Canadian Trails

The Golden Ultra, B.C.

The Golden Ultra is the only one of its kind in western Canada. In fact, the only other Canadian counterpart is the UltraTrail du Mont Alberta, in eastern Quebec. The style is one that borrows from European trail and ultrarunning. That is, the style of Skyrunning, offering three disciplines: Vertical Kilometre (VK), ultramarathon, and a half-marathon. Skyrunning is a particular take on trail-running –defined by a focus on altitude and technicality. The shortest – and often most intense – discipline is the VK, in which participants ascend a minimum of 1,000 m in no more than 5k. The half and ultra are, naturally, longer but with comparable increases in ascent. The Golden Ultra offers the three events in back-to-back-toback days in Golden, B.C., in mid-September each year. The disciplines have been given the apt titles of Blood, Sweat and Tears.

“We were inspired to start the weekend after realizing that the potential for an amazing mountain course in Golden is really unique,” race director Magi Scallion, says, pointing out that nearly 90 per cent is on single-track. She wanted to promote the community of Golden and its amazing trails, so she started the race.

Blood

Friday evening brought 178 runners together to charge up the VK course from the base of the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort to its summit at 2,339 m. Although it was the shortest race of the weekend, the average grade is 23 per cent. To compare: the Alpe D’Huez climb –famous in the Tour de France– ascends at an average of not quite eight per cent.

After a summer of horrendous wildfires and a week’s worth of snow, fortunately for the racers, the return of a few days worth of late summer weather helped dry the trails and melt the snow, other than some high altitude patches. The full-out effort climbing the mountain – leading runners to taste blood in their mouth – was offset by the early autumn cool air.

The frontrunners topped out well under an hour. Eric Carter, of Squamish, B.C., led the pack, finishing in 45:37. Kim Magnus, of Vancouver, led the women in 57:10. For even the fastest runners, the VK is a gruellingly slow “run.” For the rest, it is a long power hike. The final runner crossed the finish in just over two hours.

Sweat

Saturday morning saw the runners out early – too early some said, given the previous evening’s VK– for the 60k ultramarathon. This course took runners through trails in the forest into the alpine and across 15k of ridgeline and singletrack in the Purcell Mountains. The course featured 2,500 m of elevation gain and wound its way through a massive meandering loop. A Golden-specific challenge awaited runners at the height of the course at the third aid station. Numerous runners paused their race effort to head to the Eagle’s Eye Restaurant for a refreshment and post a “beer selfie” on Instagram. The final 20k of the course sent the runners cascading down from 2, 400 m back to 850 m at Golden’s Spirit Square in the middle of town. Eric Carter once again led the race until the final 12k where he was overtaken by