DULUTH, NOV 4: Just finishing a marathon's 42.2 km would be the feat for most, but to a handful of runners who recently braved the fickle northern Minnesota weather, that would be barely a warmup.For them, the ultimate test of running mettle may be the ultramarathon. Any race longer than a marathon qualifies, but one standard `ultra' distance is 100 km.Even ultra-runners call themselves insane and question a motivation to run as far as possible, as fast as they can or simply to add another T-shirt to their collection.Started as a challenge for elite runners 18 years ago, Minnesota's annual Edmund Fitzgerald winds through the saw tooth mountains to the Lake Superior shore north of Duluth.The American Lung Association Running Club-sponsored event takes its name from the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sucked to the bottom of Lake Superior in November 1975 with 29 sailors and later memorialised in a Gordon Lightfoot song.A dozen hardy souls entered the first race. The Edmund Fitz, as longtimeparticipants call it, hosted the 100 km World Championships in 1990.Twenty-three solo runners finished the 1999 race in times ranging from Eric Clifton's winning mark of eight hours, seven minutes, 24 seconds to nearly 20 hours. They ranged in age from 29 to 67, but two-thirds were in their 40s or 50s on race day.Ultras are often 50 km, 100 km, 200 km and 24 hours. Some last days or weeks. Ultra-running tests the mind as much as the body, race founder and director Bill Wenmark said.``It's really about exploring the human limits,'' Wenmark said. ``After a marathon, they might say, `what is next'.''While he originally organised the race for ultra-runners, Wenmark quickly realised he needed more runners to keep it viable. He established a relay the next year for teams of from two to eight members each, run concurrently with the ultra.Relay teams get a first-hand look at the ultra runners, and maybe motivation to press farther next year, Wenmark said.The teams also serve as a rolling fan basefor the ultra runners, said Mark Grimes, who ran and completed his first 100 kilometre ultra at this year's Edmund Fitz on October 16.
