Banff to Jasper Relay

Last weekend was truly amazing - lots of running, lots of mountains, quality time with family and friends, and of course, lots of beer :-) What more could a girl ask for?!

It all started Friday afternoon when straight after work, we headed west towards the mountains and our overnight stay at Lake Louise. I was taking part in the Banff to Jasper Relay as a member of the Calgary Road Runners Team, and along with the majority of the other teams, Andy and I had opted to stay at the Lake Louise Inn with the dogs.

Lake Louise is renowned around the world for its beautifully dramatic location although it is generally far too crowded for me personally due to all the tourists that flock to its shores pretty much every day of the year! Thankfully we were staying in Lake Louise Village, but the views were still spectacular, so much so that being rudely awoken by the alarm clock at 5.30am Saturday morning didn’t seem so bad when opening the curtains and seeing snow capped peaks against a beautiful blue sky.

Beautiful Early Morning Views in Lake Louise Village

The relay is point to point, stretching for 258km from Castle Junction just north of Banff all the way to the town of Jasper, following the Icefields Parkway - one of the most beautiful and stunning routes in the Canadian Rockies.

The original plan was for me to run the 5^th stage in the south but unfortunately, there were some dropouts on the team due to injury or illness. In the absence of any other runners being available, it meant that team captain Kim and I would be running 2 legs each to ensure we finished with a complete team, both of us covering around 38km in total with some fairly hefty ups and downs along the way.

My first leg of the day was still leg 5 on the southern stage so the arrangement was to meet Southern Team Captain Joanna at the start to collect our race bibs and reflective jackets. It was great to meet other members of the team – faces familiar but names unknown until that point – and everybody was in good spirits looking forward to a run in the mountains.

Having wished the team good luck, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast before making our way north towards Bow Summit and Peyto Lake, where my first leg would be starting. Shortly before we arrived, the road ahead was blocked by RVs that had stopped by the side of the road. This could only mean one thing – a bear jam – and sure enough,  a blond haired grizzly bear was feeding in the bushes about 50m or so from the road side. Bears on the course would normally have resulted in the race being halted temporarily to allow the bear to move on, but due to the sheer number of people stopping to take a look , the only concern was for the welfare of the bear rather than the runners passing by on the opposite side of the road.

The start of leg 5 is at the highest point on the course – some 6000 ft above sea level, but I had chosen my leg wisely, knowing that my strengths lie with downhill running, and with a descent of around 1400 ft and minimal climbing throughout the 17.5km of this stage, I figured I’d do alright.

Melody was handing over to me, and we’d spotted her running strongly with about 5km to go, but we knew that she still had the hefty climb to Bow Summit before I headed off. Whilst I was waiting for the off, the atmosphere around the change over area was buzzing and everybody was so friendly and chatty. Our leg 2 runner Donovan had arrived and it turned out that Joanna had been in 3rd place after the first leg and on handing over to him, he had actually taken the lead. By now however, the more speedier team had opened up a considerable gap and they came speeding through way ahead of the others. With the forced start time of 1.30am fast approaching, I was rather hoping that we could avoid that, particularly as this section had quite narrow shoulders alongside the road for the next 6km or so. Thankfully though, as everybody started to muster for the forced start, Melody came over the brow of the hill, still pushing hard, and after a high five and a few cheers, I was on my way.

Start of Stage 5 - Bow Summit

As I headed off down the road, I was blown away by the valley opening up before me – mountains towering above me on either side, thick dense forest, and barely any traffic despite being one of the main tourist routes between Banff and Jasper National Parks. I was having so much fun, I was feeling strong (it was downhill mind!) and as I ran along, I passed 7 other runners in the process.  Joanna was being a superb team captain, checking on me every 5-6km and handing me drinks – it was a deceptively warm day and I sure was dehydrating, and I still had another leg to run!

The 17.5 km and 1 hour 15 minutes went by so quickly and before I knew it, I was running alongside the shores of Waterfowl Lake with the handover point not much further on.  I’d just missed the leg 6 runners so didn’t get to give Hugh a shout as he set off on his journey, but I was pretty sure that Calgary Road Runners were doing a damn fine job.

Having way too much fun :-)

Having been bombarded by black flies at the finish due to being covered in sweat, we started to make our way north so that I could be there in plenty of time ready for my next leg which started close to Athabasca River raft landing. N15 was just shy of 20km, it was the final leg of the relay which meant that I would be bringing the team home in Jasper. It was a flatter stage but it was longer so it would be a real test for me, especially as I had only ran the Calgary 50km less than a week ago. 

As we drove up through the Columbia Icefields, we encountered even greater breathtaking views and lung busting climbs, and I thought about our team that were currently running the northern part of the relay, wondering what their experience had been like. The climbs were evil, but the views were spectacular and I sensed that knowing the folks that were running this stage, they would be relishing the challenge.

