Home of Lethbridge Alberta, where you close your eyes and image barren farm landscapes, and yet, get ready to be bedazzled… say hello to the coulees…
V-shaped, steep, valleys found alongside the rivers of this town… I hadn’t heard of the word until this race fell onto my lap… literally … again another race I do where it sells out within minutes… I stumbled upon it when I was researching WSER qualifiers…
I put my name on the waitlist, and apparently was lucky enough for them to change the rules for selling and swapping your registration if you can no longer run… I made one post on the Facebook group, and had a message in my mailbox within a day… what are the odds I thought ?
Next thing you knew I was on a plane the first week in September to Calgary… super cheap flights btw… we ended up booking an air b an b in Picture Butte, maybe 30 minute drive, just a beautiful spot with a full kitchen to cook our own meals and race prep, as I’m one that has my own concoction for my fuel…
Race starts and ends at Pavan Park, central Lethbridge and is a 50 km loop… the advantages of this race are rich in convenience if you don’t have a crew… you go out on a South loop which brings you back to the start finish area at 20 ish km… you then travel North up to Pavan aid and do a lolly pop loop coming back to same aid and back to the start… you can drop at Pavan, so really the distance from start finish to Pavan is dismal and it made for logistic grace and peace of mind…
You start with super runnable flat terrain and then you hit this dusty trail as you notice you are probably going to ascend this beast that’s nearing you, haha…. You go up maybe a few hundred steps to the top, but wow you are met with a stellar view…
Very runnable at the top, weaving double track trails taking you eventually down how much you came up into an aid at around 10 k. Then back out to the start finish area…
From here the race begins to get “real” haha… I laugh because you enter a series of ups and downs in the coulees in this section, in my opinion are the hardest, although debatable with people arguing Pavan loop takes the crown… but the scenes from the top of the climbs are honestly freeze frames stuck in my mind for years to come… picture like running on ridges that drop a hundred metres left and right of you, like miniature rockies, but there own distinct beauty and charm…
The climbs and descents are steep, they may not be long in nature, but they will beat you up… if a challenge is what you seek, look no further, the coulee’s are your arena… race director specifically found 16 climbs for you each loop…
There’s something about mountain races, that stand a little higher to me… the views alone are splendid, but then traversing something repeatedly over and over again for 100 k that is strikingly difficult just breathes a type of satisfaction from accomplishing the task at hand, that just adds to the flavour of the ultra scene…
I loved chatting with locals and other racers most of all… super friendly, super passionate, super proud of their town, and super amped about running and racing…
The volunteers kept me fuelled and quick to fill bottles and just about any other request known to the inquiry…
Race director is a gentleman, and there’s a reason why there’s an army of support around him and this race; it shows in full force…
I had a dandy race, I just couldn’t find the speed I was hoping for to lock into a top performance, but the course was one of the most shockingly beautiful things I have ever done in my life… I say that because you don’t often think of beauty when uttering the word “prairies” but I assure you plenty of beauty all around, and I fell in love with the coulees…
Only downside, and I have to mention this ,as I feel it would serve injustice if I didn’t, the smell at times is pretty gross… there’s a portion that passes a sewage plant, and a water treatment area, but this year, apparently the winds were directing most of the awfulness on the course and it was prominent; then again the second loop It didn’t seem to bother me; and it doesn’t slow the speed of registration so don’t let this discourage you if you were on the ropes with this great option for the end of summer…
I crossed the line in about 13 hours flat… spectacular half day all in all… btw the park is 1.5 hours from Waterton National park… one of my favourite parks and home to my top hike in all of Canada Crypt Lake… you pay for a charter boat ride about 30 minutes and hike 20 ish k out and back to this exquisite gem of a national treasure… boat picks you back up in a 4-6 hours… this is a bucket list trip… put it on your calendar !!!
