Marathon

160km (100 miles) total from Sunday to Sunday. Usually in the humid Ontario August heat, with traditionally thunderstorms before or on the Alpine stage, and 120 degrees for the marathon.

Not ultra-endurance in the sense that you have to keep going no matter what, but every day you have to will yourself to throw down another hard raced run in sometimes brutal conditions.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

You need to clarify if you are talking about a one day race, or multi? Ultraman is infinitely harder than a single ironman, but of course it takes 3 days to do it. I would think if someone is really fit and racing, that 7 marathons on 7 continents would be pretty hard. Probably equal to the race across America.

English Channel is nothing special, just another crossing that some do in 10 hours. Only thing I can think of in swimming is the world record attempts(and actual WR's) up over a 100 miles straight now. That 24 hour swim record in the pool was pretty other worldly, a pace most triathletes would like to hold for one hour..

There are a lot of multi day runs, but bad water has to me the hardest one day I would guess. It is really tough to quantify as there is racing these things, and there is just doing them. Just doing just about anything is not that hard for well trained folks, but put a time limit or a head to head race on it, then it all changes how hard something really is..

The Spine

Any running event like 7 marathons/7 days/7 continents, Marathon de Sable, Trans Rockies are on the easy end of the scale when it comes to ultras. None involve long daily distances and allow plenty of time for recovery.

Although I've run neither, I'd consider Hardrock a far tougher proposition than Badwater. Sure Badwater is (very) hot, but it is on road with no technical running, no savage descents, climbs are long but relatively benign, altitude is of limited consequence, there's continual support from a crew and the cut-off is generous.

Barkley is a pretty full pallet of sadism. It's in another league.

I'm not sure about the English Channel being nothing special. The ability to physiologically adapt to cold water is a huge challenge. Yes, some swimmers do it quickly, but slower swimmers really suffer with the tides.

Any runner who finishes Tor de Geants would could consider Marathon De Sables a walk in the park. MdS has extraordinary generous cut-offs and only one "long" stage of about 50 miles.

This sounds really fun! Lots of short, hard stuff brown in there. Thanks for throwing this out there.

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