Described as the world’s toughest, windiest, and coldest footrace on the planet, Canada’s 6633 Arctic Ultra has just nine competitors – and Australia’s Aaron Cook is one of them.
Having previously competed in the Marathon des Sables, a 250 kilometre race through the Sahara Desert, Cook is no stranger to pushing his body to extreme limits.
The Adelaide father has his sights on his next challenge, which will see him trek across the Arctic Circle in Canada to raise money for charity.
The race will require him to haul a sled across 620 kilometres of the Arctic Circle, battling temperatures as low as -50 degrees.
“I’m just out there looking for the biggest possible adventure,” Cook told 9news.com.au.
“I want to try and do the biggest, baddest adventure that I possibly can do. From the research, this seems to be it.”
Cook has been training for the 6633 Arctic Ultra for three years now and it’s far from a straight-forward race.
Heading over on a solo mission, the race is a completely self-sufficient experience, which means you move, sleep and eat when you want to, it’s your race.
“It is an extreme environment, expect to be cold, train to be uncomfortable and prepare your mind for one of the toughest challenges you’ll voluntarily commit to,” the website said.
The Adelaide father has spent the past three years training for the grueling race, hitting the gym most days.
He completes high-intensity strength and conditioning training at the gym for at least two hours, six days a week.
That’s followed by low-intensity training such as jogging, along with reformer pilates as a recovery.
“It’s been really important throughout the whole process, those three things will hopefully have my body in a shape that is fit enough and strong enough to get to the finish line,” Cook said.
“This has been on the radar since 2020. I had signed up for it in previous years, but with the pandemic, there were cancellations.
“I thought I was only going to do it once, so I may as well do the hardest version of it.”
Cook said he felt good heading into the race, sharing with 9news.com.au that he had previously completed the Marathon des Sables in 2019.
After conquering the six-day race through the Sahara Desert, he was eager to take on another challenge.
“In the ultrarunning world, the name of the game is to make the product as hard as possible. That’s what makes people want to do it,” Cook said.
“I went looking for the hardest race in the world, and all of the marketing told me that that was the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert.
“When I got back, I had a couple of people get back to me, asking (if I had seen) the 6633 Race before.
”The more digging that I did, I just couldn’t find anything that was going to be more challenging than this, given the environment, the length of the race and the fact that it’s self-sufficient from point A to point B.
“It really ticks all of those boxes and has to be up there as either the hardest race in the world or very close to the top.”
Cook acknowledged the challenge might be a “shock to the system,” especially since South Australia had just endured its hottest February day on record.
“I’ve never actually been in temperatures that low at any point of my life,” he said.
“I’ve been preparing as best as I can in terms of the gear that I’ll need to be able to exist in that environment.
“But it is still a huge unknown, and I’m aware that.
“I anticipate that if I don’t finish this race, it’s likely because of frostbite, which may happen. The temperature is really going to be the biggest challenge for me.”
The father is the only Australian among nine athletes completing and is raising money for The Sebastian Foundation and the Adelaide Crows Foundation, which supports youth mental health.
Cook said he had admired the foundation’s Open Parachute program, which helps equip children with the skills they need to overcome mental health challenges.
“The more I learn about the program and talk to the people at the foundation, the more I realise how special it is,” he said.
“It’s become something that I’m very passionate.”
He said every $15 raised for the foundation will provide a primary or secondary student access to the program for an entire school year.
“I’m just really working so hard to try and raise as much money as I possibly can because it can make such a big difference for school kids all around the country.”
Cook will compete in the gruelling challenge when the race starts on February 27.