The Canadian Death Race – 2009

[Editor's Note:  The following post was submitted by community member Ange ]

Since now is the time to register for the 2010 Canadian Death Race in Alberta, I thought I would share my story from last years race… happy reading!

The Canadian Death Race – 2009 – Angie’s report

So the one question that is asked from the Canadian Death Race is – Are you tough enough? I have to say ‘hell yes’ I’m tough enough – will I try this race again ‘hell no’!

Karl, Wouter, and I arrived in Edmonton at 8:30am and waited for Martin (Wouter’s son) to meet us from Vancouver. Wouter is the man I met through the CDR email list of solo participants who happens to live near me. Wouter and I trained together a few times and planned to run the entire race together. Karl came to crew for me and Martin for Wouter. The drive from Edmonton to Grand Cache was beautiful but uneventful.  Both Wouter and I were eager to get to race central and pick up our race kits.

The entire town of Grand Cache supports the CDR; in fact, I think if it wasn’t for the race the town would struggle to survive. Every lamp post had a Death Race flag attached and signs were in all of the store windows. We went to pick up our kits and purchased a prayer flag which would fly high atop Mt Hamel during the race in hopes to keep us safe ).

There were 230 solo racers that registered for the race, plus close to 250 relay teams of 2 to 5 racers. A small expo or ‘Death Fest’ as they called it was set up and a band was getting ready to play once the official race talk was over with. Dale Tuck (a.k.a. Dr. Death) the race director got on stage in full death gear to tell us what we could expect during each leg of the race. He was very comical in his description of each leg but was able to reinforce the potential of what could happen out there. One of the key things about the day he wanted us to be aware of was that the temperatures were expected to be unseasonably warm. I have to say I was much more nervous about doing this race then any other race, mostly I think it had to due with the 3 mountains I had to summit.  As I sat there in the middle of the field with all of the other racers listening to Dr. Death, I looked around me and staring straight back was Flood Mountain, Grand Mountain, and the massive Mount Hamel. I thought, sure I can handle Flood & Grand, but Hamel, I don’t know about that. As it turned out it was Flood Mountain I should have been worried about!

We woke Saturday morning to a sunny blue sky and warm temperatures. Our plan was to carry one bottle for the first leg (19k) and then grab our back packs for the rest of the race. Karl and Martin came to the start to see us off and as the clock counted down to zero, Wouter and I hit the port-a-potties one last time. Then, we were off. The crowed support was amazing in town. We did a short run through the streets, then into the forest we went, hitting a short steep hill to start. It seemed the heat hit me right away. Wouter was ahead of me but I kept him in sight. The trail was very narrow and everyone ran at a quick pace. As we neared the first check point I was feeling the heat. We went through the transition area and beeped in with our timing stick (yes we had to carry a timing stick and a coin during the entire race, if we lost either one we were out). Karl & Martin were there to switch our packs for us and bring us what we needed to continue on to Leg 2 (a.k.a. the hardest leg of the race).

The weight of my back pack was noticeable heading into Leg 2. Within a kilometre or two we started heading up Flood Mountain. It was a long slow climb which got steeper and steeper as we got to the top. I was struggling a lot now with the heat and elevation. Wouter waited for me several times to catch up – the last couple of kilometres to the top were the hardest. It was straight up and several runners had to stop to catch their breath on many occasions, myself included. When I finally reached the top Wouter was waiting for me, I beeped in and we headed back down Flood. By this time I was really hurting and contemplating calling it quits at the emergency aid-station (about 9k away). The down hill was very steep but we were actually lucky with the dry weather and the mud slide we thought was going to be there was not. The downhill continued and then it was uphill again, then down, then up… I think you get the picture… some people actually brought pillows that they strapped to their butts to slide down on! When I saw Wouter again I told him to go on without me as I was 99% sure I’d DNF at the aid-station. I rested for a few minutes and then continued down to the aid-station. When I got there I told one of the volunteers that I was dizzy and felt sick, she told me to sit down, drink and eat and rest for a bit. I wasn’t the only one in this condition, several runners were feeling the same and I later learned that many dropped out at that point. The medic at the aid-station asked me a few questions and told me I needed to drink and pee more but I was okay to go on if I wanted too. I asked if Grand Mountain was as steep of a climb as Flood and he said it was on an old dirt road but had a few steep climbs to it. I decided I was feeling a little better so I would at least finish Leg 2.

