Segger conquers Vancouver Island

File photo

Jen Segger and Norm Hann share a laugh after copleting Whistler's Comfortably Numb Trail Race in June. Segger recently ran and biked 750 kilometres across the length of Vancouver island with Hann as part of her support crew.

Endurance athlete Jen Segger became the first person to cover the entire length of Vancouver Island on foot and bicycle practically non-stop, travelling 750 km in less than four days with no more than four hours sleep.

Born and raised in Duncan, B.C., the 28-year-old Squamish fitness coach was familiar with the terrain but had never linked it all together on such a large scale. She started her Vancouver Island Quest at the Cape Scott Lightstation, located at the island’s northwestern tip, at 6 a.m. Aug. 24 and arrived in Victoria at 5:48 a.m. Aug. 28.

Segger reached the top of Mount Albert Edward in Strathcona Provincial Park and had to navigate the technical West Coast Trail. She powered through poor weather and an ongoing Achilles tendon injury during much of her journey.

Segger had company through most of the quest. Her support crew, including mother Bonnie, rendezvoused with food and gear, while fellow athletes, including local Norm Hann, took turns running and mountain biking by her side.

But with no fellow competitors on the course, Segger had to use all the skills gathered as a racer to keep pushing through fatigue and nausea, she said.

“It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before so in my head, it was just like an adventure race, but I’m really just racing the clock. It’s weird. It’s a very different concept and way of racing when there’s nobody out there to motivate you to go, go, go,” she said.

As if carrying extra weight was no big thing, Segger carried a video camera to contribute to a documentary created by 1iOpen Productions, a Seattle-based company that tracked her over much of the expedition.

The film will be used to highlight the work of Impossible2Possible (I2P), which is a non-profit charitable organization that encourages youth to protect the environment through global adventure.

“I’ll use that to inspire youth to set their own goals and make a difference on the planet either as a group or as individuals, and use the adventure aspects to encourage them,” said Segger.

Any serious adventure is never lacking serious obstacles, especially one that includes difficult logistics like making ferry crossing schedules. She and Hann arrived late at the West Coast Trail’s Nitnat Narrows ferry crossing in the dark and couldn’t signal the driver. The pair was stuck there for about nine hours before getting picked up at first light.

“I was mentally stressed then, worried how the rest would play out for the goal [of finishing in four days],” said Segger, adding that they managed only about one hour’s sleep.

“It was so wet and marshy. It was freezing cold and we only had space blankets with us because we weren’t expecting to have to stay anywhere.”

Only about a quarter of the West Coast Trail was flat enough to run, said Segger. Most of the trail, which she covered in the bush rather than the beach because of high tide, consisted of rooty, wet bogs. She was forever hopping through huge piles of mud and trying to balance on slippery roots.

“Mentally, they just destroy you,” she said, adding that her highest moment came at the end of the West Coast Trail, with “only” a 140-km bike ride to Victoria from Port Renfrew early Friday morning.

When Segger spoke to The Chief Monday night (Aug. 31), she said she had still hardly slept. She attended a friend’s wedding in Tofino the same day she pedalled to mile zero in Victoria. Early Tuesday morning (Sept. 1), she headed to Baffin Island to begin yet another I2P Expedition.

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