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24 Hours of Le Mans

Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance, this is the oldest endurance car race in the world, held every year since 1923 in France near Le Mans town, Sarthe. The competitors have to run their cars for 24 hours on a circuit as well as local roads (obviously closed for public use during the event). The task is to not only drive as fast as one can but also to endure a 24-hour period, taking the reliability factor of the cars to its limits. The race takes place in June every year with few exceptions where either the race was canceled or its timings were shifted.

The car maker companies have used the knowledge gained from innovations here into making their products more and more reliable and fuel efficient. Fuel economy also plays a major role here since the race requires the drivers to spend more time on the track and not in the pit stops for refueling.


Pic courtesy: www.janmagnussen.com

Tour De France
Who is not familiar with this name? Just a mention of Tour de France fills our mind with the pictures of several cyclists pedaling their way through the scenic serpentine roads of France to win what is one of most prestigious endurance races of today’s world. This bicycle race runs approximately 2174 miles and takes around 20 days to complete with almost equal number of stages. The riders need to posses almost superhuman strength and endurance to compete in this race. The race was founded in 1903.
The rider who has immortalized the name of Tour de France (or vice versa) is Lance Armstrong, the famous 7-times Tour de France winner cyclist who won the title 5 consecutive times even after surviving testicular cancer.


pic courtesy: Mccoolio’s Blog

Dakar Rally
This is one of the most famous annual off-road endurance races that attracts the most talented, persistent, tough adventure-seekers from every across the globe since its inception in 1978. This is also known as the Paris-Dakar rally or Paris to Dakar rally as most of the races were from Paris to Dakar, capital of Senegal. However, security reasons and the terrorist threats forced the organizers to organize the race outside of Europe and it has been held in Chile and Argentina since 2009. The race involves several stages comprising of different types of terrain, from sand dunes to mud, rocky surface to camel grass and the length of the different stages can vary from short distances to up to 800-900 kilometers a day.
The most interesting fact about this race is that it started due to an incident that almost killed the man whose idea culminated into its inception. Thierry Sabine, a French motorcycle racer got lost in the Libyan desert during a race. He survived, but this experience gave him the idea to start a regular rally/race in that very terrain where he was lost.


Pic courtesy: 1.bp.blogspot.com

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Held every year on the first Saturday of March in Alaska, this race sees teams comprising of 16 dogs and a musher racing with each other from Willow to Nome. During the race, the teams cover a distance of approximately 1868 km (1161 miles) enduring the subzero temperatures, braving the blizzards/snowstorms. The wind chill temperature can reach as low as -73 degrees Celsius during the race. Started in 1973 to test the best sled dogs and mushers, this has become the most popular sport in Alaska and no doubt the winners of this race are treated as local heroes there.

This race also attracts lot of criticism from the animal rights groups for the alleged torture the race dogs supposedly endure through during the race.


Pic courtesy: Dog Sledding Tours in the Husky Land Yukon Canada,* Mushing with Blue Kennels and Dog Sled Trips


Cannonball Run

The brainchild of a car magazine writer, Brock Yates, this American coast-to-coast run was not actually a competitive race involving high risks, but mostly a symbol of protest by the speed junkies who wanted to protest against the newly formed strict traffic laws. Needless to say, this was an illegal race because it was held on public roads with the participants going well above the legal speed limits. The participants needed to start from New York City, (later changed to Darien in Connecticut) after midnight and reach Redondo Beach, California in the shortest time possible. There were no rules to follow, just reach from point A to point B in shortest possible time. The inspiration factors behind the start of these runs were also movies like Two-Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point. This race was aborted after 4 runs; however, there were other successors who followed more or less the same pattern, like the U.S. Express.


