Conditions ideal for Cactus Crawl
Runners perhaps had the ideal weather conditions with cooler temperatures in the 28th annual Coulee Cactus Crawl run on Saturday that took them throughout the river valley.
The 20-mile trail race took runners up and down the coulees along the river valley.
Participants had the option to run the trek solo or in teams and the trail was divided into five legs.
“Like on a hot day, it can definitely test your mental and physical abilities as it gets pretty hot and there’s not much shade out in the coulees,” said Brandon Regier of Runners Soul, race organizers.
“And then you know on a day like today, like it cannot be more perfect conditions. You know, pretty overcast, you know not super-hot — like it’s literally perfect conditions. And If it’s rainy, the coulees are pretty slimy, and so therefore then we could cancel the race or it might be just depending on a judgment call on what that looks like, but that could be another challenge as well.”
With the Crawl being a trail race, organizers see all ends of the spectrum when it comes to athleticism.
“From like a little bit more of the faster elite runners all the way to people who are just jumping into trail running,” said Rieger.
“It’s a great way especially as a team to kind of get into the sport of trail running because each leg is roughly six to seven kilometres. So it’s a good like dabble into the sport if you’re not really sure if you’re a trail runner and what not.”
Organizers had to cap the race this year for the first time since its exception. Regier says around the 300 mark. Regier said people really love the low keyness.
“We don’t try to make it a huge deal,” he said.
“It’s beer and tacos at the finish line. Yeah, I don’t know it’s just appealing. A lot of people also use it as a nice training run.”
“It’s nice,” said Carl Dueck, on the trail.
“It’s just dirt, a little bit of gravel here and there. But, you know, easy to run on, soft on your feet, it’s a great track.”
Dueck thought anywhere there were hills, your heart rate soars.
“I don’t Know, I’ve never been able to run it all the way, I’ve had to always walk some of the hills,” he said.