Tunnel vision helps as ultra runners enter dark side

LONDON : For ultra runners, possessing tunnel vision is a useful commodity and for those tackling one of Britain's most extreme events later this month it is a necessity.

For up to 55 hours, a fearless bunch of around 40 athletes will run the length of a one-mile long former railway tunnel on the edge of Bath 200 times - in the dark.

The event, simply known as 'The Tunnel', was created by former ultra runner Mark Cockbain for those for whom mental and physical exhaustion is like candy to a baby.

"There's a lot of ultra events where everybody turns up, everybody goes through the motions and everybody goes home with a medal," Cockbain, who ran ultras in the Himalayas, Arctic and Death Valley until his knees packed up, told Reuters.

"I wanted to come up with events that are extremely difficult to finish but if you do finish, you're going to remember it for the rest of your life."

Electronics engineer Cockbain said he was looking for a race with some 'X factor' and Combe Down Tunnel provided it.

Described on the official website as "a mind-bending test of extreme endurance and sensory deprivation", The Tunnel is open to only hardcore ultras who have run 100 milers.

This year's event begins at 3.30pm on March 31 and ends 55 hours later, spanning two nights. Only water and basic snacks are provided with runners wearing high-vis kit, whistles and a head torch. Those who don't make 100 miles in 27 hours are out.

For much of the event, runners will be alone in pitch darkness with only their head torches lighting the way. Listening to music via headphones to break the monotony is forbidden.

Since it began in 2019, only 14 people have completed The Tunnel - many succumbing to exhaustion and some, according to Cockbain, losing their marbles.