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ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners
8
O Canada
I set myself 7 races between May & September, with
the penultimate race (Summer NUTS) to qualify for
the World Championships. All went to plan with my
fitness and race prep and I found myself finishing
2nd in age group over 3 laps of Summer NUTS in
September, thereby qualifying for the World Finals
the following month. I had already pre-booked my
flights, hotels and race entries ahead of qualification.
Wednesday 12th October had arrived and I set off
for Canada on an adventure. I travelled with Matt
Igglesden and Andrew French from our own Team
Phoenix. Upon arrival at the resort, check in at the
hotel done, we went off to explore. What we saw next
simply blew our minds. Firstly, the start and finish
lines were in the heart of the village, a stones throw
from the hotel. It was then I looked up at the ski
slopes I would be running up and down over the next
3 days and ‘oh (expletive)’ came to mind.
Registration complete and feeling ever so proud with
my ‘Athlete Pass’. Me, an athlete at the age of 47!!
The day of reckoning was upon us. It was Friday,
time for the short course. The Masters (oldies to you
and I) were kicking it off as the first race of the entire
weekend at 8.30am on a chilly morning, no pressure
then! We set off in small waves of 8 athletes at a time
with a 2-3 minute gap in between each.
The 3K was raced across 20 obstacles up and
down the ski slopes. The first and easiest of
the obstacles (the hurdles), only 3 feet off the
ground, presented an unexpected challenge
for myself. As I jumped over, my leg landed on
one of the supporting struts, causing me to run
off with a slight limp after only the 1st obstacle
of the weekend, a donkey could have done
better! We then began to climb and it was at
this point I realised how much the hill training
I had put in prior to the championships would
make little difference at all! After a few basic
obstacles we came across the first big obstacle,
‘Toughest’s Dragon’s Back’, I had dreaded this
obstacle as the gap looked ‘huge’ on pre-race
inspection but found myself jumping both
without hesitation. Next was the Platinum
Samurai Rig, effectively a bunch of wooden
trunks which you had to cross by hugging the
trunk itself, gripping the top or touching the
bottom was forbidden. This caused endless issues for
people with a long line of people growing behind the
re-try lane. I completed first time and ran down the
hill to the Platinum Rig in the event village, it was here
that I faced my first mental challenge of the weekend.
I was comfortable on the rig in all my training but,
somehow, the enormity of the event, the crowds and
the pressure got to me and I failed my first attempt. It
was not even the most difficult rig that I had trained
for down at the PT Barn in Essex, but I must have
tried 6-7 times over a period of 25 minutes, each time
my grip strength growing weaker. I caved in
and gave up my wrist band. I knew I had the
rest of the weekend racing to think about, I
was disappointed with myself but had to move
on. It was then onto some walls, monkey
bars, sternum checker, skyline, suspended
walls and, my favourite at the end, ‘Urban
Sky’ where you had to swing your way across
spinning wheels positioned at various angles,
over the final HUGE wall and then over the
finishing line and into the open arms of the
Muddy Highlander and my first shiny World
Champs medal!
Wow, 1 done, 2 to go.
Saturday came for the main event. The 15K
standard course, this time I was in a much
later wave at 12.20 for the 45-49 age group
but it was sunny (20c) and easily short
sleeve compression top weather. Post the
3K the previous day, I was less nervous as I
knew some of what to expect, I was ready!
Coach ‘Conduct Your Business’ Pain speech
complete, we all set off together up the hill.
The first hour seemed to be endless climbing with
numerous different walls, quarter pipes, crawls,
cargo nets etc, you couldn’t run these hills, it was
painstakingly slow, left, right, left, hands on knee
type climbing and was physically draining and my
watch was telling how little I had gone even though it
felt I had already climbed a mountain, I had literally!
Then, thankfully, we started to descend and cracked
on over the Dragon’s Back again and onto the
Platinum Rig, my previous days’ nemesis. This time
I was prepared, although they had changed the rig
configuration.
With great encouragement from the sidelines I easily
completed it and set off back up the hill. It was then
RACE : REVIEW
the world championships
by Alan Manson
Canada was always
on my bucket list, but
I never dreamed that
I would be travelling
to the Blue Mountains
representing Team
UK for a sport that I
had fallen in love with
in my ageing years,
post a severe injury
where I couldn’t even
run until end of March
2016 after 7 months
out of action.
