Dave MacDowell and Tracy Garneau both claimed records at the Peacock 100 ultramarathon in Hawaii last month.
MacDowell competed in the 50 km race, finishing in a record six hours and 15 minutes. Garneau, meanwhile, set a new record in the women鈥檚 100 km event, finishing in thirteen hours and eight minutes.
The Peacock 100 is a tough race because of the oppressive humidity of Hawaii and the constant changes in elevation, said Garneau.
Only about a kilometre of the course is flat and the rest is a constant cycle of climbing and descending, with close to 18,000 feet of climbing through the whole course.
If those conditions sound grueling, it鈥檚 because鈥攆or most people鈥攖hey are, but for Garneau, they are nothing compared to some of the races she has completed in the past.
Sponsored by North Face, she鈥檚 competed in eight-day races through the jungles of Brazil and week-long events through arctic climates. She loves them, she said, because they are one of the most extreme tests of a person鈥檚 mental strength. Twenty-four hours of straight running exhausts a person鈥檚 mind in insane ways, she explained, and overcoming that and finishing a race feels fantastic.
It鈥檚 not uncommon for ultramarathon runners to hallucinate, throw up or lose their toenails in the middle of a race, and yet they just keep going.
鈥淚n my darker moments I have thought, 鈥業 hope a grizzly bear eats me so I have an honourable did not finish,鈥� she said.
Most races have a 60 to 70 per cent dropout rate, but Garneau said she鈥檚 finished races where only 10 of 110 participants crossed the tape.
鈥淪he paints her nubs,鈥� MacDowell chimes in as Garneau talks, prompting her to explain how, as a pre-race ritual, she paints the skin where her toenails used to be.
Ultramarathons have gained popularity over the past five years, but MacDowell said he started running them before the word 鈥渦ltramarthon鈥� existed.
鈥淲e just thought we were running really far,鈥� he said with a shrug.
He remembers looking at maps of Jasper in the 80s and wondering how far he could go, and proudly marking off his routes after finishing them. One such map still sits in his and Garneau鈥檚 basement.
On one such trip, he and some friends decided to run the Skyline Trail. MacDowell still remembers trucking through the snow near the top of the peak, and coming upon a tent.
When they called out, the tent unzipped and a bewildered hiker poked his head out. The man and his companions had been trapped by the snow, and were awaiting a helicopter rescue.
鈥淪o there we were standing in shorts, and when he asked us what we were doing, we just told him we were out for a jog,鈥� MacDowell said with a laugh. On his way down the mountain that day, MacDowell heard the sound of helicopter on its way to rescue the group.
That kind of adventure is what it鈥檚 all about for MacDowell. While he does compete, he admits that it鈥檚 more about just running for him.
He and Garneau often enter the same race, and MacDowell said he鈥檚 just as happy to pace his partner, than go all out.
鈥淚f I had a choice between just racing, or running with Tracy, I want to run with Tracy,鈥� he said.
Trevor Nichols
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