The trip from Alberta to Antarctica, to compete in the Antarctica Marathon and Half Marathon, starts with a 19-hour plane ride to Ushusia, the southernmost city in the world.
From there, you set off on a trip across the tumultuous Drake Passage, battling seasickness as the 30-foot swells batter the boat.
Kim Stark, one of two Jasperites who took that trip earlier this month, remembers waking up the morning the boat entered the passage to find barf bags hanging from all the rails.
She remembers 200-pound men sliding across the floor while trying to eat dinner, and constantly napping because there was no hope of accomplishing anything at all.
Lorraine Wilkinson, the other local who made the journey, said it was probably the most sick she has ever felt.
鈥淚鈥檝e never felt like that in my life. I kept throwing up, and my whole body was shaking,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was awful.鈥�
The boat ride lasts two days, and when it ends you begin to feel human again. You can remove the special patch that provides the slow drip of Dimenhydrinate that keeps your stomach from curling into a thousand knots, and you can do more than just lay in bed and eat.
Then, you pile into a Zodiac and zip across the water to the continent of Antarctica.
鈥淓verything is so pristine and clean鈥攖here鈥檚 no garbage鈥攊t was just amazing, absolutely amazing,鈥� Wilkinson said of the icy continent.
Starks impression was similar: 鈥渏ust utter, raw beauty,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e live in a beautiful place here in Jasper, but [Antarctica] just takes it to the next level of beauty, it鈥檚 just so pristine.鈥�
Of course, that beauty is a difficult to appreciate on marathon day. The race, which actually took place on two separate days, was held on King George Island. Wilkinson and Stark ran on opposite days, but both battled brutal terrain and miserable weather.
Wilkinson鈥檚 race saw her slogging through the three-lap course 鈥渃alf deep in sloppy mud. There was rain, and the rain had sleet and snow in it. It was hitting [my] face and it was like shards of glass,鈥� she said, adding that by the time she was finished she had lost three spikes from her spiked racing shoes.
Now, Wilkinson is no slouch, but the difficult course left her with a race time of 5 hours and 46 minutes, and that was still enough to make her the second fastest women in her age group.
Stark鈥檚 day was even tougher than Wilkinson鈥檚, with even stronger winds and a damp chill creeping into her bones. She also suffered from 鈥渓and sickness鈥� the whole race, battling the feeling that the ground was swelling up beneath her feet as she ran.
She finished with a time three minutes faster than Wilkinson, on a day when even the Olympic athlete who won the race clocked in at well over four hours.
The event was put on by a marathon touring company, so when the race was finished, participants hung around for another week exploring the continent, doing polar bear dips, kayak excursions and hikes to research camps.
Both women gushed about the wildlife鈥攑enguins that piled on top of unsuspecting tourists and seals that swam inches from their kayaks鈥攁nd Stark even attended a wedding.
The Antarctica race marks the fourth stop on both women鈥檚 personal quests to run marathons on all seven continents. With the toughest one out of the way, Wilkinson is looking to South America, while Stark is happy鈥攁t least for the moment鈥攖o revel in her experience at the end of the world.
Trevor Nichols
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