By the time I got to the top of Grand (which was a breeze compared to Flood) I was feeling much better, the temperature started to drop and there were a few rain drops coming down. I started to put a smile on my face going down Grand and then the thunder came and the down pour and of course the downhill became a mud slide – 1.5k straight down and then 1.5k straight up… I’m sure Dr. Death was laughing when he picked this course! Once I climbed the 1.5k up the terrain turned to a continuous up and down for many kilometres. At one point my feet slipped out from under me 3 times due to the mud and I was on my ass sliding down. The runner behind me was pretty much doing the same and he could hear me laughing; it was the only way down the mountain! This was actually the most fun I had during the race! The scenery during the entire race was beautiful but this part of the race made me laugh and I decided if I can make the cut-off for Leg 2 then I will continue to Leg 3.

As I entered the transition area to Leg 3 Karl was calling out my name.  I was running up the hill chatting with another runner and had forgotten that Wouter must have told them that I was going to DNF.  Karl was surprised to see me running and asked if I was going to continue.  I thought sure why not, I’ll see how far I get on Leg 3.  I had no hopes of making that cut-off as I was already 1 hour behind my goal pace to finish in 23 hours (24 hour cut-off), but I knew there were no mountains to climb in Leg 3 so I hit the port-a-potty and headed down the road to start Leg 3.

Leg 3 was my perfect running terrain; not too technical and rolling hills but no steep climbs.  I ran the entire leg and was drinking and peeing so felt much better. The rain had stopped and the temperature seemed a bit cooler then earlier in the day.  I still had not hit any major water crossings as I thought, so my feet remained somewhat dry and no blisters appeared to be forming. When I came into the transition area from Leg 3 to Leg 4, Wouter was just leaving. His stomach was starting to feel bad but he continued on.  We felt it best if he continued without me while I refueled.  Leg 4 was the climb up Mount Hamel and I knew I would only slow Wouter down on the uphill.  I told him I’d catch him on the downhill and he was off.

The start of Leg 4 went right into a climb and didn’t stop for about 3.5 hours.  The climb was technical at times and at other times we were on a rocky road.  I passed the Hamel Assault way before the cut-off so I thought I was in good shape to finish Leg 4. Since it doesn’t get dark in Grand Cache until close to 11pm, I was on top of Hamel in the day light and it was an amazing view.  The wind picked up as I ran to the edge of the mountain to get my prayer flag and bring it back to the volunteers as proof that I made it to the edge. I stopped to put a long sleeve on, put my headlamp on and headed down the mountain.  It’s a long down hill and by the time I reached the Amber loop aid-station it was dark.  The Amber loop is basically a 5k loop that is a 1k road on an incline, 3k uphill in the forest and then 1k downhill back to the aid-station.  As I finished the loop I thought to myself, what the hell was that for?  Dr. Death surely was laughing now!  When I headed down the final 10k to the start of Leg 5 there were two ambulances waiting to depart with runners aboard.

