Fat Dog 120: One of Canada’s most scenic and gruelling trail races

Less than an hour to go, this guy smells the barn. After a soul sucking, hypothermic inducing storm on the ridge, we were happy to almost be done, and for the sun to peak it's way through the clouds. This descent marked the final push to the finish of the 120 mile (193km) course for Matt. He ran a super smart and well paced race to finish under 32 hours, the average finishing time is 40 hours! The weather was atrocious, the course was extremely challenging, but he continued to put his head down and plug away. It was a pleasure to pace him for the last 70km, he was never grumpy, never stopped moving, and only fell asleep a few times while hiking uphill! #fatdog120 #pacingduties #manningpark #skylinetrail #beastmode

A photo posted by @adamchistopher on Aug 17, 2015 at 11:57am PDT

The Barkley Marathons in Tennessee is one of North America’s toughest trail races made even more popular with the release of the race’s documentary. Canada’s Fat Dog 120 makes a strong case to be considered one of the continent’s toughest races too.

RELATED: Go the distance: Training tips for finishing your first ultra.

The Fat Dog 120 is a 193K (120-mile) ultramarathon in southern British Columbia and heralded as “just short of Everest” since runners must conquer 8,673 metres of elevation gain during the gruelling trail event. The 2016 edition of the race takes place Aug 12-14.

RELATED: Trail runners brew new “running beer” for post-race celebrating.

The race offers the following distances: 120 miles, 70 mile, 50 mile, 40 mile, and nine relay legs that cover the 120-mile route. The 120-mile route begins in Keremeos, B.C. in Cathedral Provincial Park while the shorter distances begin in E.C. Manning Provincial Park.

The race is point-to-point and features both technical and non-technical terrain. Runners also have to navigate across a river at one point during the race with the help of a rope. Runners have 48 hours to finish the 120-mile course.

This weekend I was lucky enough to get to run my friend Jay in for the last 40+ miles at Fat Dog. He ran a phenomenal and smart race and I learned a thing or two about toughness from him.120 miles in incredibly difficult conditions (don't be fooled by the tank tops and shorts…it was cold and rainy for most of the 30 1/2 hours he was out there). Being out there with him really inspired me, I'm so grateful to be a part of such an amazing community of runners. #fatdog120

A photo posted by Alissa St Laurent (@alissastl) on Aug 16, 2015 at 6:36pm PDT

Project Talaria just released a mini-documentary on the race, which can be found in its entirety below:

According to the video, 426 runners have attempted the race since it began in 2010. Only 224 have finished within the cutoff time. Appropriately, there’s a lake at the finish line for runners looking to cool off and recover after their respective distance.