Northern Lights Ultra 2026
March 18th to March 21st
10 x racers began the ultramarathon in a bright but cold Fort McPherson in -28ºc temperatures.
Day 1 and Day 2 provided typical weather for the region at this time of year.
Nothing out of the ordinary until Day 3 when the weather began to take a turn for the worse, seeing some of the lowest temperatures for this area and increased wind conditions causing large areas of the course to be blown over.
2 x athletes remained in the event as we entered Day 4. With strong winds and poor visibility coming in fast, this stage presented conditions so dangerous that the event had to be called off. Visibility was so poor that racers couldn’t even be seen at very short distances and the authorities made the decision to close the ice road.
Checkpoint times and tracker information at the calling off point provided us with the information needed to award the two finalists:
1st – Lukasz Adamczyk, from Poland
2nd – Philip Carpenter, from England
After a full team effort, tremendous support from the local ice road authorities, and the mayor of Inuvik working wonders to get everyone back safely and sheltered for the night, everyone was accounted for.
Despite the race being called off on the last day, we still went ahead with the end-of-event celebrations alongside the Weekend Warrior Fat Bike Challenge participants. An opportunity not only to celebrate our finalists of each event, but to recognise the hard work and dedication of every athlete that stepped up to the start line, the months of preparation that goes into these events, and the support from families and friends of the athletes.
Some of the Marathon Stage-only racers also joined us. They had received news with just one day’s notice that their event wasn’t going ahead.
We would like to thank all athletes across the three events for how they responded to the challenges faced and the respect shown for the safety of participants and crew.
