Canadian Trails

The Bromont Ultra, Que.

The Bromont Ultra is a race that both challenges the best of runners and changes lives. Every Thanksgiving weekend for the last six years, race participants have descended upon Bromont, located an hour from Montreal, at the base of Mont Brome in southwestern Quebec, to challenge themselves beyond their physical and mental limits while raising money for local and international charities. Considered one of the toughest ultras in eastern Canada, participants are keenly aware that the finish line is not always a given.

With 6,705 metres of elevation gain and loss, the Bromont Ultra is comparable to major races around the world. Gilles Poulin, the founder and director of the race, says that the mountains can seem deceiving: “The main challenge, mentally speaking, is not to underestimate the height of these mountains and that you’ll be going up and down them seven or eight times.” All the races are situated on the 80k course. The 160k does the loop twice and the 55k race uses 70 per cent of the course loop. Already in the first 17k of the race, participants will have gone up and down the mountains three times, followed by approximately 12k of dirt road, which acts as recovery for runners before they begin to ascent again. No matter the distance, runners should prepare for a challenge with positive elevation gains ranging from 153 m in the 6k to a gut-wrenching 7,000 m in the 160k race.

In addition to the elevation gain, runners will climb or descending for almost the entire race. Only six per cent of the 160k Bromont Ultra is on f lat terrain. One section of the course is so steep that a rope is used to traverse the climb. Known as “Lieutenant Dan’s climb,” this section comes on the third major ascent, at around 10k, and if conditions are wet, participants endure the physically intimidating task of scaling the rope. It can take up to 36 hours to complete the 160k Ultra.

Over the last six years the dnf ratio for the 160k has been about 50 per cent, mostly due to weather and improper hydration and food consumption.

Poulin explains that the trails vary widely both in length and challenge – some are long and easy while others are single tracks and highly technical. There are many ups and downs and zig zags near the summit of Mont Brome. After the excruciating final climb, the course heads straight down to the finish. Fortunately, from the summits and the few sections of open country roads, there are stunning views of the fall foliage. The basecamp for the event, as well as the start and finish lines for all races, is located at the Centre Équestre de Bromont, built in 1975 as a venue for most of the equestrian events contested during the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. At basecamp, or the “village,” runners can rest while they prepare for their race or wait for team members. “We have fires that burn all night and a restaurant open 2 4 hours. We served a meal a minute over 36 hours at our last event,” Poulin says.

Participants know that their effort goes to a good cause. The 2019 race supported 20 charities and has raised over a million dollars to date and all funds raised by participants are given to various causes through the Ultragiving Foundation.

ONLY SIX PER CENT OF THE 160K BROMONT ULTRA IS COMPRISED OF FLAT TERRAIN.