History of the IAU 

For sometime there was a buzz amongst the ultrarunners of officially forming a group to bring the sport of ultrarunning to the world stage.

In 1984, after several discussions, a group of runners with similar interests, got together and envisioned an organization that would formalize and make the sport of ultrarunning official.

It is due to these individuals that we have an official organization, in IAU, that manages and maintains the sport throughout the world. These trailblazers put ultrarunning on the athletics map.

And so this was the birth of IAU. The inaugural Executive Council included, Dan Brannen (USA), Malcolm Campbell (GBR), Andy Milroy (GBR), Edgar Pattermann (AUT), Tony Rafferty (AUS) and Gerard Stenger (FRA).

Years after its formation, the original mandate of the IAU has carried on to this day. The association still stands for developing the sport of ultrarunning under the patronage of the IAAF.

Today, IAU organizes four major world events --- 100km World Cup, 24hr World Challenge, the World Trail Challenge and the 50km Trophy. IAU is also involved with Continental Championships. This is in addition to the IAU-labels that are attached to several races around the world.

With 49 federation members and thousands of elite athletes having participated in its events over the years, IAU has respectfully upheld its mandate of developing the sport of ultrarunning.

The Executive Council continues to look for new challenges and hopes to strive to achieve more goals. While it continues to serve the ultrarunning community, the IAU is looking forward, to achieving further in serving its member nations and athletes.

Ultrarunners - athletes of a special ability?

Determination and Dedication, the two ingredients of any sport, is all you need when any athlete tries ultrarunning.

Ultrarunning has been one of the next steps that seasoned marathoners have tried after having run the traditional distance for a few years. On the flip side, there have been several athletes who have tried the shorter distances and ventured into the sport without trying a full marathon. Occasionally, there are athletes who have tried ultra races before attempting any of the sorter athletic events.

Ultra runs are in no way different from the very popular 5 km and 10 km races. Athletes still train for these events, are coached in teams and travel to races. Most races still have a social aspect to them with a pre-race pasta dinner and post-race award ceremonies.

These races are organized all over the globe with some accepting runners by lottery, others by qualification and a few on the basis of prior results. The majority of races are open to runners of all abilities and is a playground for the athletes to try a new distance.

The ultra runs bring a certain type of camaraderie amongst the athletes. The runners realize the solitude on a long course and appreciate the companionship of other athletes. Since ultrarunning is a relatively small community, the ultra family is small and well-connected.

As new runners discover this new gamut of running, the sport is going to continue to grow and become more prominent in the athletics world.

Ultrarunning - Time and Place

Ultrarunning is a unique sport that gives the athlete the loneliness of a runner but also provides the camaraderie and companionship that is not seen in many disciplines of other sports.

Races are organized on a) trails where athletes get to enjoy the serene environment of a forest. b) track when athletes do not have to venture too far from their start/finish areas and are always within visible region. c) road where athletes can enjoy their road running days and run through both quiet and busy streets.

The course that one wants to run on depends on one’s preference and some races are a combination of two or more of the available terrain. Some ultra races also span a few stages and are run over a course of days.

Whether one runs through a looped forest course in a 100 Mile race or on a point to point 50 km run the achievement is exemplary. The run and the experience put the athlete on a whole different athletic level and the stories that an athlete gains is legends forever.

Ultrarunning - is it a timed event, a distance event or both?

On paper, an ultra race would be as small as a meter more than a marathon distance. However, stemming away from the truly literary definition, 50 km and 100 km races are the most common around the world.

Ultra races are contested over two different types of race modalities --- either over a set distance or a set time. Examples of the former would be 50 km, 100 km, 100 Mile and runs over a 1000 miles and illustrations of the latter would be something like 6 hr, 24 hr, 48 hr or 6-day events.  Both are gaining popularity with the masses and bring their own unique challenges to the racers. 

Unlike the everyday conception it is not Adventure Racing. An event where athletes work as individuals or in teams to overcome varied terrain, navigate through markers and carry their gear (including ropes and compass) on them. Ultrarunning does take over several different terrains; sometimes all in the same race, but it doesn’t involve navigating via compass.

It is a taxing event where individuals have to race through tough environmental conditions. There are events where the athletes run through a few marathons within a period of 24 hrs. A daunting task and well appreciated by athletes who have completed a marathon.

The sport has a steady following and the sky is the limit for the events that can be organized under the umbrella of ultrarunning!