It's called the Mad Moose Marathon.

But, for the first time in its history, the popular trail race will stretch beyond the 42.2-kilometre distance.

The Mad Moose will hit the ground running at the Otway Nordic Centre on Sunday morning. And, at the request of a select group of athletes, it will include a 63km ultra-marathon option.

"There's an ultra group in town and they asked for one," said race organizer Richard Stewart. "We didn't see any objection so we added one. You get a belt buckle if you complete that one. They'll get some sore muscles too -- it's a pretty tough course."

As well as kicking up their heels on the Otway network, runners will utilize the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Trail. The marathon folks will have their turnaround point at the trailhead parking lot near UNBC, while the ultra participants will do an extra 14km loop through the woods before they reach UNBC and reverse direction for the trot back to Otway.

The Mad Moose also features a half-marathon distance.

This is the sixth edition of the Mad Moose Marathon and Stewart is expecting about 120 participants, including as many as a dozen ultra runners.

Stewart himself will be laced up and will be doing the 98th marathon of his career. He'll tackle No. 99 the following weekend in Surrey and his milestone 100th Oct. 7 in Kelowna.

"They've actually organized the bib number 100 for me, which I think is nice," he said. "I'm quite excited about that."

Stewart said the Mad Moose is popular because of the trail-running aspect of it.

"If you do a trail run and you don't come back muddy or bloody, then you didn't have fun," he said with a chuckle. "I think people just like getting out into the peace and quiet of the trails and away from the noise of the traffic. It's quite an attractive place to run and you don't have to worry about getting run over by a car -- you may encounter a bear or a moose though."

The registration cutoff is 6 p.m. on Friday. People can register online at www.madmoosemarathon.ca or take their entry forms to Stride & Glide Sports, located at 1655 15th Ave.

Last year's marathon winners were Ian McIlvenna of Quesnel and Carla Lennert of Terrace. McIlvenna's time was three hours 19 minutes 58 seconds and Lennert finished in 4:10:43.