The ‘crazy’ running challenge pushing people to their limits

March 24, 2026

This is the second year of The Last One Standing challenge.

It’s run by the group Hardcore Harry’s, which formed in 2024 and has since established itself as a platform for fitness challenges “that celebrate effort, grit and growth”.

“You have some challenges which are arguably easy — 10km a day, 5km a day — and then you have challenges that are designed to push people to their limits,” co-founder Ethan Fleming says.

There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of people wanting to take on fitness challenge in recent years, particularly those at the more extreme end.

“In the last few years especially we’ve seen a three-to-four-times growth in the amount of people that take on these challenges, and the level of extreme that they go to the achieve these goals,” Mr Fleming says.

“I think one of the reasons is we do live in a world where there’s so many creature comforts … and I think for people like these people, all these people that want to push themselves, they just want to have an arena where they can find their limits.

“I think there’s different levels to pushing beyond your limits, and when you stop at one point you don’t start at the bottom again, you start at that same point that you got to, and then you want to know what’s further, what else can I do?” he says.

“I think a lot of people can learn that they’re capable of a hell of a lot more than what they think they are.” abc