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The race first began in 1983 as a small charity event that has now mushroomed into one of the U.K.’s most distinctive and idiosyncratic countryside runs. It attracts serious athletes who must complete the course in less that 1 hour and 20 minutes if they have any chance of beating the train. It also attracts its fair share of Sunday runners out for some fun. The cool thing is all the family can tag along for the entire circuit as the train chugs beside each runner with spectators in its carriages. For serious runners intent on beating the machine, it is key they get out way ahead in the beginning as the course becomes more difficult on two feet and the train easily catches up.

The seaside town has a carnival atmosphere with lots of stalls and games and throngs of Welsh speaking locals in what is very much a local event. The race begins at the old bridge next to the railway line and takes a 1.6km (1-mile) run through the town before becoming a cross-country scramble. Stewards stand at field gates to guide the runners and hand out water in the sometimes blistering August heat. The train needs little guidance as it follows the 150-year-old narrow gauge tracks around gorgeous countryside that includes a set of beautiful falls known as Dolgoch falls. The route sweeps beneath the hills and turns toward the town with the runners crossing the finish line in the town’s school yard and the train resting its pistons in the railway yard. —CO’M

Runners rival a steam engine in the Race the Train competition.

www.racethetrain.com.

When to go: Aug.

Liverpool.

$$$ Bae Abermaw, Panorama Rd., Barmouth, Snowdonia National Park GW42 1DQ, Wales ( 44/1341/28-0550;www.baeabermaw.com). $$ Ty’r Graig Castle, Llanaber Rd., Barmouth, Snow-donia National Park LL42 1YN, Wales ( 44/1341/28-0470;www.tyrgraigcastle.co.uk).

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Primal Quest

The Super Bowl of Adventure Races

Location Changes Yearly

Nicknamed “The Super Bowl of Adventure Racing,” the grueling Primal Quest is the ultimate adventure race. Sounds too dramatic? During the race through South Dakota’s Badlands teams paddle, run, mountain bike, and navigate their way non-stop across more than 600 miles (966km) of rugged landscape. In the process, they climb more than 100,000 feet (30,000m) of vertical gain. Co-ed teams must survive in the open wilderness with only what they carry on their backs, and depend upon solving problems together and helping each other through the mental and physical challenges.

With a focus on being an ecologically aware wilderness Expedition Adventure Race, in this competition teams of four must make the backcountry journey using only a map, a compass, and combined skills. Winning requires selfless teamwork as much as stamina and determination. In keeping with Primal Quest’s ecological mantra, teams can travel only where permitted, can’t build campfires, and stick to the “pack it in, pack it out” rules.

Experienced adventure-race addicts from around the world are the ones who show up for this annual competition, but only after training for months beforehand. Cross-training is a must because the full team must take part in all six stages of each race: trekking, off-road running, and orienteering; mountain biking; caving; swimming; kayaking; and a fixed-line ropes-climbing course.

The co-ed four-member teams must travel together at all times and finish as a group to be officially ranked. If one member drops out for any reason, the team must drop out. On average, since the first race in Telluride, Colorado, in 2002, almost half the teams fail to finish. Racers are tracked with SPOT satellite messengers, small sophisticated units that show where the teams are at any time.

Primal Quest is held in a different location every year and new disciplines are added, such as whitewater swimming and canyoneering. During the first race in Telluride, 62 teams from eight countries entered and the winning team completed the course in just over 3 days. In 2003, the Primal Quest 457-mile (736km) race in the Lake Tahoe area became