Ultra Race Report: The Chuckanut 50K track meet

I might have missed it, but I didn’t see the pre-race info recommend track spikes for this race. This early season ultra certainly lived up to its billing as North America’s most competitive 50K (over 650 athletes competed). Any of the 10+ runners with sub-2:30 marathon times (including two with recent sub-2:20 race times) had a shot at winning the race, but in the end, Canada’s Adam Campbell earned the victory with a strong acceleration 2 miles from the finish that allowed him to gain 30 seconds on Sage Canaday (second) and nearly a minute on Jason Schlarb (third). Canada’s Jason Loutitt also ran well, finishing ninth. On the women’s side, Ellie Greenwood picked off early race leader Jodee Adams-Moore around the 20K and never looked back as she cruised to victory, breaking her women’s course record in the process.

This race was an excellent indicator of the changing face of ultras: Record field size, record number of exceptionally fast and talented runners, and records times. It’s exciting to be an ultrarunner right now. In its 20^th year, Chuckanut is a 50K ultramarathon located in Fairhaven Washington, less than an hour south of Vancouver. It has a reputation as a good race for roadies, with nearly half the race is run on gravel trails and roads. The other half is a mix of single and double track trails, but with conditions as slick as they were this year, technical runners likely had the advantage.

My feelings going to this race were mixed. I was certainly excited to race. I traveled with my buddy Jason who had competed in 2011 and really enjoyed it, so I had high hopes for a well-run event. I was also apprehensive because I knew it would be fast, and I was under-trained coming off my hip injury. In hindsight, the rain, snow and mud probably made life easier for me out there, as it slowed the race for me and forced me to run an even pace.

The race started fast, with the favourites dropping the hammer immediately. I opted to hang back a bit and ease into it. The first leg on the gravel inter-urban trail was a great warm-up and launched us into a solid switchback climb up Chuckanut Mountain. During this section I ran with Ellie for a bit, who was sticking on the heels of Adams-Moore just in front. We finished this piece of single-track and began a long and steady climb up Cleator Road, which would eventually dump us onto Chuckanut Ridge. The snow had accumulated several inches on the road, which made line selection important, as traction was better in the snow, but the road was still firmer, despite being a bit slick. The ridge was slick with fresh snow and was treacherous if you were maintaining any speed, and I saw several runners crash hard. From the ridge, the trail turned into a gentle doubletrack climb that was extremely muddy and generally forgettable. This ends at the base of Chin-Scraper, a steep singletrack climb of several hundred feet to the high-point on the race course.

It was especially slippery during the race and photographer Glenn Tachiyama captured some beauties of racers struggling up this climb. From the top of Chin-Scraper, the fun began, with a huge 6K downhill back to the 10K inter-urban gravel trail that would take us to the finish. I unleashed a rapid descent, but began to fade with about 5K to go and then bonked hard in the final 3K of the race. A passing racer gave me a gel, which helped get me running again and to the finish in a reasonable 4:30:08, which was good enough for 35^th on the day and a great start to the season. Overall, the race was well organized, had a stellar field, and a great post-race party. It certainly lived up to the hype. Full results.