Ultimate XC 2011: the toughest solo race I have ever done!!!

Here I am writing my race report 3 days after the race. It is probably a good thing I have been waiting these 3 days so the pain is slightly easing off and I can be a little more enthusiastic about it :)

I drove up to Mont Tremblant on Thursday after work to get to registration and race briefing. I was getting nervous as I was getting closer and most of all when we got our bibs and I met the 7 other people doing the full solo distances (all guys :/ ). To give an overview of what was waiting for me the race consisted in 67km of paddling on

Friday, 58km of cross country running on Saturday and 100km of Mountain biking on Sunday.

Friday: We met at 5am on Friday morning and got driven up stream for a 7am start. We were 4 of us in prs spirit surf skis and the others were in wave hopper or even plastic litlle boats (poor them honestly not fun for the distance). Temperature was pretty good but I kept my full wetsuit pants and after spraying myself with anti mosquito stuff decided to go in tee shirt as they were expecting a pretty warm day. As soon as we started I knew I had to push it for a bit to stay with the guys in the front and eventually I knew they would slow down but the only way for me to get some good drafts was to push it so I did. After about an hour we had crossed the first lake and I was with the 2 first guys (Benoit Letourneau and Peter Dobos) and was even taking my turns up front. Ben turned towards me and said I was a pretty good paddler which pumped me up with pride and made me keep pushing to stay close. At the start of the river mouth Ben distanced us and I tried to stay with Peter. The first portage arrived quickly and there was a rope to get down the steep little hill but I decided it was too dangerous so kept walking a little...bad move..Ended up droping my boat down the steep hill a little further and ended up having to jump in the water and swim after baby boat floating away from me (good one frenchie, good one!!!). At that moment Patrick Lussier who was very close from the start (even with a little swim in the lake) passed me. The river was flowing but not as much as I thought it would. With all the rain they have over here I just couldn't believe how the rivers were not 4m high but anyway it was a very nice paddle so I shouldn't complain. After about 2h we were still following the river but we came to a Y intersection and I took the right turn not very sure of where to go. I set myself a 40min mark by which if I hadn't seen a feeding station by then I would turn around and Thanks god it was the right track. I passed Pat after about 3h of paddling and then we started the rapid sections which I am glad to annunce I mastered :) I even got clapped by a rescue guy who I almost winked at while finishing turning at the end of the rapid haha ;) To my luck Peter was struggling a little in the rapids and that is how after 4 hours I was 2nd with Peter and Pat right behind me.

This paddle reminded me alot the Avon descent in Perth (Australia) and the all way down the river I was thinking of Andrew, T2 and the gang I use to paddle train with thinking they would be proud of me if they could see me. After about 50km we had a 4.5km run to do where they would carry the boats for us from one point to another. I started the run just behind Peter and we could see Ben a couple of meters in front of us. My running didn't go well, probably due to wet suit pants and tri shoes in gravel and single tracks in the wood..Half way through the run i heard a gazelle coming behind (that was Pat) who stormed passed me. By the end of the run I was with Ben whilst Peter and Pat had taking off. We jumped back in our boats, Ben leaving 100m between us on the first lake and then after a couple of portages we ended up on the last 11km Lake (lake Tremblant) where I finally caught up with him. He wasn't feeling that good by that point and we travelled along together to the other side of the Lake. I ended up doing 3rd place in 7h10min and 12s for the 67km, only 11min behind Peter who came first. I was so so proud i couldn't even feel the pain (yet). In addition we had awesome people cheering up (Ben's dad, Ben Gautier, alex etc....) along the way which always gives more energy to push through the pain so thanks guys :)

Saturday: After a good night sleep (thanks Simon and Genevieve for letting me stay for 2 days at yours) I drove up to the start of the run. We started at 7am. I am not too sure how many people started the 58km (people were allowed to register for one day racing and for various distances) but I know from the results that 75 finished (and I also know that other people missed the cut off times). so 7am the race started and from the start I knew I was the last one of the 8 of the full solo but I didn't care. I just wanted to go through the day and I also knew the 2nd cut off time at 14.5km was the one I had to make as it was the tighter one. We had 2.5h to get to it. The start of the run was ondulating but on firm terrain so it was fine but then it got technical in single tracks through the forest, climbing a little sometimes and then we had a 4km throught the swamp and river where I knew I wouldn't progress any faster than 4km/h. The freezing water (sometimes to waist high) was actually not that bad and I ended up catching up with some people who passed me earlier in the wood. I got to the feeding station in 2h18 and then started climbing the Mont Tremblant for the first time of the day. I was still feeling pretty good, walking the uphill sections and running the flat and downhills. Went up and down back to the feeding station at km 21 and was still feeling good. It's only when I got to the top of pic Johansen (2nd time up) that I saw one of the full solo competitor, Peter. We were at km 30 I think and he wasn't feeling great. He decided to join me and that's how we went through the next 28km. On the way to the feeding station at km 40 I started feeling the fatigue and kept tripping over every single stump and roots that were on the ground which was painful but mainly irritating. I do apologise for how rude I might have been when these things happens but JJJeeezzzz that was annoying. After km 40 we had to climb again the peak Johansen and get to Mont Tremblant before doing the last goind down section. At this stage it was getting hard physically but also mentally. I kept reminding myself a day in the Stirling ranges with Jo, Troye, Robin and Rich and Rich's voice was in my head repeating to me "baby step Frenchie, baby step", and that's how I went to the top of this last climb. On the top or almost I had a little moment of exhaustion but that didn't last more than a minute and I was back in a pretty good rythme. The lsat 8km going down hills were the hardest and I think we walked it all. 2km before the end we saw Alex there taking pictures and that was a sign we were close to the finish and that helped heaps. We managed to trot our way through the line in 10h38min. I ended up 7th of the solo (7-8 should I say), 9th/13 women (for the day competitors and I was the youngest) and 55th/75 finishers overall for the day competitors. I was pretty glad with that. I did my whole run in my Unleash compression and I am pretty sure my legs wouldn't have hold up without them.

