Comparisons between Ultras and Ironmans

Although this listing is mostly ultras, it also includes Ironmans.  It seems right to rank them from hardest to easiest - Coure d'Alene, Canada, Wisconsin, Lake Placid, Florida but for Hawaii to be tied with Florida, the methodology breaks down (IMHO).

Ranking of comparative event difficulties, based on the performance of common participants. Not perfect, but it does give some idea. It's normalized around Western States 100 miler (100%). Most folks seem to agree that Badwater, Hard Rock and HURT are the toughest. Similarly, most folks seem to regard Rocky Racoon and Umstead as being among the "easier" 100 milers. Interesting to note that an Ironman is in the neighborhood of a 100K foot race. McNaughton (IL) and Mohican (OH) are 100 milers in this area Ancient Oaks (93% rating) was plenty hard enough for me. This analysis seems to have not included the Wisconsin Ice Age, Chicago Lakefront 50/50, JFK50, fixed time events, etc. (don't know why).

Steve

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Time
Dist.   Rel to Sample Event Name
      WS100   Size

135m    157%    133  BadWater Ultra Marathon
100m    155%    904  Hard Rock 100 Mile
100m    131%    58   HURT Trail 100 Mile
100m    117%    3279 Wasatch Front 100 Mile
100m    113%    45   Mount Rushmore Trail 100 Mile
100m    113%    115  Bear 100 Mile
100m    112%    90   Bighorn Mountain Trail Run
100m    111%    396  Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile
100m    108%    14   Tahoe Rim Trail 100 miles
100m    108%    2156 Angeles Crest 100 Mile
100m    107%    12   Grand Teton Races 100m
100m    106%    79   Superior Sawtooth 100 Mile
100m    105%    80   Cascade Crest 100 Mile
100m    103%    4508 Leadville Trail 100 Miles
100m    100%    7497 Western States 100 Miles
100m    99%    79    San Diego 100 Mile
100m    96%    46    McNaughton Park Trail Runs
100m    93%    72    Rio Del Lago 100 Mile
100m    93%    41    Ancient Oaks 100
100m    91%    66    Haliburton Forest 100
100m    90%    984   Mohican Trail 100 Mile
100m    89%    108   Javelina Jundred 100 Mile
100m    88%    341   Old Dominion 100 Mile One Day
100m    88%    34    SULPHUR SPRINGS 100 Mile
100m    88%    451   Arkansas Traveller 100 Mile
100m    88%    628   Kettle Moraine 100 mile
100m    84%    3533  Vermont Trail 100 Miles
100m    84%    91    Heartland 100 Mile
100k    81%    68    HURT Trail 100k option
100m    81%    281   Umstead 100 Mile
100m    81%    1654  Rocky Raccoon 100m
100m    80%    41    Old Dominion 100 mile Memorial Day
100m    76%    22    Dan Rossi Memorial Ultras
140m    66%    17    IronMan CoeurdAlene
140m    61%    20    IronMan Canada
200m    60%    8     Mt Tam Double Century
100k    58%    45    Where's Waldo 100K
200m    57%    14    The Terrible Two
100k    53%    97    Bandera 100km
140m    53%    25    IronMan Wisconsin
50m    48%    332    Zane Grey 50 Miles
140m    47%    28    IronMan USA Lake Placid
100k    46%    1052  Miwok 100K
140m    46%    35  IronMan Florida
100k    46%    42  Kettle Moraine 100k option
140m    46%    14  IronMan Hawaii World Championship
50m    40%    99   Bishop High Sierra 50 Miles
50m    40%    70   Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Miles
52m    39%    340  Sierra Nevada
100k    39%    144 Ruth Anderson 100k
100k    39%    7   Orange Curtain 100k
50m    37%    229  White River 50 Miles
50m    36%    340  Silver State 50 Miles
50m    36%    528  Quicksilver 50 Mile
50m    36%    425  FireTrail 50 Miles
50m    36%    80   Run on the Sly 50 Miles
50k    35%    338  Silver State 50k
50m    35%    342  Nugget 50 Miles
50m    35%    19   Mt Hood PCT 50 Miles
50m    35%    369  Leona Divide 50 Mile Run
50m    35%    147  Umstead 50 Miles
50m    34%    536  California 50 Miles
35m    34%    84   Santa Barbara 9 Trails 35 Mile
50m    33%    2568 American River 50 Miles
50m    33%    52   McKenzie River 50 Miles
50m    32%    414  Avalon 50 Miles
50m    32%    41   Rocky Raccon 50 Miles
50k    31%    203  Baldy Peak 50k
50m    31%    163  Helen Klein 50 Miles
50m    30%    114  Cow Mountain 50 Miles
50k    30%    64   Tahoe Rim Trail 50k
50m    30%    372  Jed Smith 50 Miles
50k    28%    16   Bishop High Sierra 50 Mile and 50 Km
38m    28%    26   Haleakala Run to the Sun
50m    28%    20   Ruth Anderson 50 Miles
50k    28%    37   Mt. Disappointment 50 Km
50k    25%    12   Nugget 50 Miles
50k    24%    411  Ohlone Wilderness 50K Trail Run
50k    23%    253  Crown King Scramble 50k
50k    23%    195  McDonald Forest 50K
71m    23%    31   WildFlower Long Course Triathlon
50k    23%    7    Bighorn Mountain Trail Run
50k    23%    76   Run on the Sly 50 Km
34m    22%    36   Peterson Ridge Rumble 60k
50k    22%    219  Golden Gate Headlands 50k
50k    22%    58   Bandera 50k
50k    22%    53   Bulldog 50K Ultra Run
28m    22%    687  Quad Dipsea
50k    21%    43   Siskiyou Out Back 50K
50k    21%    81   Chuckanut 50k
71m    21%    27   California Half Ironman
50k    20%    297  Quicksilver 50K
50k    20%    13   Ruth Anderson 50k
50k    20%    512  Skyline 50k
50k    20%    1392 Way Too Cool 50k
50k    19%    73   Hagg Lake Trail Runs 50k
50k    19%    5    Wild Wild West 50k
50k    19%    36   McKenzie River 50k
50k    18%    301  OTHTC High Desert Ultra 50k
50k    17%    31   Helen Klein 50k
50k    17%    38   Salem Lakeshore Frosty Fifty Km
50k    17%    384  Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50K
45m    12%    14   Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon

A general trend can be observed below:

>From 50 km to 100 mile,   factor is 4 to 6.
>From 50 mile to 100 mile, factor is 2.5 to 3.5

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