My New Friends
My entrée to trail racing was a lot more fun than I expected
Photo by:
Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards
“Hey Tarrant, do you want to run the Grizzly Ultra 50K?”
That was the question my wife asked me. I have a road-racing background, with little to no trail-running experience, other than on family excursions to the Waterton Lakes area of Alberta. It took me seconds to come up with my answer, and it was a hard no. However, I did offer to go and to be her support crew. The thought of handing out water, gels, bananas, paper towels and encouraging words was all good. But I knew that if I went and saw all these runners running by, how would I be able to watch them and not want to run myself? How can I go to a race and not race? I needed to run. Something had to be done.
I know very little about trail running or trail relay running, but I set off to find a team, scrolling through the race’s Facebook group. I learned that the Grizzly Ultra is a 50K race in Canmore, Alta., and the relay has five legs varying in length from 6.5 km to 13.6 km. I found this post in search of a runner, and reached out to team lead Vanessa, who was running with her daughters. They had a runner who was injured, so they needed somebody. And it was set. I was now a member of Team “My Mom Made Us.” They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them.
Being a New Balance Canada ambassador, I felt I should bring them a gift. So along with the gels, the bananas, water, paper towels and sports drinks, I included several boxes of New Balance running shoes and apparel to gift to my new teammates. Race day arrived, and I was nervous to meet my team, as I believe they were, as well. They were probably wondering, who is this random guy who reached out on Facebook to be part of our team?
We introduced ourselves and set up our team headquarters. The atmosphere was buzzing, with music and energy from the other solo runners and teams. I was asked to wear pink, as that was the team colour, so I donned my pink gear. Our pit-crew support, Roxanne, made sure our shoelaces were double-knotted. I was to run the opening leg, with my teammates Vanessa, Emma, Tayler and Sarah following.
As the gun went off and the runners surged forward, I took in the mountains and the trees. I was trail running! After a few kilometres I came to a sign saying “Coyote,” with an arrow pointing straight up. As I made the turn, I saw this massive hill. I had to run up that? There was no way around it. This was the only trail, and it went straight up. I normally don’t talk while I’m racing, let alone swear, but after seeing this incline, I couldn’t contain myself. I had never run up such a long, steep hill! Finally, I made it up and back to the transition zone, and passed the baton to my teammate.
Cheering for my teammates and the other teams and runners was my role for the rest of the day. As our last teammate crossed the finish line, we were all there congratulating one another. We never did bother to find out our team result, and it didn’t matter. It was time to celebrate our accomplishment and our new friendship. I was now a trail runner.
If you’re ever at the Grizzly Ultra and you see pink, that’s our team. Be sure to cheer us on, as I know we will be cheering you on. And the next time my wife asks me, “Hey Tarrant, do you want to run the Grizzly Ultra 50K?” it’s going to be a hard yes—with my friends.
Tarrant Cross Child would like to acknowledge that the Grizzly Ultra takes place on Treaty 7 territory.
This piece originally appeared in the 2022 Trail Special Issue of Canadian Running magazine.
Tarrant Cross Child is Niitsitapi from Kainai in southern Alberta and now lives in Saskatoon. He won the Saskatchewan Marathon in 1998. In 2016, he founded what is now Prairie Run Crew as a way to share his passion for running with youth and those living in remote communities.
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