How long do you think it takes to run 120 miles? How about 100 kilometres?
Well, two Squamish locals know exactly how long it takes, after running those distances in the fastest amount of time during the Fat Dog 120 race that runs from Aug. 7 to 9.
The race begins in the Cathedral Provincial Park near the town of Keremeos and finishes in the E.C. Manning Provincial Park.
The longest route is 120 miles, which has a cumulative elevation gain of over 26,240 feet or 8,000 metres. For reference, that's almost five times the elevation gain of the Panorama Ridge trail.
Local ultra-runner Scott Maguire took on this route and won the men's category, completing the course in 29 hours and 45 minutes.
The next longest route was the 100K course, which follows a similar trajectory as the 120 miler but has an elevation gain of 14,000 feet or 4,400 metres.
Squamish’s own Anna Goodwin was the speediest woman on the trail for this race, completing the route in 13 hours and 10 minutes.
The Fat Dog race also includes a 50-mile and 40-mile race option.
The race gets its name, according to a story in the Saanich News, because once the route reaches Manning Park, it follows the Fat Dog Trail.
A bumpy start
Maguire’s journey to first place wasn’t smooth sailing.
In fact, he missed the beginning of the race by a couple of minutes as a result of a mapping mistake.
“I had kind of an adventurous start to the race,” he told The Squamish chief with a laugh.
“I made such a silly blunder. When I was planning how to get to the race start, I mapped it, using Google Maps to get there, and it was a two-hour drive to the race start. The morning of, I drove there, and halfway through, I punched it into Google Maps to [check the route] just to be sure, and it told me that I was going to arrive 15 minutes after the race start.
“I realized I mapped it from a location that was closer to the start than where I was staying … but I got there right as it was starting and I had to sprint the wrong way through the whole field to get to the start line.”
He ended up starting the race two minutes after everyone else and had to make his way through the crowd to the front of the pack.
Thankfully, the rest of the race ended up going a lot more to plan, and after running for more than a day, Maguire was the fastest finisher of the Fat Dog 120.
As for what goes through his mind while running for such long periods, he said, “lots of highs and lows.”
“It's funny how, for a period of time, you could be really struggling and moving really slowly, and then, seemingly without any explanation, start to feel good again,” Maguire said.
“I felt pretty awful around kilometre 80, and then felt really good at kilometre 150, which doesn't make any sense.”
A race first
For Goodwin, however, the race went a lot more to plan.
“It was my first 100K, so I didn't really know what to expect,” she said.
“I trained for the Vancouver Marathon, which was in May, and then just kind of rode that fitness, and put in a couple of really big weeks in between June and July. But I had a pretty solid base from training for the marathon, which was nice.
“Everything went as expected. I had planned for a lot of different possibilities, like if certain foods weren't agreeing with my stomach, or if I needed to switch things up. But it went a lot better than I thought I could run, and I think my crew was a bit surprised as well.”
Around a quarter of the way through the race, Goodwin learned from another racer that she was right behind the leader.
“Ultras are so fun because I passed her, and we ran with each other for several kilometres and we chatted, and then I was kind of ahead of her for a good chunk, and then she passed me, and I didn't actually see her again until about 93K into the race,” she said.
“I know that's still another 7K to go, but that feels like very close to the line when you've been out there for 11 hours already. It was pretty exciting, but I was running scared for the end for sure,” she said with a laugh.
Goodwin finished the 100K in just over 13 hours and not just that, she beat the course record by 12 minutes.
Next year's race
As for whether Goodwin or Maguire will compete in the Fat Dog 120 again next year is still up for debate.
“That race is spectacular, and the volunteers and the race director do such a wonderful job putting it on that I would love to go back, but we'll see how I'm feeling,” Goodwin said.
Maguire also said he is taking some time to consider if he will have another go at the gruelling race.
“Everybody asks [if I will do it again], and I'm deferring my answer to that question. I'm not allowed to make any future plans or declarations the week after one of those [kind of races],” he said.
See the full list of finalists on the Fat Dog 120 website.