Heading down the other side, we started to spot runners at the side of the road so we knew that we were getting close to the rest of the team. Sure enough, we spotted Alan, Kim and Adam and a few other CRR members waiting at the side of the road, so we had a little trot over to say hello and find out how things were going. Not surprisingly, we were all doing great, and it was certainly a motivator knowing that we were doing so well.

The start of final leg 15 was at the Athabasca River raft landing and on arrival, it was getting pretty busy as all the other teams were waiting for their runners to come through. A paddle in the river certainly helped to cool us down a bit before getting ready for Anne to handover to me. The leading teams were way ahead of the field, and as time passed by, it was becoming clear that the vast majority of us would face the forced start. I heard the mumblings, I heard the comments and was certainly caught on the hop when a shout came “Forced Start Go” and all remaining runners set off down the road!

2nd leg of the day and forced start on N15

I already knew this leg would be tough. It was mostly flat, yes, with just a couple of climbs, but with flat comes fast, and as is the case with most relays, there were quite a few speedsters on that last leg!

The mountains were still towering above us as we ran along the valley and despite now being after 6pm, it was still pretty warm. I tried carrying a drink but found it too cumbersome and with Adam and Kim checking on me every 5km in the support vehicle, I figured I'd be ok if I dropped the bottle.

Although we'd said all along that the relay was "just for fun", I think some of us were a little guilty of allowing our competitive streak show through. As I was running along and admiring the views, I realised that I was gaining on a couple of runners just ahead of me. Whilst it probably wouldn't make any difference to the position of the team - the result is based on cumulative times rather than leg positions - I decided to give chase just for my own entertainment. One of them was a lady and she was looking strong, but although the gap was closing, I wasn't quite catching her. My mind started to wander, and before I knew what was happening, I was finally overtaking the other lady with around 3km to go.  My legs were really aching and tired by now, but having made the move, I couldn't let her come passed me again and I was determined to do all I could to stay ahead. I could still hear her very close behind, and as we entered Jasper, we started to climb up to the town site. I'm useless on hills and could her the lady getting closer again, and I was praying for the road to flatten out so that I could lengthen my stride and speed up again. I managed to pull away in the final km and finished just 30 seconds ahead which if nothing else, gave me a little confidence.

Running in to the finish line was pretty awesome as all the runners from previous legs had congregated in Jasper to cheer us all in. I was amazed at the sheer number of people, and was so pleased to see the CRR team there, all smiling and cheering as I brought the team home. We hadn't won, but it still felt like there was a need to celebrate.

The post-race party was the perfect opportunity to say a proper hello to the rest of the team as we sat and chatted over a beer and some food. We'd done extremely well to finish 4th in the mixed team category and 11th overall out of 53 teams. More importantly for me, it was great to be a part of a team again as it is something that I have certainly missed since leaving the UK and leaving the running club culture and team competition behind.

Calgary Road Runners BJR Team (Photo thanks to Kim)

The rest of day couldn't have been better as we made our way to Whistlers Campground for the night. This was the first time we had done tent camping in Canada, mainly because of the wildlife and not knowing how the dogs would react - especially Brandy who had never been camping before. The test came after we'd spent a couple of hours around the campfire drinking beer with friends and we made our way to our tent. As it happened, the dogs were extremely well behaved, and apart from a couple of barks early morning when they heard squirrels scuttling around in the trees, they didn't make a sound.

It was fantastic waking up to birds singing in the trees, and poking my head out of the door to see the mountains and breath in that fresh air. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed my camping, and I felt extremely happy and content.

Whistlers Campground in Jasper - loving the wild life :-)

That afternoon, I had made plans to meet a friend of a friend in Canmore, and to take them for a run. I had never met Carl before, but he knew alot of my old friends from running clubs in the UK. He was on a tour of Canada and just happened to be passing through Canmore that particular weekend, so it made sense to meet up. We had a lovely run along the river, following some of the nearby woodland trails, and all along, he too was amazed at the beauty of this wonderful country. It was a wonderful way to finish off a fantastic weekend, and I really couldn't have been happier.

Run with a friend of a friend in Canmore

And so, after running 2 legs of the Banff to Jasper Relay, I think I may have found my next challenge and now have this crazy idea that it would be absolutely awesome to run the entire 258km solo. Yes, it's all on road but the route really does have some spectacular views which distract from the running. We've driven that route so many times, and yet nothing can compare to the feeling of actually running through the area and experiencing that feeling of openness and freedom, of seeing those views first hand. It's certainly something that I shall be pondering over the coming months, and wondering whether it really would be feasible.

For now though, I must say a huge thank you to Kim and Joanna for being the best captains ever - their encouragement, motivation and enthusiasm was faultless. Thanks also to Calgary Road Runners for entering a team and giving us the opportunity to take part, thanks to all team members for being so supportive and welcoming - Kim, Adam,  Alan, Joanna, Melody, Yoshie, Hugh, Anne, Ken, Andrea, Donovan, and the others whose names I don't remember, and finally, thank you as ever to Andy (and my furry supporters!) who ferries me to these races without complaint, listens to me moan and groan, takes photos and offers encouragement - without him, I'm not sure what I would do.