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Copper Canyons: going native in Urique

The North Face gear.
Photo: Ian MacNairn, Maria Walton and Josue Stephens

Five years after formulating my first research question, I rose from my arm-chair status and set foot, as a runner, in the Sierra Tarahumara. I was invited to Urique, in the heart of Rarámuri country, to participate in the 12th annual Copper Canyon Ultramarathon, newly dubbed the Ultra Maratón Caballo Blanco. I would be a bonafide participant-observer. In fact, I had nearly gone native, the phenomenon of fully buying in to the tribe of study. Yet, with a full heart and an ever-growing fascination, I passionately embrace my growing native tribe of trail and ultrarunners and the resulting intimacies of community.

This was my first ultra of 2014 and, as usual, I had somehow found myself preparing for an event in stark contrast to my home training environment. As a fairly large thug of a runner, who sweats even when in -30C (as it was for weeks before I left for Urique), I was more than a little anxious about facing off against the fastest nation of runners, worldwide, on their home turf, the sunbaked river flats and scorching hot ridges of the Barrancas. I was to toe the line knowing that a year ago I collapsed into a seizing mass of pain and failing muscles after 52 miles of heat during a fairly similar ultra across the Santa Monica Mountains.

So, with my runners, racing kit and ethnographies in tow and a supportive sendoff from my The North Face team, my journey into the Barrancas began.

Los Mochis
Dining under a Los Mochis overpass. Photo: Ian MacNairn, Maria Walton and Josue Stephens

I boarded an overnight flight from Calgary to Los Angeles, caught a connection to Guadalajara, to Mazatlán and, finally, my destination in Los Mochis, a town just inland from the Gulf of California. I reveled in a day’s layover in what was more or less the truck-stop district. After a restless attempt at sleep at the hotel, I headed onto the road in search of a taqueria. The nearest cluster of taco stands was located under a large overpass. After fumbling way through ordering lunch, I sat down and watched trucks blaring Mexican country-polka-pop roll through the dirt brushing past diners sitting around the many plastic tables.

That evening the wonderful traveling roadshow materialized. My friends Simon Donato and Paul ‘Turbo’ Trebilcock arrived with their film crew for Boundless. Another good friend, Tim Puetz joined, too. The race would be a celebratory return for Simon and Tim who both ran their first ultra in the Barrancas in 2010 and would be featured as the final episode in season two of Boundless.

The drive to Urique is a nearly three hour affair despite only covering about 50K. A speedy runner could cover that distance on foot just as quickly! The final ten miles to Urique drops precipitously into the canyon, losing about 1620m. The dirt road is often not wide enough for more than one vehicle. Passing other trucks was always a tight shimmy with one party peering over the edge of a cactus-riddled cliff side.

Descending into the Copper Canyons.
Descending into the Copper Canyons. Photo: Ian MacNairn, Maria Walton and Josue Stephens.

We arrived in Urique after 48 hours of travel by planes, train and automobiles. A bit dusty, somewhat lethargic but very intrigued and inspired by the energy and excitement growing in the tiny town. We had joined the migration of hundreds of runners and wanderers from all continents, making the pilgrimage to share in the unifying celebration of running and life with the Rarámuri. The multitude of spoken languages, geopolitical barriers and social constructs fell to the wayside, rendered superfluous, as we partied together by sharing our native body language, a thousand footfalls on the roads of Urique.

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