Follow my journey as I traverse beautiful wilderness.

Canadian Death Race 2023

CDR 2023

My crew and I arrived on Friday afternoon in the small town of Grande Cache, AB Canada to check in for a second crack at the Canadian Death Race.

I often find it challenging to sleep on the night before a race and this was no exception. Regardless, I woke up early feeling rested and ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

My parents and sister did a great job crewing and making sure my nutrition, hydration and pacing came together as planned.

It was great to catch up with a few friends at the starting line to take our minds off the anxiety and jitters that often come with endurance sports.

The photographers did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the experience. The Death Race isn’t known for its flowy, runnable trails. Often the terrain was technical and steep requiring close attention to every step.

In 2022, legs #1 and #2 combined with a hot, humid day were too much for my training and I was forced to DNF after vomitting and shaking for over an hour and missing the cutoff to start leg #3. This year I was grateful fo a slightly cooler day and better pacing and hydration which allowed me to finish leg #2 in great shape. Smiles were all around as we were now entering new territory.

Crews and spectators often run alongside the competitors for a short distance as they come into the aid stations after completing 1 of the 5 legs.

Epic views over rivers and mountain ridges. All day long I found inspiration from the beautiful scenery despite my legs wanting to rest.

I was able to enjoy some cookies mid-way through leg #3 which I would need every bit of to tackle the big ascent of Mt. Hamell that was looming after the start of leg #4.

My sister Ashley ran alongside me near the end of leg #3. This was a special moment for us as she’d recently had ACL surgery and had only just been cleared to start running again.

Setting out on leg #4 just before dusk. My goal was to reach the summit of Mt. Hamell around sunset where I could run down the ridge and pick up my Canadian Death Race coin for paying the boatman for my entrance into the underworld later in the race.

After a challenging leg #4, my crew and I regrouped as I gathered supplies to take me through the final leg #5. Leg #5 involves more than 12 miles of ascent and descent as well as a short boat ride across the Smokey River. In order to finish the race, all racers are required to pay the commemorative Death Race coin to Styx in order to take a boat to the underworld and finish the race. The last boat left at 6:30am giving racers 1.5 hours to run the remainder of the leg and finish the course before the 24 hour cutoff.

A lot of my motivation on the last leg was to make the final cutoff and complete the race so that I wouldn’t have to come back next year and try again. Thankfully everything came together for this event and I was able to complete the Canadian Death Race and longest trail-run since I began running in 2020. I’m very grateful to Sinister Sports, Search and Rescue, the volunteers and of course my fantastic crew consisting of my parents and sister.

Once the race was over, I was overcome by emotions and eventually exhaustion from running through the night almost 24 hours total. I was happy to get in the vehicle home and sleep in the back, waking up only to eat more pizza and remind myself that it had indeed happened and was now complete. The emotions continued to flow out of me for weeks and this event will truly be something I remember for the rest of my life.

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