Tag: ultrarunning

  • Q After Ultra

    Questions abound leading up to the race, but what happens afterwards? Here are some of the questions spinning through ultra runners’ minds on the day after the big race. With a nod to all my Old Tom Backyard friends who might be asking some of these questions today.

  • Memories of Mantario

    When Greg, Cory, and I finally snuck in a Mantario run on a rare warm November last fall, we had no idea what would happen to this wilderness area just a few months later. Six months later, half of the trail has burned, questions abound as to the future of the trail, and so many…

  • Old Tom Backyard Poster

    The day(s) of the Old Tom Backyard quickly approach, and maybe you, like me, are feeling all the waves of excitement and dread that come with this epic adventure. If you’d like to commemorate the race, or maybe point to the exact spot on the course where, after 47 or 25 or 2 yards you…

  • Old Tom Backyard

    Last year we went in unawares, most of us having never running a Backyard Ultra before (as my race plan might have suggested). This year, we’re smarter, though possibly not wiser. Old Tom Backyard enters its second year, and we look forward to nearly endless loops around the barns and through the woods, followed by…

  • No time to spare in Beaudry

    “You’re late.” In 2019 I signed up to run loops of this beautiful little trail along the Assiniboine River west of Winnipeg during the annual Beaudry Fall Classic. This particular year, the race was preceded by a couple weeks of heavy rain, and as I drove out on a dark fall morning, the windshield wipers…

  • Actif Epica

    I’d been curious about the Actif Epica, an annual race along the Crow Wing Trail, for several years, and 2025 was my year to finally be part of it. As the day approached, the forecast continued to promise “classic Manitoba winter” temperatures below -20° C. The race bills itself as a “celebration of human resilience,”…

  • Race the North Face

    A few short miles south of the city, the Brandon Hills tower above the surrounding farmland. Equally beautiful and cruel (to the unacclimatized flatlander) singletrack trails weave throughout this impressive landscape, and play host to the annual Race the North Face. I raced the course in 2022, and both thoroughly enjoyed the race and was…

  • Old Tom Backyard Race Plan

    In two weeks’ time me and some friends will be exploring Old Tom’s backyard, over and over again. This race format includes running one lap every hour, last man standing. I might not be standing much. I plan on running, walking, sitting, eating, etc. As you can tell my race plan is very dialed in……

  • Puddle Rating System

    On the weekend participants of Suffer on Centennial, trail race in Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park, learned that while the English language has only one word for “puddle”, it can mean oh so many things. I have compiled the extensive research and data contributions to devise an initial proposal for a Puddle Rating System. My hope…

  • Suffer on Centennial Map Poster

    Friends, here it is! Poster of the Suffer on Centennial 100km route for your very own wall.  Based on the 2024 100KM route of Trails of ‘Toba’s Suffer on Centennial in Whiteshell Provincial Park in Manitoba, on Treaty 3 land, this map is not to scale, and may not be accurate to your experience, but hopefully gives…