
Al Howie's monomaniacal pursuit of distance made him a legend. His demons made him human. In the mid-1970s, Al Howie began showing up at the world's longest footraces, sporting a wild mane of blond hair, a mangy beard, and white singlet that read "Hell's Gate."...

The story of Al Howie is a remarkable and at times unbelievable adventure into the heart of the longest races in the world with one of modern history's most eccentric ultra-marathon runners. If you ran 2225 kilometres from Winnipeg to Ottawa, you'd be crazy. If the day...