Pic courtesy: DOUGLAS SONDERS PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

4 Deserts
Seems like crossing a desert on foot was not apparently a tough and torturous enough thing to do for the organizers of this race. Which is why they came up with the idea of multiplying the torture factor by 4. Carry all your food and stuff that you need to survive 7-day long walks across the deserts, do it 4 times in different countries, and you could be one of the few brave souls on this planet who could dare to complete this. All you get from the organizers is a place to stay in a tent, drinking water, campfire, and medical assistance (in case you need it). The playing fields are labeled as the coldest, hottest, windiest, and driest places on earth. The last of four 250-km long races takes place at The Last Desert in Antarctica, but to take part in that, you must’ve completed at least 2 of the previous 3 races.
The 4 main components of this race are:
1. Gobi March (250 km, 6 days, Gobi Desert, China).
2. Sahara Race (250 km, 6 days, Sahara Desert, Egypt).
3. Atacama Crossing (250 km, 6 days, Atacama Desert, Chile).
4. The Last Desert (250 km, 7 days, Antarctica).


Pic courtesy: CanTeen.org.au - Welcome!

Tevis Cup

No, you don’t have multiple machine horses here to take you from start to finish line, nor do you have to walk barefoot to get the checkered flag. All you have is 1 horse power, literally, to cover a 100-mile distance enduring hot and dusty weather conditions and a time limit of 24 hours. If you do it and your horse is deemed “fit-to-continue” by the judges, you get a silver Completion Award Buckle. This endurance race is also known as The Western States Trail Race and was started as early as 1955. The participants start just before the sunrise 5:15 a.m. from Robie Park and need to cross the finish line before 5:15 a.m. in Auburn, California.


Pic courtesy: The Santa Rosa Breakfast Club, A Business Networking Organization

Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands)

Known as the most difficult footrace on this planet, due to the unbearably hot weather it is run in, this multiday 250 plus kilometer (254 km, to be precise) ultra-marathon takes place in Moroccan desert and has been held annually since its inception in 1986. During this race, the participants cover a distance which is equivalent of 6 regular marathons. Like the Four Deserts, here too the participants have to carry all their food and equipment, only water and night shelter is provided by the organizers.


pic courtesy: Through The Sandglass


La Ruta de los Conquistadores

Just say “La Ruta” if the above name is too difficult for you to remember, or you can remember it as one of the world’s most difficult mountain bike races, if not ‘the most difficult’ race. It’s a 4-day 250-mile long event that takes place in Costa Rica. There is also 40,000 feet of ascent during these 4 days. The terrain is so difficult that nearly 40% of the participants cannot even complete the race.

In the words of its founder, Roman Urvina, "La Ruta is not for everyone. It possesses a spirit of its own, and racers require several important qualities, including a high level of fitness, mental toughness to fight through the pain, an appreciation for being challenged, and the inner spirit to feed off of the beauty surrounding them."


Pic courtesy: Bicicleta Todo Terreno - mountain bike - bicicletas descenso bmx - BTT

Vendée Globe
Sail solo, sail nonstop on a yacht around the globe. Hope this gives you an idea of what Vendee Globe is all about. In their own words, “the Vendée Globe is an utterly simple affair. Its fundamental principles come down to a few sentences, compared to which even the roughest logbook would seem sophisticated. A sailing race around the world, for singlehanders, without any stopover. That’s it. In theory at least, because beyond these words start great stories.”
Founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, this race takes place every 4 years.


Pic courtesy: Vela Blog Mistro - Sailing Blog: solo un blog di vela

References:
1. Wikipedia
2. MCN

Compiled by: Sunil Gupta

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Aryan

General Biking Discussion Approved.

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Thunder

WoW so many Endurance Races across the world where i have heard only about the Tour de France so far.......

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sheelpriye

Not exactly a 24 hour one, but i love this 8 hour one--
Suzuka 8 Hours - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
it has names such as

Michael Doohan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wayne Gardner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Colin Edwards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
Valentino Rossi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
racing for them, though since 2003 it has been dominated by the Japanese riders, it is an interesting endurance to watch out for.

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#58 Forever

It's me

I was not aware of the first one. thanks for the info.