The Wyoming Range 100-mile Endurance Run is taking place this week from August 8-10. Dennis Cook, race organizer and ultramarathoner himself, spoke with SVI about the race.

“It’s a 100-mile foot race so  an ultramarathon,” he sais. “It’s technically closer to around 108 miles but we kind of round it down because people like that 100 mile number. It starts at Little Piney Lake about 30 miles west of Big Piney. It travels due north through the Wyoming Range and runners top out at Wyoming Peak at 11,300 [feet] and then swing west into the Salt River Range and eventually end at the Box-Y Ranch. They go up about 24,000 feet and back down in a 48-hour cutoff.”

The people endeavoring to run this race have various reasons for doing so.

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“It’s a personal decision,” Cook answered. “I’ve run a handful across the country and I just like to get out in the mountains. Experience views you might not get otherwise. Others might do it for causes that  are personal to them or to get through personal hardship. Then there’s good old fashioned curiosity. They want to test themselves and test their body. Sometimes that curiosity can get the best of them as there are about 40-percent who don’t finish the race.”

Cook started this particular race because he wanted something a little different.

“I run these myself and felt like some other races there was something missing,” he answered. “So I built a race that I would like to run. Something quiet and personal and gets you deep into the back country.”

According to Cook, there are about 80 runners slated to participate from the region but also from the east coast and even Canada.

“About 30 percent are from the Rocky Mountain West,” he continued. “But we’ve got a guy coming from Manhattan and some from the east coast. There are a good number of folks also driving in from the region.”

He admitted some runners have to get creative in their own environment to train for running in the Wyoming mountains.

“We had a young lady from Dallas who was running stairs in a high-rise trying to do what she could,” Cook replied. “Some maybe schedule a destination run here and there. They are probably at a disadvantage. But they will probably get it done.”

As far as organizing the race, Cook says he and his wife refer to it as their “third child.”

“There are probably 100 volunteers and its about enabling folks to help us and help the runners,” he concluded. “Patience is probably the best things we’ve learned.”

For more information on the race, visit everlongendurance.com.