Ultimate XC 2009 Edition – 50 km Mt. Tremblant

56 km in 9:15 hours, need I say more! 10,000 ft. of climbing, beaver trails, brook running with slick rocks (shall I say brook crawling), culvert with running water flowing at you as you try to climb in, trails that you keep questioning “are we really on a trail”, hungry blackflies, excellent volunteers and one crazy Race Director (Dan). Is how I would describe the 2009 edition of Ultimate XC at Tremblant. (http://www.ultimatexc.com/)

The race started in the village of Tremblant, (if you have ever been to Tremblant you know the village is actually on the hill), the course had us starting at the bottom running up, it was slow moving as it was a narrow passage way (but later in the race you get to come down this passage way!). There were lots of spectators out that morning which created great energy for the race start.

Within the first 15 minutes of the race we (my running partner Audrey and I) were into the first section of single track, rocks were slick, racers were trying to pass each other and people always tripping. Tough to get a quick pace in this section, shortly thereafter we hit the famous brook running section (which Dan is known to put in all of his races), we had to continually keep crossing it to find a runable section, this section was really slick and tricky, I pretty much had to have both hands on other rocks to navigate myself through the flowing water to avoid wipeouts.

At 14.5 km you hit the aid station with the drop bags, there were many volunteers, with great attitudes, drop bags were very well organized. At this point, we really had no need to stop so we just kept moving. I remember saying out loud shortly after this point is “I just want to run”, that is what I do best, the trails (or lack of) were really tough to run on and we admit, we are the slowest walkers ever!

Climb 2, was a steep one, it was a constant uphill grind, virtually unrunable, hiking up this climb we ran into other Running Free athletes doing the 25 km and got to check in and see how everyone was doing, that was a nice break (I think Audrey gets sick of talking to me). Once we reached the top of climb 2, onto the next decent, runable..yes, we were so excited, and we had so much energy as up until now, we could barely run any of the course. I remember looking at my watch and we were around 4.5 hours.

At 6 hours, we hit an aid station (I think aid #7 or 8), at the aid station there were about 8 racers filling water and resting, we flew through the aid station, (remember we still have so much energy) and started the last ascent. The last ascent I would say not as tough as the 2nd one, we just kept getting stronger, hammering the hill as fast as we could, trying to make up for all the time we lost walking. Eventually you popped out of the trees and you could see the summit house where the next aid station was. It was a gravel road up, then we noticed, there was another woman just ahead, at this point we knew we were 4th & 5th (well really tied for 4th) place overall in the female category. Then all of a sudden, I get this sudden competitive urge, and decided to start running up the gravel road to catch her (Audrey hates when I do this). When she finally noticed us we were almost at the top, we caught her, in the aid station, she was in and out of there as fast as she could. I knew this was going to be a race of who can run downhill faster. Audrey and I started to chase her, but it was obvious, she was a much better downhill runner then us. So off she went for her 3rd place!

The downhill to the finish felt like it went on forever, it was long, rolling terrain, through the trees (not just a straight downhill), but you knew, this is it, the final kms…almost finished. Eventually you could see the village, you could hear the village, then you reached the village. Running through the village (downhill passage way) was great, people cheering you on, sitting on patios (having a cold beer, to be honest I was very jealous, I somewhat thought that would be me at this point in the day, as I had no idea that this race would take so long). We crossed the line tied for 4th place overall female. The finish line was brilliant with lots of spectators, great hamburgers and a lake to jump in to cool off.

When the race director Dan designs his courses, he is very honest, and says, this will be the hardest 50km (actually 56km) that you have ever done, and he is right. His running races are not your typical races, they are long, technical and always hilly. This is my 2nd race (Jay Challenge & Ultimate XC) that he has designed and I can say they are very well organized, volunteers are always willing to help and the overall butt kicking experience was great! Thanks Dan for another great race!

Find out more about the next Ultimate XC event at www.ultimatexc.com