10 running events that are strange and awesome at the same time

ByKAYLA PARKER
June 28, 2016, 6:50 PM

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Not everyone is your typical 5K runner. Take, for example, recent Syracuse University graduate Juris Silenieks, who  won a half marathon and set a world record all while wearing a pair of dress shoes. Pretty strange and pretty amazing.

And who says you can't exercise in your own way?

From running with a donkey to running in a Halloween costume, there are plenty of bizarre running events across the world. As difficult as it was, we narrowed it down to 10 strange (and awesome) running competitions.

1. Try and catch that cheese.



The strangest of all races on this list is definitely the Cooper's Hill Cheese Roll in Gloucestershire, England. In this competition, a Double Gloucester cheese wheel is rolled down a steep hill. Moments later, participants run (fall, slide and tumble) after the cheese all in hopes of catching it and claiming the grand prize: the cheese itself. If you hate grass stains, this one is not for you.

2. All you need is love.



This is without a doubt the shortest race on the list at 278 yards. The North American Wife Carrying Competition in Bethel, Maine, involves men carrying women through a course filled with hurdles, water and sand. The winner gets five times his wife's weight in cash and entry into the world championship competition in Finland. The women don't have to be their wives, but chemistry might be beneficial in this race.

3. Clothing is optional.



You can wear as little clothing as possible for this race, but it is all for a good cause. The Cupid's Undie Run is a mile run held during Valentine's Day weekend, where participants dress in bedroom attire. Located in 27 U.S. cities, the race has raised millions of dollars for The Children's Tumor Foundation and garnered a lot of smiles and confused stares from onlookers.

4. Run, have a glass of wine and repeat.


Ever wanted to work out and enjoy a glass of wine? Well, we have not one, but several suggestions for you.


Located in Bordeaux, France, the Marathon du Médoc is known as the granddaddy of wine-infused races. There are wine-and-snack pit stops at just about every mile, where runners can indulge in as much wine as they like. Participants dress in costumes and take on a hilly, 26.2-mile course while trying to be the first to cross the finish line before the six-and-a-half-hour time limit expires. It is safe to say people don't enter this one for the exercise.


With a course that runs through multiple vineyards, the Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon is definitely known for its scenery and post-marathon party. Every October, appropriately scheduled around Halloween each year, participants dress up in costumes and run through the course, stopping at two wine-fueling stations along the way. At the end of the race, the winner wins a cash prize and celebrates with, of course, more wine.


At the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, participants race through the happiest place on earth starting at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and ending with a post-race party at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. The 13.1-mile course is filled with entertainment and Disney characters, proving once again that it is always a good time when Disney is involved.

5. Whatever you do, just don't drop the ice.


The Bisbee Ironman Ice Competition in Bisbee, Arizona, involves 155 stairs and a 10-pound block of ice. That sounds simple enough, right? Each participant grabs a cube of ice with tongs before running up 155 stairs, across a stretch of paved road and down a steep hill to the finish line. If you don't want to lug a block of ice up a staircase, Bisbee offers another option for you. The Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb is a four-and-a-half-mile course featuring nine different staircases and no ice, but the block of ice doesn't seem too bad when you see this course.

6. Grab your donkey and run.



Colorado has a long history of pack burro, or donkey, racing. However, this is nowhere near a horse race. In pack burro racing, participants run to be the first one across the finish line while dragging a donkey along with them. During the annual festival Burro Days, runners race through Colorado's mountains with their burro in tote. You can push, pull, drag or carry the donkey along the 30-mile trail. The one thing you can't do is ride it. Too bad.

7. Can you run faster than a horse?



It all started with a conversation in Britain about whether a man could beat a horse in running. And thus began the Man vs. Horse Marathon. Located in Wales, people running on foot get a 15-minute head start against their competitors, who are on horseback. Out of 37 races, only two have been won by a runner on foot.

8. The best race you know nothing about.



The Death Race is deemed the ultimate challenge -- the most challenging part being that participants have no idea what to expect. No two races are the same, and the runners don't get any information about the race before they start. What we do know is that the competition involves multiple obstacles that are designed to test participants mentally and physically. The race can last over 70 hours and is located in the Vermont Green Mountains.

9. Try to catch your breath.



The Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon will take your breath away -- literally. Beginning in Kathmandu, Napal, runners take a flight to Lukla, Nepal, before hiking to the Mount Everest base camp.... all before the race even begins. Once the race starts, runners must endure the high altitude and other natural elements as they trek 26.2 miles over the mountain trail to the finish line. 

10. A run against time.



Thousands of runners gather in more than two dozen locations around the world for the Wings for Life World Run. Everyone starts running at the exact same time at 11:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Depending on their time zone, thousands of runners end up running in the dark, including Kelly O'Mara who started in Santa Clarita, California, at 4 a.m. The weirdest (and best) part is that the finish line is not in front of the runners. It's behind them. Every runner fights to stay ahead of the "catcher car," which increases its speed throughout the race. The woman and man who run the longest distance before getting caught wins a trip around the world.


With all these races combined, more than 150,000 runners participate annually. Now we are sure that all these participants don't just run for exercise's sake, but we appreciate any effort to make running more fun.