What a great race we have had this year! It was cold the first few nights. So everyone got to feel what it is like. But then it warmed up. The trail was soft in places but still okay. More Northern Lights than we have ever had before and more 300 mile finishers than ever before. A big thank you to all athletes who have been part of it and congratulations to all finishers.
I have always been lucky in having a great crew and this certainly also goes for 2016. What a team effort! Everyone worked really hard, on the trail, at the checkpoints and at race headquarter to make it a successful event. Thank you Diane, Adam, Scott, Gavin and Lydia from the medical team. Thank you Richard, Kim, Ricardo, Bob, Pam, Jason, Kristin, Damaris and Marc! Thank you Stewart for such a great job co-ordinating Dog Grave Lake CP. Thank you Bernard for hosting Ken Lake CP and thanks to all other checkpoint crews and providers – Rolland from Rivendell Farm, Steve, Lee & team from Braeburn Lodge, George and Cindy from Carmacks Rec Centre, the Kruse family at McCabe, Selkirk First Nation at Pelly Crossing and Sue, Dale and the Woofers at Pelly Farm. Last but not least thank you to the trail crew – Gary, Josh, Ross, Tony, Robert, Glenn and Spencer. I hope I did not forget anyone. You all did an amazing job!
Finally I want to thank the sponsors – Montane, Primus, Carinthia and the local businesses Driving Force, Coast High Country Inn, Total North and Fraserway RV. Your help is essential in make this race happen year after year.
Now of course it is time for my final race report. Even though the trail was rather soft leading up to Takhini Bridge we have had a fast marathon. Joel Hegner won the bike division and David Eikelboom finished first in the foot category. The first woman was Kristin Daniel who managed to improve her already excellent time from 2015. For all results please see the results page.
It was really great to see so many local marathon runners! If I may I would just like to ask the local marathoners to try and sign up by end of November in any future races. It would help making the planning easier.
As always the long stretch of trail from Rivendell Farm to Dog Grave Lake was a challenge for all the ultra athletes. Temperatures down to – 35 degrees C took their toll. Local athlete Virgina Sarrazin had to scratch due to frostbite. She is fine. No permanent damage. But it goes to show that it can happen to anyone. Warmer temperatures during the day cause more sweating and at night wet shoes and socks mean trouble. Not just with frostbite. We have also seen many cases of immersion foot. So, as a learning for future years: if the weather forecast is less extreme, changing socks and keeping up good footcare is just as important as it is when the weather is colder. Other reasons for DNFs at this point in time were chafing (again a problem that occurs more in „warmer“ years) and dehydration. If your water bottles freeze and you still have got a good distance to cover to the next checkpoint, it is very important to deal with it. It may mean time lost for melting snow. But that’s way better than having to end the race due to exhaustion and dehydration.
Michele Graglia finished 1st in the foot category. The Italian did so well, he almost managed to break Justin Wallace’s record from 2012. 2nd athlete to finish was David Hirschfeld from the US and 3rd rank went to Michael Faergegaard from Denmark. 1st in the women’s were local athletes Jennifer King and Gillian Smith. All 100 mile finishers did a great job! Great to see Jean Yves, Carlos Albert and Mal Smith finish unfinished business! And I should mention that James Binks who had originally signed up to do the marathon took Robert Hodges junior’s place in the 100 miles and finished, together with his good friend Robert Hodges senior. What makes this special is that James is 71 years old. Sorry, James, I know you probably would prefer if I would not mention your age but you are an inspiration! And I should add that James previously already finished the 300 miles. Again, teaming up with Robert Hodges. Also, he came very, very close to finish the 430 miles in 2013.
We have had a brave xc-skier, too. Thomas Keller from Switzerland needed 57 hours and 20 minutes and came in well before the 3 day cut-off. I had told Thomas that xc-skiing it is a tough one and I do not recommend it. But I guess to a Swiss guy this just makes it all the more fun to go for it.
The first 300 miler to reach the Pelly Crossing finish line was Bavarian biker Florian Reiterberger. Hardly ever have I seen anybody so relaxed and calm. Only when at the finish line he was told there is no beer he may have come close to a state of nervousness. Rank 2 in the bike category went to German Wolfgang Kulow and third place was taken by Tim Sommers from Australia.
In the 300 mile distance foot category we have seen a race for 1st place which eventually Jan Kriska from the USA was able to win. And he did it in style, setting a new record of 118 hours and 24 minutes. Gavan Hennigan from Ireland came 2nd. 3rd overall rank went to Bernadette Benson from Australia. Which also means that she placed first in the women’s. Julie Pritchard (England) and Jessie Thomson-Gladish (Canada) placed 2nd. And we have seen many more 300 mile finishers. All of them were great and really enjoyed their adventure. There has been so much positive attitude by everyone – Hugo Smith, Jorge Rufat-Latre, Paul Fosh, Joaquin Candel, Jörn Theissig, Mario Villemure, Oliver Lutte, Jerym Brunton, Rick Ferguson, Omar Mohamed Ali, Davide Ugolini – all of them were of course tired but also smiling whenever I met them. My special thank you goes to Canadian 300 mile finisher Daniel Héon who helped fellow racer Davide Lugato on the way to Pelly Crossing. Daniel did not think twice when he found Davide totally exhausted on the trail and made sure he was safe before he continued his journey.
Congratulation also to Team Raven Russia (Jerym and Rick) and the ’J’ Team (Julie and Jessie) who not only finished as individuel athletes but also in the team category. It is very rare that we see teams in the 300 mile race actually finishing together!
I hope everyone’s recovery is going well and wish all of you many great adventures wherever you go! It would be an enormous pleasure to see you come back in 2017 or any other year! To the crew, once more a big thank you! Extremely well done and I am looking forward to welcoming you back – be it a spart of the support team or as athletes out on the trail!
