Trail runners, especially ultrarunners, have long recognized Old Mountain Highway in North Vancouver, British Columbia, as a great place to train.
The inaugural Mountain Highway Madness was hosted on 7 April 2001 by Ean Jackson as a training exercise for the Diez Vista 50k trail run. There were 6 starters, and 7 finishers. Given almost all of Old Mountain Highway was covered in snow in April 2002, the event was cancelled. On Easter Sunday (20 April) and again on 18 May 2003 records fell in almost every category. A little more structure was subsequently added to the event in the form of this website and more formal record keeping.
Mountain Highway Madness is now held twice a year. The dates were chosen to make this even a great last training run for those participating in the Diez Vista and Frosty Mountain 50 kilometer trail races.
There's no trophy, t-shirt, ball cap or shiny car for the fastest or the last one left standing. Bragging rights are, however, available to those who are prepared to earn them:
Bragging Right |
Accomplishment |
| Platinum | 4 or more round trips |
| Gold | 3 round trips |
| Silver | 2 round trips |
| Bronze | 1 round trip |
| Raspberry | an incomplete lap |