Canadian ultrarunner Michael McLean has completed second within the inaugural Mountain Extremely, a brutal five-day, 200-kilometre race within the landlocked Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan.

McLean, who’s initially from Barrhead, Alta., and now lives in Phuket, proved to be a fierce competitor towards winner Jon Protect, ending alongside the Briton in 4 of the race’s 5 levels. A robust push from Protect within the closing stage secured the victory, nonetheless, as he crossed the end line on Saturday in 34 hours and 13 minutes, beating McLean by 33 minutes.

Sharing third place had been Denmark’s —the only feminine runner to position within the general prime 10—and Karl Alvarez of Gibraltar, who crossed the end line in 40 hours and 36 minutes.

McLean provided his congratulations to Protect in a message posted to Instagram on Monday. “And identical to that the  Mountain Extremely is finished however not earlier than pushing my physique and thoughts via 200km of mountains with 11 400m of vertical acquire, all at between 2500m and 4000m above sea degree,” he wrote. “What an epic place and epic race!”

In 2020, McLean celebrated a commanding victory on the Doi Inthanon Thailand by , after he accomplished he 119-km race in 19:00:08, greater than three hours forward of the following finisher.

The Mountain Extremely is the fourth and closing race inside the BTU International Race Sequence, happening in Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan Mountains, which stretch greater than 2,500 km from Uzbekistan within the west to China within the east. As a self-sufficient race, runners are accountable for carrying all of the gear they should get via every stage, together with all , security gear, medical provides and a minimal of two litres of water. The levels are 32 km, 33 km, 28 km, 55 km and 55 km.

The BTU International Race Sequence additionally consists of the Ice Extremely set within the Arctic Circle, the Jungle Extremely set within the Amazon Rainforest and the Desert Extremely set within the Namib Desert.