My first ultramarathon is officially in the books, and with a third-place photo finish, I feel great about how I executed the race. The plan going into the race was to hold back for the first 10k, ensuring I could race steady, even splits across the three sections of the race. My secondary plan was then to create micro-gaps on two specific sections of the course that I knew would play into my strengths – the Lollipop loop, and the Reforestation loop. In the end, I executed my plan nicely throughout, and ended up neck and neck racing for second place all the way to the line. Here is my full race recap!

THE FIRST 10K – 44:30

In the minutes before the race, my first main goal was to analyze the wardrobe of my competitors closer to the front of the line. Sulphur Springs has a 100-mile, 100k, 50-mile and 50k going on at once, and I wanted to ensure I had an idea of who I was going to be battling with for those podium places.

I expected that many of the guys would go out fast, and anticipated taking the first 1k (all downhill!) slow. I knew from studying the splits of Reid Burrows and Reid Coolsaet in 2022 that they took the first 10k in a whopping 40-minutes, and the first 1k downhill at the same pace. While it worked out in the end for the Reid’s, I knew that was far too fast for me, and had no intention of sticking with anyone emulating that strategy.

Even while holding back, I took it out faster than anticipated and then settled into my race pace just in time for Jordan to catch me. We shared some early kilometres together, musing about the course and talking about the lead-up to the event in training. Sharing those first four kilometres with Jordan was validating – I sensed he was going to be executing a smart race. He ran the course in under four hours the previous year (one of my goals for the day), and I knew he had done the Lollipop and Headwaters sections more than anyone else in the build-up to the day.

My only goal of those first few kilometres was to settle into my race pace with him, and I anticipated that we would be together for about the first 10k before I would make a move to pull away down Martin Rd. But right before the first big climb on Lollipop I lost contact with him and trudged ahead. My first thought was that he was probably racing smarter than me, but I also knew that the pace was exactly where I wanted to be. The one downside of that was it meant that just 5k into a 50k, I had lost contact with everyone around me. The leaders were too far ahead, and I had no idea who was behind. I adapted, and took the downhill on Lollipop slightly faster than initially intended so that I could ensure I’d see the top four guys coming down Martin Rd. on my way up.

When I got to Martin Rd., I ate for the first time in the race, and then again studied the colours and form of the four guys ahead of me as they came downhill. All four looked incredibly strong, but as I reached the summit I could tell that the gap between myself and Paul (in fourth) was close enough that I would likely be able to close in the next few kilometres.

LOOP TWO: 10K-30K – 1:28:33

It took until fifteen kilometres for me to spot Paul again, and for the next four kilometres I remained patient, knowing exactly where I wanted to overtake him. I maintained my distance until I saw him walking on a steep climb, and closed the gap ever so slightly. At that time I again thought that Paul was likely racing smarter than me by hiking one of the longer climbs of the day, but it also gave me the confidence to know that I would be able to take him on the hilly Reforestation loop as planned.

I’d hazard to guess that Paul didn’t know that I was lurking in his shadows until he almost went the wrong way at an intersection and I made my presence felt. From there I went in behind and just fuelled, so much so that I think it took him a couple tries of asking for me to respond to his question about what race I was running. Paul had felt like he had taken the start too fast, but I told him to stay patient and strong, knowing that it was a long race.

Right before I made my move, I told Paul that all three of the guys ahead were on course record pace, and that at least one of them was bound to blow up. It was exactly at that moment that I took Paul on the steep downhill on Reforestation and never looked back.

When I eventually reached Martin Rd. for the second time, I caught a glimpse of all three leaders again as they made their way downhill, and saw that they were looking super strong. I knew that if I just stayed consistent and fuelled, that I would finish fourth. But I still had it in the back of my mind that I could hunt at least one of them down.

LOOP THREE: 30-50K – 1:33:05

Loop three was all about staying focused, and fuelling to stop my hamstrings from tightening to devastating effect. Fourth was going to be a great result, and I still had a chance at the podium.

I ended up being correct in my earlier musings to Paul, but unfortunately the one to slow down was my fellow Cambridge resident Rob – who set the record on the 20k the year before. I caught up to Rob on the uphill section of Reforestation after again making a move to create some micro-gaps on the downhill. I told Rob to stay strong and keep pushing, and he was kind enough to say some words back and tell me that I had just moved up into third. I don’t remember what Rob said to me otherwise, but I could tell by how impressed he seemed that he likely would not catch me…unless my hamstrings blew up.

