Mayor tackles Canadian Death Race

The mayor of Jasper became a Death Racer last weekend.

That’s the official title given to those who complete the Canadian Death Race – a 125-km run over rugged mountain terrain in Grande Cache – in 24 hours or less.

Mayor Richard Ireland did it in 18 hours and 31 minutes, and though he said he was more interested in finishing than competing, he still managed to place second out of 26 runners in his age category in the killer race.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” he said, two days after the event. “It was everything I could imagine about how difficult it was going to be and more.”

When he finished the race at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Ireland found that running up and down three mountains in the rain had taken its toll.

“I was just a basket case at the end and my wife had to carry that basket and get me back home again,” he said. “I was absolutely whipped, I couldn’t sleep because everything was so sore.”

Ireland had been training, but his longest run lasted six hours, a third of what the race took him. “And it’s a little bit different, because in the race you don’t run steady,” he said. “The terrain is so difficult you have to stop and climb, you’re just struggling.”

Though the Death Race is in its ninth year, it was Ireland’s first attempt. Because it’s so demanding, Ireland may only sign up again if he forgets how bad it really was, even though there were highlights.

“Running in the night was just so cool,” Ireland said. “For the last leg I was running with headlamp and it’s just a totally different experience running through heavy bush and having total blackness all around except for a beam of light.”

Runners can either take the race on solo, like Ireland, or do it in relay teams of up to five people.

Dave MacDowell, owner of the Wild Mountain store on Patricia Street, raced on the North Face team with his wife Wendy Niven, communications officer for Parks Canada, and three teammates from Calgary.

After running the second leg of the course, MacDowell said those who finish the race alone must be “super-human.”

“I have big respect for anybody who can go the whole thing,” he said. “You finish that, you’re the champion.”

Team North Face finished sixth overall in the mixed relay category of 131 teams, and MacDowell came in first of 25 men in his age group based on the section he ran. “It was enjoyable,” he said.

MacDowell recalls running “up and up and up and up” a mountain, then finding it so cold at the top that his arms and fingers turned white. The downhills are what did people in, he said. “There were people falling all over the place,” he said. “I talked to a guy at the end who did a complete flip, bounced on his backpack, and landed right on his feet.”

But the soloists were the real stars. MacDowell said in the locker room following the event, a group of Death Racers were sitting silently, staring at nothing, including one guy who was trying to undress. “It took him ten minutes just to get his socks, shoes, shorts and t-shirt off,” he said. “He was just trashed.”

Ireland was just left with a swollen knee and MacDowell tight quadricep muscles, but both switched to bicycling to recuperate for a few days following the race. “I’m just enjoying the park, going on some big rides, and it’s time to weed my garden,” MacDowell said.