Toronto man runs entire subway system in cool challenge
Alex Cutulenco of Toronto took a challenge to the next level by running the city's entire subway system
Photo by:
Alex Cutulenco/Strava
On Saturday morning, Alex Cutulenco may have found a better way to deal with Toronto traffic: he ran 96 kilometres, covering all of the city’s TTC subway lines, in under nine hours.
Cutulenco wanted some motivation to get back on the roads in the new year, so he registered for the TTC Virtual Challenge through the Canada Running Series. The TTC Virtual Challenge requires participants to walk or run 76.5 kilometres (the length of Toronto’s subway system) anytime before January 31. (Registration is now closed.)
“I am always looking for new challenges and ways to make winter running fun,” says Cutulenco. “I wanted to take this challenge to the next level. When I drew out the entire course, matching the TTC lines, and saw that it yielded nearly 100K, which felt up my alley.”
Cutulenco started his run at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, which is approximately 25 kilometres away (and a 50-minute ride) from Toronto’s Union Station. Then he headed south to Union, then north toward Finch, marking the end of Line 1. “Line 1 was the hardest part,” Cutulenco says. “From Union to Finch is all uphill, but thankfully I had several running friends there to support me during my challenge.”
Out of the 96 kilometres, Cutulenco states he ran solo for only 17 of them. “My biggest fear was my brain not being capable of navigating down the home stretch,” he laughs.
His friends from his BlackToe training group and his wife, Sofia, supported him over the eight hours and 57 minutes of running, while Cutulenco averaged a speedy 5:30/km pace. “Without the support, this challenge would have never been possible,” he says.
“My wife thought I was nuts by the end of it,” laughs Cutulenco. “I am not sure if I’ll be touching the ultramarathon distance anytime soon, but maybe once (Toronto’s) Eglinton TTC line is finished.”
Cutulenco crossed his virtual finish line at Etobicoke’s Kipling Station, marking the end of Line 2, only 20 kilometres south of where he started in Vaughan.
The 29-year-old is no stranger to running cool accolades and accomplishments. In November, he was second at the Road2Hope Hamilton Half-Marathon in 1:13:18, and in September, he was one of the top Canadian finishers at the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
You can check out his wild subway ultramarathon on his Strava page.
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