ChiggyUltra October 1st 2022

The ChiggyUltra, the final big race of the year on my schedule..

I had some big goals for 2022 with my first 100mile attempt at Riverlands which didn't go to plan and resulted in tapping out at 90km. That failure filled me with self doubt not knowing if I was actually capable of achieving that distance. After a couple of down weeks followed by probably my best ever training block which consisted of crap loads of climbing up huge hills for 6 weeks straight I went into 2nd big race of 2022 - the Capes100. Again, not knowing if I was capable of actually completing it, expected not to as this race was expected to be way tougher than Riverlands with almost triple the amount of vertical gain. Capes ended up going fantastic for me, almost my perfect race as far as pacing, and nutrition is concerned. My feet took a beating from blisters but that's something you learn to deal with and I had taken steps to solve that issue with a new brand of double layered blister proof socks for this race. I had tested them out on a few training runs and they felt great.

After the euphoria of Capes and getting my 100mile buckle, I had contemplated canceling this race and pulling out as I only had about 6 weeks to prepare and 3 of that was recovery time from the last big event. I joke that my prep for this race consisted of sitting on the couch eating cookies and chips and joking aside it was actually not far from the truth. I didn't feel confident at all, felt sluggish a little overweight and had absolutely no idea how my legs would hold the distance. After a few chats, one of which was with a good friend, Jodi Isner, assured me that I wouldn't have lost the fitness I had gained over the summer in such a short space of time and actually the extended rest may benefit me. So off I went to Cape Chignecto. Packed up my old Ford Focus and drove 3.5hrs to the race destination.

For those who don't know Cape Chignecto is approximately a 48km loop with about 2200m of vicious Vert, quad busting switch back that grinds you down to your core. I arrived just before dark to a spectacular sunset, just amazing. This race was being put on by Wentworth trailrunners and I believe it was their first ever big 100mile ultra race I was wondering how well organized it would be -I'll get to both the good and bad, not as criticism but as a way to learn and improve.

The check in went really well, very organized and friendly - a super easy process. Maps were supplied and any questions about the course were answered well and in detail. The hoodies as part of the swag were pretty sweet too, one of the best I've received at a race.

The race started fairly promptly at 6am with the race director giving final instructions and encouragement. The triple and double loopers would start first followed by the single loopers an hour later to keep everyone from bunching up which again was a smart idea from the Race Directors.

Loop 1 I would be on my own and for loop 2 I would have my good friend and great trail runner Liz McEwen pacing me. Liz is a 100 mile finisher so I knew she'd have no problem with pacing. The first few kms passed easily, still dark I went extra slow to reserve as much energy as possible, plus the start of this race is all up hill so no point in burning matches this early. I was probably close to the back of the field at this point and ended pairing up with Sasha who is a runner I didn't know but we would spend the best part of 10 hours running together having an absolutely great time. Loads of encouragement and positive vibes which kept us both moving efficiently. I kept thinking to myself this is absolutely the kind of person I love running with as the energy was always great extremely positive and the conversations were easy the entire time. We were also joined by another buddy Mat Burke who was running a single loop of Chignecto for the first time and well you need to experience it to really know how brutal it is. First aid station came in at around 18km things felt easy, nice controlled pace, my feet felt wonderful. A quick stop for water, ginger ale and a few chips and away we went. Still running with Sasha who was looking strong AF and Mat who also looked strong but I could tell he was having shoe issues and difficulty getting over the rocks and roots. A few F-Bombs coming from his direction were becoming more frequent and we laughed about it for a while but I knew what that feels like and it's frustrating as hell. Still he pushed on and Mat being the absolute beast he is kept moving forward. He’s had a mind blowing year with destroying personal best after personal best so I have a lot of respect for him and it was great seeing him face his demons and kick butt.

Shortly after km 19, I heard the distinctive voice of another good friend of mine, coincidentally named Matt as well. Matt Sabinski, who was doing 1 loop, had caught us up and I was excited for him. I expected him to blow past but he let me know that wasn't his intention. He wanted to catch and run with us which was amazing. I have done loads of hill training with Matt S over the summer and he always brings a loud voice, joyous attitude and is just fun as shit, absolutely love running with the guy.

We made good time to the next aid station at Big Bald and enjoyed some light conversations with the volunteers who were amazing as always! Re- hydrated and had few snacks and off we went. Matt Burke wanted to use the bathroom so we decided to move ahead and looked for Sasha. She had decided to do a super quick turn around and left before us, at this point I doubted we'd see her again as she was looking strong and moving super efficiently. Matt S and I left Big Bald and got into a groove pretty fast moving really well. This section is known as the torture chamber and it lives up to its name. Mud, roots, rocks that just seem to go on and on. It’s horrible and mentally breaks you down over time. This was a tough stretch and we were glad to soon be out of it. But, in true Chignecto style , the relief wouldn't last long as we were now approaching the biggest climbs of the loop. The down hills to the beach at Refugee Cove and Millbrook are brutal and the only thing worse is the climbs back out. Obviously, I knew these climbs were coming and had a plan to take them extremely slowly and be as efficient as possible. I think it worked out well as I felt pretty good going up them and knocked them off in pretty good time. Once you climb out of Millbrook, it feels like the home stretch as it's only about 6km to the finish but everyone seems to forget about the very last climb which is not huge but at a time when your pretty beaten up it can be soul sapping. I ended up finishing the first loop 54km in 11 hrs 45mins. A little slower than I wanted but I was happy the body and feet were feeling somewhat OK.

