India, Sept. 12 -- The 122-km Silk Route Ultra has everything that pushes you to your limit, especially when you are running in the challenging conditions of Ladakh. The SRU is currently the Ladakh Marathon's most extreme ultra race. Only a select few runners from across the world make it to the start line, and if that isn't enough to tell you about the gruesome nature of the race, each runner has to run for around 10 hours in pitch darkness, in sub-zero temperatures, across the raw, rugged mountains of the trans-Himalayan range. The race starts from Kyagar Village, around 117 km from Leh.

The runners begin at an altitude of almost 10,000 feet and, over 10 hours of complete darkness and sub-zero temperatures, have to gain another 7,600 f...