See what drives these athletes to push their limits in the longest distances.

For some, every accomplishment begs a greater challenge. A completed marathon or Ironman may spark a need for a longer event.

For others, the drive to push oneself further stems from a desire for freedom. These athletes long for the lack of boundaries in an adventure race, the open water in a marathon swim or the open road in a Randonee. Whatever the reason, there are athletes—self proclaimed “crazies”—who choose to spend vacation time competing in super-endurance races. Their events ranged in length from eight hours for swimmers to multiple days for adventure racers, randonneurs and triple ironman competitors. What motivates these athletes? Find out and be inspired by these five New England super-endurance athletes.

Rick Bunt— Racing Against Himself

It’s raining on a lonely mountain road at 2 a.m. There are no houses, cars or other humans in sight. Rick Bunt is all alone on his bike. For Bunt, there is no better moment.

The 39-year-old Middlebury, Vt., native is a randonneur—a long-distance cyclist who competes against himself and the clock. Randonneurs do not race against other cyclists; instead, they participate in organized rides in which they must pass through checkpoints in an allotted time to achieve their respective goal.

“I’m not trying to beat someone else,” Bunt says. “It’s about going up against my own personal goals.”

Bunt first participated in organized cycling races in the 1990s when he entered the California Century (100-mile) rides. He entered his first Randonnee—the Boston-Montreal-Boston—in 2002.

“That seemed like it would be impossible,” says Bunt. “I trained by doing progressively longer events, from a 200-kilometer race, to 300, to 400, to 600. I met a lot of good friends in this lunatic society.”

Bunt has become a regular at the Boston-Montreal-Boston Randonnee. He had his best finish last year in 83 hours—seven hours below the allotted time limit. Bunt estimates he slept for a total of eight hours during the entire trek.

“Sleep is secondary to achieving the goals,” says Bunt. “Some people don’t sleep at all. I sleep for a couple hours a night. That’s probably more than most.”

Having completed a 200-, 300-, 400- and 600-mile brevet in the same calendar year in 2005, Bunt is now considered a Super Randonneur.

“Initially it was a challenge to see if I could do it,” Bunt says. “Now I want to go further each time. Ultimately it’s a challenge to see how far you can push yourself. When all the odds are stacked against you, it’s fun to grit it out and finish. That’s the biggest draw.”

Steve Hare— Racing with the Crazies

Don’t tell Steve Hare a triple Ironman is more difficult than a single one. “The three-day format is way easier,” said Hare, 50, of Middlebury, Vt. “In an Ironman, you’re jumping off a 112-mile bike-ride and running a marathon. I’d rather bike 170 miles in the mountains, stretch, get a massage, a full night’s sleep and then run 52 miles.”

It’s the life of a triple Ironman participant—a lifestyle Hare mastered over a 12-year span starting in 1990. Competing in three-day races that include a 5.5-mile swim and 95-mile bike on Day 1, a 168-mile bike on Day 2, and a 51.25-mile run on Day 3, Hare was at the top of his sport. He competed in 10 of the 327-mile Earth Journey Vermont Sun triple Ironman races, winning nine. He also placed as high as third in several attempts at the Hawaii Ultramarathon.           

“The Earth Journey races were my specialty because I’m not really good in heat,” he says. “Plus, it’s 24 crazies entered in the Earth Journey as opposed to 870 crazies in Hawaii.”

Hare, a San Diego, Calif., native, specialized in bodybuilding until his late 20s. He began training for marathons in the late 1980s after relocating to New England. “I didn’t have kids or a family, so I could train 28 hours a week,” he says. “That’s what it takes—a tremendous amount of hours. I’m not super-fast. But I tend to be really durable.”

Hare never suffered from a major injury in his 12-plus years on the triple-Ironman circuit. He recently scaled back his conditioning regimen to 16 to 18 hours a week to allow more time for his three children aged 9 to 17. He is not ready to officially retire from triple Ironman competitions. “I have absolutely no regrets,” he says. “I love it. If I want to, I can do those things again. I wouldn’t do them quite as fast—I began to gradually erode at 42 or 43—but I could still finish, and I could still enjoy it.”

John Langton— Racing the Tides

As a college student at UMass Boston in the mid-1980s, John Langton constantly heard the voice of the ocean calling his name. “I’d walk along the water, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it,” he says. “All I wanted to do was swim for hours.” The 41-year-old Wakefield, Mass., resident finally answered his calling. Langton swam countless marathons before recently retiring due to a torn rotator cuff and arthritis in his shoulders. He completed his first marathon—the Manhattan Marathon swim—in 1996. He has since swum the English Channel, multiple Manhattan races, and a 20-mile swim from Maine to Massachusetts. “There’s something meditative about it, I think,” says Langton. “You have the sound of the water and the sound of you breathing. Everything else is shut off. I tend to go inside myself during those races.”