Ultra-marathoner from Nova Scotia gives up on P.E.I. tip-to-tip record, for now

Halifax's Ryan Keeping ran across Canada this year, but setting a record for running across P.E.I. turned out to be a different kind of beast.

The fastest known time for running the length of the Confederation Trail across the Island, from Elmira to Tignish, is 46 hours, 26 minutes. Keeping set out from Elmira at 8 a.m. Monday morning with the aim of beating that mark.

Early Wednesday morning, just past Summerside and with pain in his hips slowing him to a fast walk, he gave up on the attempt.

"I tried absolutely as hard as I can, which is really all that matters in life, but quitting is something I personally don't like," said Keeping in a video posted to his Facebook page.

Back in mid-July, Keeping completed his 7,325-kilometre run from St. John's to Victoria in 99 days. But trying to break a record for a 274-kilometre run turned out to be a different kind of challenge.

It was his first attempt at a speed record. As Tuesday wound down, he found he was running short of the required pace, so he picked up his speed a bit.

"There's probably about a one per cent chance this is going to work, and 99 per cent chance I'm pretty much going to break myself trying to do this," he said of his thinking at the time.

"When you're doing these ultra runs it's hard, and when I knew I had that long left to really, really push, I knew it was risky."

Early Wednesday morning, Keeping closed his video to his social media fans by saying he would "100 per cent" return and make another attempt at the record.