2 Inuvik women take on extreme Arctic foot race to benefit local warming shelter

The 6633 Arctic Ultra has never had any Northerners participate in the race until now. This year, two women from Inuvik, N.W.T., will be at the starting line taking on the extreme Arctic race.

"I was pretty nervous at first to tell people I was doing this," said Jen Stronge, one of the women racing this week. "I didn't want to talk about it out loud because I knew that it would sound like I was crazy."

"That's probably the single biggest comment we've been getting: 'Are you guys crazy?'"

Stronge, who's lived in Inuvik for three years and works as a nurse, first found out about the race when she saw racers come through town last year.

She recruited Marie-Josee Martel, an RCMP officer who has been living in the North for five years, to race with her this year.

612 kms through the Arctic wilderness

The 6633 Arctic Ultra is an extreme-distance foot race that bills itself as the "toughest, coldest, windiest, distance foot race on the planet."

It begins in Eagle Plains, Yukon, and continues through the Northwest Territories communities of Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Inuvik and finally on to Tuktoyaktuk for a total of 612 kilometres. There's also a shorter race that's 193 kilometres.

This year's race is nearly 50 kilometres longer than before because competitors will be using the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk all-weather highway instead of the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk, which doesn't exist anymore.

Martel said running for a purpose "has given me the strength to be out there all winter and train for this race, and actually compete in this race."

$1,500 raised in the first week

Theyraised about $1,500 in the first seven days, and hope to see that number grow during the nine-day race.

Organizers for the race sayit has been great to finally have some locals participating.

"It's genuinely an absolute honour," Martin Like, the race director said. "That's another cherry on top to making this a very special race."

Twenty-seven people are competing this year from around the world, including competitors from Zimbabwe and Romania.

The race begins March 8 and finishes March 17.

Stronge and Martel sayother than raising as much money as they can, the goal is to finish the race "with all [their] body parts intact."