This was the inaugural running of this race, celebrating the Bruce Trail and its white markers or blazes on trees along the way. A grassroots event with just under 60 participants, the race itself had no markers apart from the original Bruce Trail blazes. Though clearly marked in most places, many of us did still manage to get lost at one point at a weakly marked road crossing, costing us a bit of time and around 0.5km extra in distance. This was also a point-to-point race, meaning that a couple of buses picked us up and dropped us on the trail head from which we ran back to the park.
The course itself was comprised of stunning, pristine woods with twisting creeks and featuring one of Ontario’s last old-growth forests. Much of the mid section course floor was uneven ancient Canadian Shield rock formations. Everyone had to be extra careful through these sections as a fall could be serious. I almost turned my ankle once or twice. The most unique part was where we found ourselves moving through the "Hole in the Wall" - a cavelike rock structure, and then climbed up and out on a wooden ladder on the other side.
It was a warm day, with temps around 27 feeling like 31 degrees Celsius. The woods were cooler though and later on it rained briefly, which was a relief though it made the rocks a bit slippery in spots. The rocks really sapped your energy over time.
I made my way through the pack and only realized we were doing well when at around the halfway mark, someone mentioned the two ladies I was running with were the first and second place females! That’s when we began to dig in a bit more. It was marketed as a 25k race (there was also a 50k that began an hour ahead of us), however our actual distance was closer to 27.5k. The aid stations were wonderful with fresh fruit, PB&J sandwiches, snacks and electrolyte drink refills. The volunteers were fantastic.
At one point we caught up with one of the lead pack guys who had painful ankle cramps. I offered a couple of xtra strength Advil painkillers that he happily took.
We all just booked it through to the final stretch and made it through to the finish line. I got 7th place overall and the two ladies right behind both retained their 1st and 2nd female places. Huge props to both of them. Our injured friend came in 8th overall which was just amazing considering he was hobbling the last 3k. I’ve never placed top 10 in any race and I’m not sure I ever will again. It really was an adventure!
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Decker
Ultramarathon
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That was an amazing run Decker; 7 out of 60 was superb. Peanut butter sandwiches and fresh fruit plus electrolyte is novel; is that normal over there? You are clearly on top form. Wonderful to see.🥇🏆
You're overestimating my current capabilities Decker ; while the terrain looks fabulous, so much my kind of playground, I've not run that sort of distance in ages. Though I could probably have got round in "I've started so I'll finish" mode.
Hmm, I just looked at your Strava and that trail's a lot flatter than I'd imagined, so perhaps more do-able for me than I'd have thought. That said I'm still feeling the effects of brisk walking to see Le Tour yesterday.
Maybe. Actual gradients round here vary widely, maybe 3% to well over 20%, so I usually calculate in terms of percentage elevation gain averaged over the whole run.
I feel I've been lazy if a run from home comes in under 2% (e.g. 100m total over 5km) elevation gain for the whole thing. That would normally be mostly on roads. On trails it's usually 2.5% to 3%, sometimes more. Technical trails tend to be at least 3.5%, but I've rarely run further than 5km on those in recent months.
The uphill walk to see Le Tour, about 100km from where we live, was 365m for 6.15km, so over 5.9%. However, as the downhill was a mere 5m for 6.08km, it's only just over 3% overall.
For context, the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is around 10,042m over 171km, so comes in at 5.87% elevation gain.
Oh that’s interesting. When I plug our race elevation and distance in, I get 12.7% gain. I always thought UTMB was super steep, but it’s less half the gain of ours. I suppose it is just the massive UTMB distance that pulls the combined gain up so high.
I doubt you'd want them to. When UTMB took over the St Jacques events, of which I did the maratrail the year before they arrived, prices rocketed, all the races acquired demanding time barriers and got flooded with serious runners. I find all that totally intimidating. If I ever enter an organised event again it'll be a little local thing.
That sounds like a great trail race! I absolutely love the camaraderie of the trail running community - leave no person behind and help out your fellow runners. Congrats on a great finishing placement!
Thanks Cheeky, I suspect it was a combination of luck and timing for me, but I am not complaining. I even met a fellow from Toronto, but we recognized one another from the Berlin race. His run group singlet gave him away. What are the odds?
Thanks Floss, yes the running really has come a long way since C25k, five years ago. You’re right - it does seem like yesterday.
I loved your virtual run guides on youtube as well. Would love to run in some of those places. This race felt like one of those in spots. I never would have realized such beautiful forest was within a couple of hours from my place.
Mate, you are epic!! You're also someone that inspires me. What a phenomenal achievement on such an incredible setting. Really loved reading this and understanding the race a little more and how you got on. You'll always have something like this to look back on 👏👏👏👏
Hi Lavender! Thank you kindly. So happy to see you still running. I have been away for some time and I see you ran the recent Ottawa Half marathon - congratulations ,I did too! Have you done that one before? It was my first time. I really enjoyed the weekend and the people. On the Saturday I did an early morning run along the Rideau canal and I think that was my favourite part of the weekend. So quiet and calm along the water.
Yes, it was my first time and I really enjoyed it. I would do it again. I also ran by the canal the morning before. It must be nice to run there on daily runs for those that live there.
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