July 8, 2011
I signed up for this race relatively last minute – my original intent on going to Canmore was to support and watch Shane compete in the Canadian men’s Mountain Running Championships. Through this race, he was hoping to qualify for the World Mountain Running Championship, which this year is being held in Albania in September. Originally, I hadn’t even considered racing myself, but then someone put the bug in my ear, when they asked whether I was planning on racing. Next, I realized that since the women’s race is earlier than the men’s race, there would be plenty of time to compete in the women’s event, and still watch Shane (and Andrew Pape-Salmon, who was also competing) race.
Andrew and Shane decided to drive from Victoria to Canmore, while Sara (Andrew’s wife) and I decided to fly to Calgary in the evening. We all met up in Banff, where we spent the morning walking around and taking in the beauty of the area before heading to Canmore.
We decided to check out the race course ahead of time, so we knew what to expect. It was a loop course (women 3, men 5), so we’d get a good idea of the course, from just running one loop. We had a bit of a challenge figuring out the exact loop – let’s just say our maps were not exactly the easiest to follow… but assessed that it would be a mixture of double-track and not too technical single-track. There wasn’t a huge amount of elevation in each lap, but just enough to make things interesting.
Despite earlier predictions of hot sunny weather on race day, we awoke to clouds that looked like they might even drop some rain on us. It was not too warm either – but likely good race conditions, as long as the rain held off. The women’s race was first, so Sara and I went for a quick warm-up and then made our way to the start line. It wasn’t a huge field (about 40 competitors), with even a few guys who’d entered the race. As I assessed the field before the race start, I knew it would be fast – especially as this was the qualifying race for the World Championships – and only 3 females were guaranteed spots. My goal became to simply place in the top 10 females.
Soon enough we were off and making our way up a steady climb – the kind of which I’m not altogether a fan – a non-technical wide gravel road. The course took us into a beautifully dense forest, as we wound through mountain-bike trails. We were 1500 meters above sea level – and while not that high up, I could definitely feel the effects and breathing was definitely more difficult, as I do all of my training at sea level. This initial gravel road climb, felt like torment, and I quickly fell back about mid-pack.
After about 1 km of climbing on the road, we veered onto a single-track section, and this is where I found my legs. The steepness of the incline lessened, and the single-track made it seem easier – I started to pass a few people, as my pace quickened and I got into the groove of the race. This section of the race was interspersed with double-track and single-track sections, with the climb ending on a double-track section that should have been labelled ‘the wall’ – because that’s what it felt like. It was fairly steep, and felt like it was at least 40 degrees – although I’m sure it was much less. Nevertheless it was steep enough to make both the lungs and the legs hurt. On this first climb, I ran part-way up before resolving to fast hiking. I had made my way into a pack of 2 other girls and one man, and the four of us ended up running most of the rest of the course together.
After this steep climb, came my favourite part of the race, some really nice, flowy, somewhat twisty single-track. It was pure joy (at least on this first lap), and I pushed it rather hard (probably too hard), as I ended up passing the woman who was racing in front of me. There was only one small puddle on the entire course, and as I was in race mentality, I thought I would just power right through it. However, it ended up being rather deep and my foot sunk into the muddy waters. I think it took more energy to run through it, than it would be taken to skirt around it – in subsequent laps I ran around it. At the bottom of the downhill section, we finished off our first lap, whew only 2 more to go.
Then, the climbing began again. After finishing the first lap, there was only a bit of single-track before we popped out onto a double-track road climb. Here, my breathing began to falter again, and the woman who I’d passed on the downhill soon overtook me. Luckily, this section didn’t last too long before were back on single-track. The breathing was definitely a pain though, as I felt as though I was moving so slowly – as though I should have been able to move much more quickly than the pace I was keeping. On the second and third laps, I didn’t even try to run on the last steep hill, but started a fast hike right at the bottom. I soldiered on and until the last lap, my placing stayed the same – I was just behind Jen Lowery and just ahead of Madelaine Bate and Laura Estey. As I pushed each downhill section, I was annoyed that I couldn’t drop Madelaine , I had been hoping that if I pushed hard enough, she would drop off – but there was definitely lots of competitiveness in this race, and that was not going to happen. As we turned onto the initial double-track section on the last lap, Madelaine passed me as we started the last climb. The juice in my lungs had long worn out, and I didn’t have the energy to hold her off. Plus, since I knew I wasn’t in the running for a championship spot anyway, I knew my placing didn’t really matter, except for my own gratification.
As Madelaine passed me, my only resolve was to keep pushing as hard as I could, so as to stay near her. I gritted my teeth, as Laura passed me on this final climb as well. That last climb was tough, and I took a few extra steps at the top to catch my breath before I started running again. I wasn’t that far off the two other women, and still had a far off thought that perhaps I could catch them on the downhill. However, there was no catching to be done. They rocketed off at a much faster pace than during the previous downhill sections, and were soon out of sight. I tried to stay in contact, but it was not to be done.
As I finished off my last lap, and turned off the loop course towards the final descent to the finish, I was so relieved that the woman’s race was only 3 laps. Completing another 2 laps at this point seemed very difficult. Now, just one final downhill section, and I was done. This last section was fast, and I could have probably pushed a little harder, but I didn’t see the point, as there was no one right behind me, and Madelaine and Laura were far enough ahead that I would not be catching them. I finished in 48:12, good for 12th overall, and 10th woman, about six minutes behind the first woman to cross the line.
This was one of the hardest races I had completed, in terms of how hard I was working during the entire race. I was definitely working on the uphills, and the grade of the downhill section enabled a fast pace, which meant there was no section that provided a ‘break’. Before the race started, I hadn’t been too stressed about the race, but once I got into it, the race mentality got to me and I wanted to push hard throughout. Overall, I’d been happy with my race, but wondered what it would have been like had the race been at sea level – the outcome might not have been different, but at least I would have felt a bit better! It was interesting to compete in a competitive women’s race, and I’m glad I decided to partake in it. J Sara also had a good race, and ended up just where she’d hoped.
After the end of my race, I had just enough time to quickly change and grab some food before the men’s race began. This is where the real excitement was. The men lined up on the start line, and were told that their race was actually a bit long – it was not 12 km, but actually around 14 kms. As if it wasn’t hard enough already, but now it had just been made tougher – at least mentally. The men took off at a quick pace and Shane jetted out amongst the lead pack.
It was a fun race to watch because it was a loop course. Sara and I were able to see the men on each lap, and still make it back for the finish. Shane ended up coming in 5th, claiming the last spot from this race on the Canadian Mountain Running Team (a 6th member would be chosen based on previous performances). I was ecstatic to see him cross the finish line in 5th place, as now he would get to experience the World Mountain Running Championships! Andrew also had a solid race, coming in 10th overall, and first master. The first male was James Gosselin who came in at 56:11. He looked strong throughout the course, and him and Kris Swanson (another Victoria local) had a huge lead on the rest of the racers, coming in almost three minutes ahead of the next three racers. Congrats to everyone on fantastic performances.
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