I have competed in 3, 6, 12 and 24 hour events. Did a local three hour with my parents and kids, a six hour with three rookie friends, and then 12-24 hour event

I have competed in 3, 6, 12 and 24 hour events. Did a local three hour with my parents and kids, a six hour with three rookie friends, and then 12-24 hour events with my main teammate in these events. I've also done a "roving" 15 hour with my 7 year old son which is where you can choose which hours you spend on course (and eat/camp the rest of the time); for that, we spent some night and morning dark out for extra excitement. The events are fixed, usually over a full moon weekend. In Australia, a local community group puts on hot food. It's great fun. Funny story: After our first couple of events, my teammate and I realised the world championships were soon to be held in Australia and we needed one more event to qualify for the lottery. So we drove 14 hours each way interstate to compete in the Australasian Championships, then qualified and competed in the World Championships. We are not especially fit but competent navigators and we didn't embarrass ourselves at least. It's a sport at which young, old, female, male all can be competitive. There was a six hour event near me where a trio of 15 year old female trail runners barely lost to two male professional marathon runners. And 50-60 year olds are very competitive as experience and resilience can play a significant part. There are classes and competitors in 70+ yo age groups. If you're on Instagram, here's a story of my son and I competing in one: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17889460030215380/ https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/178894600302153... Of course, you don't need a formal sport to hike all night, but I find competing for points to be very motivating.