58Km in 7hr50min
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8536761Over 650 people gathered at the base of the village for the 8am start. The weather was cool and overcast. This was a first class international race. There was no point of warming up given the length of the event. We were somewhat prepared for a ‘trail’ run which featured more off trail than on trail sections. Close to 20,000 ft of vertical climbing and descending in four really big climbs. The only fat section was waist deep in water, but not all the water was flat. More about that later…
Race start! Of course, everyone that shouldn’t have, sprinted off the start - adrenaline. I hung back a hundred places. The first km looped through the village. Spectators lined the route. We dropped back down to a paved multi-use trail for a bit before dropping onto the first bit of single-track trail. This is where people first go the taste of what was to come. The more experienced adventure/trail racers started to percolate to the front. Many were very tentative on the down hills and started walking the up hills. It was going to be a long day for some. I started passing loads of people at this point just to get a clear view of the trail in front. James caught up to me after a few km, and we ran together for the rest of the race. We climbed 1000ft on the wheeler trail called the Nord-Sud Trail up to Aid Station #1, located six kilometers after the start. I should mention that the course was extremely well marked with flagging tape every 20m, with big arrows at every turn. I have never seen a trail race better organized or marked. Shortly after the aid station we dropped down into the timber cross-country ski trail, descending 1000ft down unto the swamps. It was 9km to the next aid station with 4km of it knee to armpit deep in swamps and rivers. The rocks were so slippery we looked like apes. Following the river up stream, the water got faster which made things interesting. And the water was very cold.
With little feeing left in our legs we reached aid station # 2, on the Beauchemin ski trail and were met by Lise, our happy support crew and more food and water. Lise spent her time running around trying not to get eaten alive by bugs. 14.5km done. We were in 10th place (10 minutes behind the leaders) – some Australian guys.
We ran the next 1000ft gradual climb up the Nord-Sud trail to aid station # 3 at km 19. From there, the route was very rough, primitive and steep to the summit (Aid station # 4) at 22km.
My least favorite section was the knee jarring run down the access road from the summit, 2,000 feet vertically back towards aid station # 2, now standing in as aid station #5. We certainly did get down quickly but my knees were to pay the price later on in the race.
Lise was waiting for us at checkpoint 5, driven half mad by bugs. I was able to change socks and grab a mandatory hydration pack, salted potatoes, gels, gateraid and a Tylenol.
The half marathon folks showed up at the same time and we completely lost count of what place we were in.
Leaving aid station # 5, we crossed a suspended rope bridge and headed out on a easy 3.5km climb to aid station # 6. Easy for me but James was having his moment. Nevertheless, we were passing half marathon runners (15km into their race, 26 for us) at a furious rate.
Aid station # 6 (29.0km) was important given that the next water was over 10km away. The toughest climb was ahead of us over 1,000 ft vertical in 1km to summit of Johansen Peak. From the summit the course did a large 13km loop on barely a trail. Very rugged route on deer paths, stream beds, runoffs or just through the bush. I think this is were our legs got cut up the most.
We kept seeing only a few foot steps in the mud ahead of us, so we figured that we were making good time. Then we stated catching 50km racers in the top ten. Many of whom were traveling very light and relying on aid stations to get them around. On the power climb back up to Johansen Peak we dropped a few racers.
My strength is down hill running so I figured that I would open it up from 45-58km given that most of it is downhill. My muscles felt great and I had lots of energy. But after seven hours of running, my knees started hurting. Every downhill hurt like hell.
We ran along the ridge line for five kilometers and to main summit and a clear view of the finish by the lake 2000ft below and 6.5 km away. All downhill. Normally I could have taken this section on like a madman, but now I was going down like a granny. James opted to stay and mock me rather than run ahead. The funny thing about coordination was that it upsets one’s coordination. I fell head over heals at one point. Despite this we managed to pass a number of people in much worse shape than I and move up in the standings.
The coolest thing had to be running through the centre of the village with the route lined with spectators. The finish line is located at Parc Plage, right on the beach of Lake Tremblant. For us, the distance was 58km and 7th place. The lake never felt so good. The winners came in at 7hr18min. We were 30min behind, no doubt because of my weak knees. People were still coming at 14 hours.
The next morning, many racers were up early looking for a greasy breakfast and too sore to stay in bed.