Plenty of bananas, but no slip-ups

In the local competitive running community, the story is Caroline McIlroy consumed 50 bananas during her successful East Coast Trail speed record attempt earlier this month. Asked how many she actually ate along the 220km, 34-hour run, McIlroy pleads ignorance. “People said 50, but I think it’s probably a rumour,” she says with a chuckle. In terms of quantifying the run, McIlroy did change her footwear and socks every 50km. “I wanted to change my socks because they started to fill up with grit, but if I was going to get any blisters, just to change where they were rubbing on my feet,” says McIlroy, who attempted the feat in the fall of 2014, but came up just short. “I knew which bits were going to be more technical, so I wore really aggressive shoes for those bits and ones with less tread for the less technical bits.” The toughest part, she says, was the section of trail between Brigus South and LaManche. It was here that night began to descend on her, making navigating the trail quite tricky. “I never thought that bridge was going to come, it seemed to take forever,” she says of the hanging bridge in LaManche. “My stomach was bad at that point as well.” Overall, McIlroy says while it was quite challenging, it was actually fun. That’s not to say she’ll try to best her own record. In fact, she’s heard rumours that another ultra-marathoner from outside the province is considering making a run at it. But she forewarns anyone who plans on taking on the ECT. “I’ve done races away... and it’s much harder than anything I’ve done. Even running up the Rockies is not as hard as running the East Coast Trail. You’re always stepping over a rock or something.”