I entered the Leg 5 transition area and heard Karl calling my name. It appeared that Wouter had picked up his pace and the guys missed him, so Martin had gone off to see if he could provide him with fluids and food at the emergency aid-station.   Karl got me everything I needed and I was off.  It was shortly after 2am when I left which meant I had just short of 6 hours to finish. Leg 5 was only 22k but for some reason I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy 22k. Sure enough a couple of hundred meters from the transition area the trail went straight up and kept going! There was no way I could do any running.  It was 9k to the ferry man where I needed to provide my coin for safe passage to the other side of the river (yes, I still had that damn coin with me!).  The forest was very dense and reminded me so much of Haliburton.  I think this section of the race is what finally did my toenail in! It took me two hours to do 9k but I made it to the boat before the cut-off so I was happy!   Only 13k more to go.   Did I mention Dr. Death has a sense of humour?  So you give your coin to the volunteer (No grim reaper, just a guy in jeans and a sweater asking for my coin… very disappointing).  I got into the small fishing boat with 5 other racers and across the river we went. We had punched out before we got in the boat and we would punch our timing stick back in when we arrived on the other side (the time in the boat would later be deducted from our overall race time).  Okay, so I mentioned Dr. Death had a sense of humour right… well the boat pulls up to shore… is there a dock?  No!  You have to jump off the boat and hope you don’t land in the river.   So I’ve been running for what close to 20 hours by now and they want me to JUMP OFF THE BOAT AND NOT LAND IN THE WATER!!!  Are they freaking kidding me!  So I make the guy hold my arm while I attempt my jump and did I make it?  Hell no!  20 hours running and now I get my feet wet!   So I ask how far to the finish.  H says 13k.  I say is it all trail?  He says it’s all up that hill… nice… Dr. Death funny guy… okay, so the total 13k wasn’t up hill but the first 2k was straight up!  I heard one girl behind me say, this doesn’t really go straight up for 2k does it and the guys says, well yeah it does… great… so we go straight up, then level out a bit, then up again where we can hear a man yelling “Go Death Racers”.  When we reach him he says only 10k to go and your done. A bit of up and down and then straight into town.  Okay, so do these people in Grand Cache know what straight into town means!!!  So I’m running up and down, up and down… you know, same as before and then I can see the lights of the town and I’m thinking they’re a long way away.  Then I start thinking to myself, have I been going around in circles for the last hour or what!!!!  Then I see a sign that says 5k and you’re done and I’m thinking that man lied to me!!!  This was way more then 10k!!  I continue on waiting for that ‘straight into town bit to come… but does it come, hell no… we hit the road for the last 3k which is a dirt (you guessed it) up and down hill road!!  Again, thoughts of the last few kilometres of Haliburton hit me and I push on.  I still have not been able to run and when I did hit a down hill my toes were so sore that running wasn’t an option.  Then ahead in the distance… am I delirious or are those houses before me?  Yes, houses!!!  I’m almost done!!  I turn onto the street and see people out cheering me on, yelling ‘Go Death Racer, Go!’ and of course, ya gotta run when everyone is watching.   So I forgot about the sore legs and sore toes and I ran up the hill (yes, that’s right another up hill) to the finish line, but do I get to go through it… hell no… Dr. Death again with his sense of humour makes us run past the finish line loop around and run up hill (is there any other way) to the finish!   I was thrilled to have finished, Karl, Martin and Wouter were waiting at the finish for me. The clock read 22:25.

After we all showered and caught a couple hours of sleep and had a decent meal we headed over to race central to check out race results.  We found out that of the 230 solo racers that registered, only 190 actually started and only 76 actually finished.  Wouter had come in 1st in his age category (60 – 69) and I had come in 4th.  I was thrilled to have finished at all.  We spent the rest of the day eating and sleeping – the awards would be handed out Monday morning.

Monday morning we went back to race central and had breakfast and watched the Death Race DVD, then the awards were being announced.  Dr. Death had all previous finishers come up on stage and then announced the top three in each age category.  We cheered Wouter on when he went up and then Dr. Death started announcing all of the other finishers and each one went up on stage and got their coin, he kept calling names but mine never came up? When he said that was it I said no way, that’s not right so I went up to him and said he didn’t call me.   He said oh we must have called you earlier and you didn’t hear.  I didn’t think so, but I took my box which contained a coin (no belt buckles) and I walked back to Karl & Martin.  Everyone was leaving the stage and I opened my box and there under my name was a time of 22:21 and 3rd place woman’s 40 – 49.   Say what!!! I went back to Dr. Death and said what’s up with this you didn’t call my name for 3rd place… he looked at his sheet and said oh sorry, I called the wrong name… congrats. I don’t think I care for Dr. Death’s sense of humour any more!

I have to say, I’ve wanted to do this race since I started running over 10 years ago and I finally did it.  The trail is tough but the weather can make it tougher.  We were lucky that we didn’t have the water crossing that most runners get each year, but then we had the heat which was very unusually for Grand Cache.  It is definitely a race to experience… at least once )

I hope you enjoyed my race report.  I feel for those that were not able to finish, but although they may not be Death Race finishers, they are all Death Racers.

Angie

Tagged as: canada, CDR, monumentalefforts, racereports, ultrarunning