That night I stayed at Patrick's place (thank you heaps by the way) as it was very close to the bike start. After preparing the bike and having dinner I tried to get some sleep. I was wearing a pair of compression as my legs were starting to be a bit sore but the worst was my toes from all the banging against stump etc..I really thought I had broken one as it was swollen and painful. Around 2am I was awake with my legs hurting and ended up legs in the air for a while before getting back to sleep.

Sunday: At 6am was the start of the MTB sections with about 60 people (including the 8 full solo competitors and the others being one day racers). We were 5 girls on the start line. I didn't have an inch of motivation to get on the bike especially after the speech of Dan Desrosiers, race director, introducing the leg as the toughest 100km bike race in the world. I was already tired and within 2 minutes of the start I was far behind all the riders. Actually Peter passed me after maybe 5 min and Pierluc (another full solo competitor) decided he would stay with me. I don't know how to thank him for that cause I don't know if I would have given up within the first 20km of the race. I am usually ok on the bike as I am endurant and climbing is usually my strenght but I am not technical and that was just a nightmare for me. Way too hard. After 20km of single tracks and a fall in a hole (thanks guys for taking me out of there) we had reached Peter who was suffering even more than I was (hard to imagine really). At that stage I only had cried twice (correct me Pierluc if I am wrong haha) but had a little boost of energy so I left the guys and started catching up on a couple of people. I actually felt good until the 50km mark. I managed to keep a 10km/h pace which is slow as but in the condition of riding we were in it was actually very ok. By km 54 I saw Isabelle who gave up due to sickness (she wasn't feeling great from the start on) and I saw her again on the top of a sharp short hill at the feeding station 63km. At that stage I was starting to feel very fragile. Dan was there, he filled up my camel back, gave me electrolytes tablets and food and cheered me on.

From there on it was going up and up and up. I managed to stay on my bike going slow but on my bike until the bottom of Mont Tremblant where Ben Gautier told me I would have to climb 650m over 6.5km from there to the top. I was shattered at that point and didn't managed to stay on my bike very long on this stretch..So I pushed and pushed and pushed pretty much the whole way up. My bike was feeling heavier and heavier and I ran out of food :/ I was desperate to finish the race by then.

Once on the top I thought it would go better but as I started going down I turned into more single tracks once again way too technical for me and ended up pushing my bike down (Doh!!!!). I also missed a turn and because it was a little loop got to the next arrow and continued my way without realising. It's only 8km further that I got told there was a 2.5km loop I missed but I didn't have time to get back up there to do it (or I would miss the cut off time) so I got asked to finish the race anyway without knowing really if they would give me a penalty or disqualify me. I crossed the finish line in tears thinking I would be DNF after so much effort and was devastated but they actually decided to give me a half hour penalty instead which I am grateful for. I went through the line in 11h07min which should be half hour more with penalty. I ended up on the podium for 3rd place woman open under 40, 4th woman overall. I also got 6th of the full solo (actually should be 7th with the penalty)

Overall for the 3 days race I am pleased to say I placed 5th/8 with a total of 28h56min16s of racing. It was from far the longest and toughest solo race I have ever done and I am glad I went through. Over these 4 days I met wonderful people and Dan, the organisation and the volunteers made a great job out there. 2 days ago I would still have said never again but my goldfish memory seems to forget pretty quickly the pain and now I am thinking that if I work hard on the bike this year I will be back next year!!

N.L.

June 17, 18 and 19, 2011 - 

Mont-Tremblant, Québec

Welcome to the Ultimate XC!

The Ultimate XC is a one-of-a-kind race. During a long weekend, this event brings together athletes from all over the world to be challenged while playing outdoors.

The most difficult racing challenges await them: on the first day, paddlers will undertake 67 km on lakes and rivers. On the second day, they will enter a full-on 58 km trail running race . At last, the weekend ends beautifully on a breathtaking 100 km mountain bike course. Some participants go for the "à la carte" weekend, taking part in one or more of the three challenges. The canoe-kayak race offers two distances, 21 km on Lake Tremblant or 47 km on rivers and lakes. Better yet, you may feel up to the challenge for our 13, 21, 35 or 58 km trail running courses. Others will opt only for the mountain biking race on a safe and fully marked course.

Day 1: 67km paddle - Placed 3rd overall - Time = 7h10min.
Nat was only 10min behind 1st place.

Day 2: 58km trail run - Time = 10h30

Day 3: 100km mountain bike - Placed 7th solo - time = 11h15.