Carlisle resident Steve Forrest is thinking big.
The seasoned runner, 56, is organizing Trail Terrier Ultramarathon Around Hamilton (TTUAH) this May -- and it's certainly not for beginners.
The TTUAH laps the city, including its rural areas, in a 100-mile loop that begins and ends at his home in Carlisle.
The race begins May 31 at 6 a.m., near Millburough Line.
Runners will have 40 hours to complete the 160 km route, which goes up through Mountsberg, passes through Freelton and Valens, skirts around Rockton and crosses through Lynden, Jerseyville, Ancaster, Mount Hope, Binbrook and Stoney Creek Mountain. The trail then crosses through Fruitland, Winona, back along Hamilton's shore and downtown, through the RBG, up to Waterdown and, finally, back to Carlisle.
"One hundred miles is generally the distance that's attainable by a lot of people. I wouldn't say most people, but a lot of people," Forrest said.
Registration for TTUAH opens on Feb. 15.
Forrest said he is still calculating the cost to register and the number of people that will participate, but he said there has been a good show of interest in the running community.
While Forrest says he is by no means the fastest runner, he has completed eight ultramarathons since 2016 and has run every day for the past nine years (or more). He said his fastest time to complete an ultramarathon was 23 hours. That was in Dundas Valley, where he had to run a 7 km loop in less than an hour, every hour, until he completed the 100 miles.
His longest race was 68 hours of near-continuous running with two hour of breaks for sleeping at an event in the Italian mountains, where the terrain made his progress slower. Forrest said he was only able to complete 100 of the 200 miles in that race.
"We're pretty flat here, so we tend to do 100 miles quicker around this area," he said.
Completing an ultramarathon is a feat of determination and extensive training, along with physical and mental fortitude. But Forrest wants to try to make the ultramarathon accessible to more runners.
"We want as many people out to this race as possible," Forrest said.
While the object of the race is to cover all 100 miles in 40 hours, runners who complete the 100 miles within the month of June will also win the highly coveted belt buckle, the signature prize for ultramarathoners.
"A medal is great, but the belt buckle is really what you're going for," Forrest said.
