The 2009 edition of the Canadian Death Race just started. It’s going to be an exciting and hot day! The weather says a high of 31 Celsius, and at 8am it is already over 18 degrees.
Jack Cook is back as usual, and I am sure he is more than ready for what’s coming. He has won this race several times, and this year, he has interesting competition. The main competitor may be Dean Karnazes, a famous runner and author who has, among other things, run 350 miles (560 km) in 80 hours and 44 minutes without stopping, run 148 miles (238 km) in 24 hours on a treadmill. In other words, a Death Racer with plenty of distance experience.
The Death Race is not just about distance though. Running over three different mountain summits and covering over 17,000 feet (5,200 m) in elevation is not exactly a walk in the park.
As for myself, I’m running leg 3 as a volunteer runner. I was not able to register a team early enough, so we missed out. However, last night I finally got assigned to a team, a very interesting team as well – they are British Commando Military! They have been in Alberta for training for a few weeks and decided the Death Race would be a good training experience. They have 3 teams entered, and I’m running for their team number 2. One of their runners is very fast – 8:37 on the steeplechase is very impressive!
I will start my leg around 2pm today, and I bet it will be wicked hot by then. The distance is 19 km, and it’s mostly downhill. I think I will bring a couple of small water bottles along, since there are no waterstations on this leg. Leg 3 can be the hottest of all legs I’ve been told, and the weather this year is the hottest ever in the 10 year history of this race.
