A 26 mile course through France’s Medoc country where athletes are rewarded at each pitstop with a drink and a cube of fromage. Nearly all 8,500 runners wear fancy dress costumes as they sweat through the autumn heat. Locals reward them with an epic ball and firework display afterwards.

Forget sweating through the rolling countryside. Instead, urge yourself to run to the finish line with a course that takes you past Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, and the rest of the bright lights of the Strip in Vegas. While you’re at it, dress in neon, bring a couple of glowsticks, and dance yourself to the glory of taking your feet 26.2 miles. There will be live music cheering you along with rock ‘n’ roll the whole way.

It is the world’s longest winter ultramarathon, stretching 1,000 miles from Knik over the Alaska Range. Participants traverse the gruelling course on foot, by fat bike, or on skis. To qualify you must have mastered a shorter 350 mile trail. Racers must also carry provisions as some parts of the course can take days to cross and are largely uninhabited.

Getting your dog to sit still while you paddle 6 km out of Watsons Bay in New South Wales is harder than it seems. The race takes place annually on Australia Day. There are shorter races, but for the main event stand‑up paddle boarders must keep their dogs parked firmly on their boards from the start to finish line. Good luck with that!

A glorious bike ride through the undulating landscape on pre‑1987 bikes, while dressed in vintage cycling clobber. The older and more elaborate the better for pedalling through the rolling, and, at times, gruellingly steep countryside. You can opt for a 30, 55, and 100 mile long trail depending on your fitness and the creativity of your fancy dress.

Running 230 km over jungle trails, wading through 70 river crossings, and sleeping in a hammock surrounded by ants and mosquitos. This five‑stage event will also see you spend the evenings in the villages of indigenous tribes as you make your way through the Amazon, fuelled by food and water you carry on your back.

In 1980, the landlord of the Neuadd Arms Hotel in Llanwrtyd Wells overheard customers discussing the merits of men versus horses running on mountainous terrain. The 26 mile challenge has been going ever since and it took 25 years before a horse was finally beaten by a man. The horse has been unbeaten for the past nine years and there is a £3,500 jackpot up for grabs!

This stunning course covers an area where the Vikings first landed in Kent, England. Partially on the Viking Coastal trail, but mostly on private land, it is a stunning march through history that is made all the better by the predominance of Viking costumes and battle cries. The 100 mile race is made up of numerous loops and there’s a 32 hour time limit for completion.

An infamous swim‑run, known as ÖtillÖ, which means 'island to island' in Swedish. Teams of two have from dawn to dusk to swim 10 km between each of the 26 islands and run 65 km across them. Sea temperatures plunge to as low as -10˚C, so you’ll have to zip yourself into a customised wetsuit. Cut off times are notoriously tight, so you’ll need to get used to swimming in your trainers, too.