The distance is 100 km and the top runners from around the world run, representing their respective countries. Other than that race, the most competitive event is the Comrades in South Africa, also the race with most stored tradition. The Comrades offers significant prize money and draws upwards of 13,000 runners. The year 2000 race had a field of 25,000, the biggest ultra in history. In both the World Challenge and the Comrades, the top men run close to six minutes per mile, and the top women six and a half to seven minutes per mile.
Journey running is another aspect of the sport.
Journey runners are lone trekkers who set out to cover long distances at their own daily pace. Megarunners are another sub-group within the sport. They are known not for their speed or records but for the great number of marathons and ultramarathons they run. Henri Girault of Naintre, France, has run more than 400 races of 100 kilometers or more. Some runners have completed hundreds of ultras, including at least one in every Canadian province and territory, every U.S. state and in more than 70 countries worldwide.