That was a particular problem, because my hamstrings were having issues in the four weeks leading up to the race, after I slipped on a muddy downhill in late April and strained my lower back. Even in my early miles with Jordan I could tell that at some point the tightness was going to kick in on my left hamstring, and I had already done a lot of visualization prior to the race of this happening and how I was going to overcome it.

So again, I stayed steady and prepared to make my final move of the day on Lollipop. The uphill went exactly as planned and I took my final gel at 45k, preparing to crush the final downhill and cruise into the finish for third.

But right at the top of the downhill, with just three kilometres to go, the inevitable happened. My hamstring completely cramped up, and as I feared, I had no more electrolytes to fix the issue. At the bottom of the downhill, the right side decided to follow suit and send me the same “check engine light”. I then had a decision to make as I pushed through the pain and downed all of my remaining water. I could veer off to the aid station positioned right before the climb, grab something salty, and push the final haul up Martin Rd. to the finish. Or, I could keep pushing without veering off, knowing that if for whatever reason I accidentally stopped moving while grabbing something salty, my legs were going to be completely done. So when I reached the top of the technical section leading up to Martin Rd. and saw all the people waiting in line to grab food from the aid station, my decision became all the easier – push through the pain and don’t stop moving.

From there, I knew the hard work had been completed. 500m to go and all that was in the way of me and a bronze medal was a hill I had done close to thirty times before race, and the unlikely outcome of my hamstrings exploding. But as I approached the climb, everything changed. At the very bottom of Martin Rd., I saw him.

With 500m to go, I saw the bright orange shirt of the guy I knew to be in second place. He still had a sizable gap on me (about 10-15 seconds), but I knew that if I gave it everything I had, I could at the very least make things interesting. So that’s exactly what I did.

I don’t know whether it was the excitement from the crowd as they could see what was happening (and all the screams of “GO GET HIM!!!!”) or Matthew’s own intuition – sensing something wasn’t right. But as I gave it absolutely everything to catch him, Matthew looked back, saw me, and sprinted as fast as he could to the line. By the time we reached the summit, I had reduced that 10-15 second gap to what felt like a single second.

Matthew won the battle by a matter of inches, and I won the battle of biggest hamstring cramp at the line by far more than that. While you might think I’d feel disappointed by losing to him by what felt like milliseconds (the results actually have it as four seconds), this isn’t how I feel at all. It would have been so easy to make up those few seconds along the way in so many different moments. But I think whichever way you configure that race, Matthew’s always beating me at the line. Here’s why:

1. I had zero contact with him up until the final 500m of the race, and had no idea where he was from the 30k mark until that moment. He might have been cramping to the line just like me, but how he raced his first and second loops suggests that he has a higher VO2 Max and more to give in a race like this.
2. As soon as Matthew saw me, he sped up. He had just slightly more in the tank to give the moment he saw me. I on the other hand was at risk of an ambulance taking my hamstrings to the finish separately.

Beyond the photo-finish, I accomplished exactly what I set out to do:

-> Reframe all negative thoughts as positive ones.
-> Complete the race in under four hours, with a podium finish as the ‘A’ goal.
-> Make micro-gaps on the exact sections of the course that played into my strengths, while holding an even pace throughout otherwise.
-> Meet some of the other top trail runners in Ontario!

Beyond those race goals, training also went super smooth and set me up for the best possible race day.

1. I had the opportunity for my hamstrings to cramp up badly in one of my final training runs, allowing me to plan ahead for that inevitability on race day.
2. I had the opportunity to practice running a 50k on flat terrain to give me a sense of how to hold back at the start and complete the effort in under four hours.
3. I ran on the course most weekends leading up the race, including completing the uphill and downhill sections of Martin Rd. more times than anyone else on Strava. This was crucial in staying calm throughout and trusting my plan, but also in knowing exactly where I wanted to make my moves and play to my strengths.

For my first ultramarathon, I am super proud of the effort. But I am also super proud of everyone who raced this weekend. I only have more inspiration from everyone who fought hard to the finish despite the challenges they faced along the way, and can’t wait for the next race against these amazing runners. Now it’s all about rest, recovery and coming up with a game-plan for the months ahead with Brett Hornig, who I’ll begin working with starting next week. More is definitely to come!

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