Canadian engineering student preps for Western States debut

Madeline Wighardt grew up running, but never imagined she would be headed to the prestigious Western States 100 just a couple years into her ultrarunning career.

Speaking to Canadian Running from Canmore, Alta., Wighardt is on the brink of taking her ultramarathon career up a notch. The Hamilton-based student has finished her exams for the year–she studies chemical engineering at McMaster University–and thanks to the support of a sponsor, she got a spot for the race and has based herself in one of Canada’s ultrarunning hotspots to prep for her Western States debut next month and look to improve upon her third-place finish at Leadville 100 later this summer.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Stoked Oats (@stokedoats)

“We’ve got more snow right now than Ontario had all winter,” she says, laughing. “But I’m here to get time in the mountains. I need to practise my descending, and this is a great place for that.”

The talented young runner has done remarkably well in conditions that are foreign to those in her usual training base (Ontario’s Dundas Valley). A podium at Leadville last year with just a few local ultramarathons under her belt signalled to the trail running world that Wighardt is an up-and-comer with promising potential. And that’s without any real mountain running experience; during the school year, Wighardt is used to running the Sulphur Springs course and surrounding trails, day after day.

Wighardt knew she could probably do well in the ultramarathon world when she found herself running trail marathons for fun during the pandemic. “I had started exploring the Dundas Valley, going out for long, solo runs,” she explains. “I signed up for an ultra, and when that was done, I realized it was the best thing ever. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I knew this is what I’m meant to do.”

The former cross-country runner has been competing for years. “It’s a different kind of pain from road-running or shorter distances,” she explains. “There’s something intriguing about reaching that point of exhaustion where your body says ‘no’ but your mind wants to keep going.”

While an innate passion and curiosity have fuelled her to keep going, Wighardt remains present and grounded. “I try not to think about the future, because I do better when I’m in the moment,” she says. “Thinking about the ‘what-ifs’ takes away the fun and adds pressure.”

With several ultras and some podiums to date, Wighardt knows what she needs to work on right now. She also has used her experience to work on mindset when it comes to racing ultras, explaining that “doing it for a certain placing or time won’t lead to success.”

“You can’t have any expectations,” she says of ultra racing. “With ultras there’s always the chance that something goes horribly wrong.”

Western States 100 takes place on June 29. A full list of Canadians headed to the race can be found here.