At the turn,my pacer for loop 2 Liz had a bucket with warm water that I used to wash my feet, fresh socks and shoes and she had prepared some hot noodle soup and pasta. I tried to cram as many calories into me as I could at this point. It wasn't as easy as I had hoped but managed to get around 700-800 calories down which I knew would would help tremendously at the start of this 2nd loop.

After about a 45min break Liz and I set off on loop 2 . I was hoping to start strong and feel good but it didn't go that way. The very first climb sucked and took way more energy than I had hoped. Running for more than 12 hrs now and starting to get dark. I was struggling and in a bad place mentally. Liz must have thought oh this pacing duty isn't going to last long and I'm pretty sure I wasn't that much fun to be around either. That happens in these long ultras and I just hoped this down period would end soon. It wasn't long after that I decided to make a tough decision, I knew deep down that attempting a 3rd loop was just foolish my legs just didn't have the distance in them. I asked Liz to call Mark , my pacer, for lap 3 and see if I could arrange him to pace Luc Doucette, who was also attempting 3 loops and did nor have a pacer. My thinking was if I couldn't do 3 loops I could at least try and help him. Liz took care of all the details and got everything set up and I felt good about the decision. Now I could concentrate on finishing this night loop in a good mental state.

There is a nice stretch just before you roll into Eatonville which is wonderful to run, nice flowing single track, running it in the dark can feel kinda spooky though and the sounds of a huge owl as we passed through definitely made us move a bit faster! We were soon happy to hit the aid station and excited too see they had hot noodle soup that tasted amazing. I washed it down with some ginger ale which for moment seemed like a terrible idea and I almost threw it all up! Luckily I composed my self and kept it all down and we said farewell and moved on.

Feeling a fair bit better now we headed back in to the torture chamber which we knew would suck even more in the dark! But Liz had a secret weapon! A Playlist full of my favorite tunes! So we rocked on through the toughest part of the park rocking to AC/DC, Ed Sheeran, Pink Floyd and Eminem! Totally awesome! Now deep into the early hours, the temps had dropped and we were definitely getting a bit cold. This made us want to keep moving to try and stay warm. As we crawled into Big Bald aid station we were greeted by Nick, who made a delicious grilled cheese and we got to warm up next to a toasty fire for a few minutes. Not wanting to get too comfortable we hustled out with our sandwich in hand. The next 13km or so went by pretty uneventful - general chatting, Liz trying to keep me interested and awake, conversations about the royal family perked me up which was surprising considering I'm not really a royalist. It helped the time and kms in this section pass pretty fast.

Getting to Arch Gulch aid station just before sunrise was a big deal as this was the last aid stop before our final push to the finish. We didn't stay long, Liz filled my bottles and I grabbed a couple of oreo cookies and we moved on pretty quickly. We just wanted to get this done now. We pushed on back to Millbrook and that ridiculously stupid climb. Just get it done, one foot in front of the other was all I kept telling myself. Eventually, we hit the top and now just a few kms between us and the finish line. Twenty Seven hours and 109km later it was all finished. Thank God! Greeted at the finish line by John & Deb the race RDs and some other runners who had stayed to cheers on the finishers. I was glad to be done. Chignecto is no joke, it's both beautiful and brutal in equal amounts.

Huge thanks as always to family & friends who continue to support my crazy adventures. To my Pacers Liz & Mark! And to Wentworth trailrunners for putting on the race and all the volunteers.

Final thoughts

This race was tough, like really tough. I enjoyed the first 54km but then I think the enormity of the year finally caught up with me both physically and mentally. I didn't enjoy the last 50km and that's ultimately why I didn't attempt a 3rd.

Feedback for the race as requested by Deb.

Check in - very well organized, love the hoodie!

Course was marked well, no issues.

Atmosphere was great, loved the vibe.

Aid stations - Eatonville excellent. Would of liked more options at Arch Gulch & Big Bald hot broth, soup throughout the night. A few more options overall.

Safety check for gear especially at night, things can get real, really fast! I almost forgot my back up lamp on my 2nd loop! Thankfully I was reminded by another runner last minute.

Finally congratulations to Adam Harris who was the only runner to complete 3 loops and 100 miles!! Incredible!

This year was amazing and I'm very happy how it all went. I learned so much through failures and the epic success at Capes100. I'm excited and have a huge plan for 2023. Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us so I don't plan to stop.

As always I'm not a writer in any shape or form and apologize for no grammar errors!