Running News Daily

Phil Gore already knows what it takes to push backyard ultra running beyond conventional limits. Now, later this month, the Australian ultrarunner is preparing to chase a number so extreme that his sport has no official category for it.

From August 23 to 30, Gore will attempt Project 168 at Alfred Skeet Reserve in Forrestdale, Western Australia, running one 6.71-kilometre loop every hour, on the hour, for seven consecutive days.

The name says almost everything about the challenge. There are 168 hours in a week, and Gore's plan is simple in concept but extraordinary in execution: complete one loop every hour until the seven days are over.

If he manages to complete all 168 loops, he will have covered approximately 1,127 kilometres, or 700 miles, across a single week.

But the distance is only part of what makes Project 168 so remarkable. This time, Gore will be alone.

Backyard ultras traditionally revolve around competition. Runners must complete a set loop every hour, with the race continuing until only one athlete remains. Gore's previous 119-lap world-record performance was built within that format, with Sam Harvey pushing him through five days of relentless running.

Project 168 removes that element entirely. There will be no rival waiting on the course, no athlete to chase and no opponent forcing the pace. Instead, Gore will face the same loop, the same hourly deadline and the growing physical and mental fatigue that comes with repeating the process for an entire week.

Every hour brings another decision: get back out there and complete another 6.71 kilometres.

Then do it again.

And again.

For 168 hours.

The challenge will test far more than Gore's ability to run long distances. Sleep deprivation, nutrition, hydration, recovery and the psychological pressure of knowing another loop is always approaching will become part of the battle. What might seem like a manageable 6.71-kilometre run at the beginning could become a formidable test after dozens of consecutive hours.

Yet Project 168 is not being undertaken solely as a personal endurance experiment. Every lap will help raise money for Telethon 7, giving the extraordinary challenge a purpose beyond the numbers on the course.

Gore, a firefighter and father of four, is attempting to build a benchmark for a challenge that has never before been pursued in this exact format. There is no official record waiting at the finish line, no rival to beat and no conventional race clock to stop.

There will simply be 168 hours, 168 loops and approximately 1,127 kilometres standing between Phil Gore and a completely new measure of endurance.

On August 23, the first hour begins. From there, the question will remain the same every 60 minutes:

Can he go again?