What drives someone to consume 24 pounds of chicken wings in minutes? Or push their bodies and minds beyond all known limits to cover 100 miles of brutal trail in 60 hours? In this week’s collection, we take a look at some of the most unusual and intense competitions in North America.
Let’s dive in…
Blades of Glory
Holly Anderson for Grantland, 2015
“As you wind through thick woods and farmlands and a nighttime darkness, you’re surprised to reach your destination without finding a hook hanging from the car door handle… welcome to the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin.”
Wilderness Women
Eva Holland for SB Nation, 2014
Every year, women come from all over North America to prove themselves in Alaska’s wildest competition. The goal? To prove, mostly ironically, that they would be worthy wives for Alaskan bachelors.
Meet the Man Behind the Barkley Marathons
Ariella Gintzler for Outside, 2019
What kind of sadist creates the hardest race in the world? Meet the mastermind behind the utterly brutal Barkley Marathon; the world’s toughest footrace.
The High Art of Competitive Eating
Gabriel Muller for The Atlantic, 2014
“More than a dozen men and women in orange Major League Eating t-shirts stood over metal bowls containing 24 pounds of chicken wings. The audience cheered louder. Here were the world’s most decorated competitive eaters, and they had come to Winterplace Park to see who would go home as the nation’s most prolific consumer of poultry.”
Out in the Great Unknown
Brian Phillips for Grantland, 2013
“The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race pushes participants to the brink on an unforgiving trek to the end of the world. And, as one writer who tracked the race by air discovers, that is exactly the point.”
Bonus Long Read:
The Strawberry Girls
Anne Hull for The New Yorker, 2008
“I saw the 2008 Strawberry Queen and her court as a last stand against the inevitable end of a place that defined them and me. Yet the strawberry girls saw themselves as part of a tradition that started in 1930 and would go on forever.”
Subscribe to Grown Up Story Club
Get a fresh batch of long reads straight to your inbox every Saturday – you can unsubscribe at any time.
Grown Up Story Club 