I am relatively new to trail running, having been introduced to the sport through a local trail running series that ran in Newmarket (operated by Team Running Free member Mark Cairns) a couple of summers ago. Despite being new to the sport, last year I began to dream about doing a mountain race. I don’t know whether I was drawn in by reading stories of mountain races in print and online articles, or by recognizing the strange appeal that we runners have with tough efforts, but for some inexplicable reason I was attracted to the mountains. Living in Southern Ontario, with no mountain ranges really close by, I began to research mountain races in Quebec, but I was unable to find a mountain race that would fit my demanding schedule in 2014. Then, back in January, I stumbled upon the website for the North Face Endurance Challenge. This race series, promoted by famous ultrarunner Dean Karnazes, was expanding for the first time outside of USA, to the Blue Mountain ski area close to Collingwood, a short 1 1/2 hour drive away from my home base. The race promised the most pronounced elevation gain of any trail race in Ontario, and boasted the following description: “Runners can expect wooded terrain throughout the mountains, as they run from the top of escarpments to the bottom of valleys. The course will keep coming back for more with constant elevation gains and losses in excess of 800 feet. High bluffs and wide valleys provide excellent views of the rolling countryside and will leave runners humbled by both the beauty and the unique terrain that this area has to offer”. It sounded perfect! I immediately signed up for the Half Marathon, and began to dream about my ‘mountain’ run.
Being a bigger operation than the average local trail race, The North Face Endurance Challenge offered some interesting pre-race features that made the built the excitement level even more. The website contained Course Guides for the various distances (the race had a kids run, 5, 10, 21.1, 42.2, 50 and 80km races spread out over two days) which explained the routes and elevation changes over the race courses. The race also would have a post-race festival featuring booths of various vendors. Dean Karnazes would be in Ontario for the race, not only for the Friday evening pre-race briefing at Blue Mountain (I didn’t go to that), but also for the races (he set us off on our way on race day after offering his thoughts to the runners). Overall I was impressed with the level of organization the race had, and eagerly looked forward to the race, even if my trail training lacked the kinds of elevation changes we would be experiencing in our race (over 1700m of elevation change in the Half Marathon).
Race day broke humid, hot, windy, and rainy, with drizzle off and on during the first hour of the race, making conditions slippery and muddy for the whole course. However, as the race wore on, the sun burst through the clouds, heating up the more exposed latter hills of the race course. The course had runners tackle the Blue Mountain ski hill (run-hiking UP the hill), followed by a short single track section which then led to yet another hike up the Niagara Escarpment. All of the promises about big elevation happened within the first 6km of the race, and by the time I hit the first aid station there, I was drenched in sweat with sore legs, heavy breathing, and unsure about how I was going to tackle the next 15km! But I loved it! Just before this aid station, a bit further down the escarpment, as I was power-hiking up the hill, I heard a rustling in the trees immediately beside me. All of a sudden, out of the bushes, a large deer burst out, galloping across the dirt road we were running on, and darted back into the bushes on the other side of the road! Had I been about 3 strides ahead, the deer would’ve ploughed into me, no doubt ending my race day and possibly my racing season (or career!). The runners around me joked that our deer crossing woke us up, since we had all settled into a monotonous march up the Escarpment.
Once we crested the Escarpment, we ended up on the trails of the Scenic Caves trail system. This section was mostly double track, with gentle hills and non-technical dirt trail terrain, making for easy, quick running after the slog uphill. I was able to (surprisingly) open up my stride a bit in this section, running swiftly through the beautiful, easy forest trails. As we approached the second aid station at about 11km, I realized that I’d made a rookie mountain running blunder: I pushed too fast too soon. While I’d really paced myself up the challenging early mountain climb, my fast pace for the next 5km meant that I’d used up precious energy that I might have needed for the second half of the course. Setting out from the second aid station, I resolved to shift my running to energy conservation mode, hoping that I’d be able to stay strong in the increasingly hot conditions.
From the North Face Endurance Challenge website: a typical late-race uphill section with beautiful views in the distance!
Featuring more technical stretches on singletrack on the side of the Blue Mountains, as well as several climbs and descents up and down the actual grassy ski hills, I needed every bit of energy to survive the second half of the course! Fellow runners and I were a bit surprised at the monstrosity of hills that we faced in the second half: though dwarfed by our earlier climbs, the hills were still quite large and steep, reducing all of us to our gasping-for-air power hike strides that we used in the early kms. The downhills were equally challenging: steep, sometimes technical, and, in the case of one hill shortly after the second aid station, sometimes riddled with sharp turns that (almost) had me going over the edge of the Escarpment! My race strategy (from blazing through 5-11km to adopting a more conservative pace) held up well on this challenging but exciting part of the course, and I ambled up a large hill into our last aid station at 19km prepared to assault the final downhill push to the finish line. However, the course had one more surprise for me: the downhill portion I hoped to stride down to the finish was actually a highly technical bit of singletrack running, complete with hundreds of rickety wooden stairs that runners literally had to walk carefully and gingerly down to prevent a serious tumble off down the mountain. Though the trail was admittedly gorgeous, with waterfalls always within sight and earshot, I still found it a bit frustrating to tackle, since the technical conditions caused the field of runners to bunch up at that point. Finally, at the end of the descent, we had the opportunity to run a wider, less technical doubletrack trail to the finish line, and I was able to open up some speed again finally after reining myself in for the second half of the race. Under the brilliant sunshine of the second half of the race, I crossed the line in by far my slowest half marathon time ever (attributed to the mountains and mud!): 2:41:36, 50th out of 225 runners, 35th out of 125 men, and 6th in my age group (out of 21). I was very pleased with my performance, not only with my ability to successfully shift my racing strategy midway through the race, but I was also amazed at the stores of energy I called upon in the second half of the race. I was very surprised at my body’s way of handling the challenge of the hills, heat and mud! I know it’s a cliche, but we are truly a lot stronger than we realize, and I finished the race definitely feeling that about myself.
Enjoying the post-race high…didn’t get an age group placing but still felt like a victory to me!
With my runner’s high buzzing, I was able to enjoy the race festival, complete with food (the peanut butter and jam sandwiches were a nice touch), music, interesting booths, and near instantaneous race results. Runners, loved-ones, and volunteers milled about the festival creating probably the best finish-line atmosphere I’ve ever experienced in my years of racing. The North Face Endurance Challenge‘s stellar organization delivered on all of their promises of a challenging, beautiful course with all of the amenities of a ‘big’ race. While the bunching up of runners on the early up-mountain climb and late downhill trek made for a bit of frustration, overall the race was ultimately well-organized, fun, challenging, and featured all of the elevation gain my body was craving, while making this mid-packer feel like a rock star out there!
Muddy legs and shoes = happy runner! PS: I got my shoes at Running Free Newmarket!
So, in the end, I got my ‘mountain’ race in! And I couldn’t have asked for a better, manageable (but difficult) introduction to significant elevation changes and ‘mountain’ vistas. Let’s just say that, instead of satisfying my craving for mountain running, The North Face Endurance Challenge has only whetted my appetite for more! So, I’m looking to sign up again for this race again next year, and maybe even ensuring one of those Quebec mountain races work with my schedule, too! 😉
