Trailhead: Ultramaratón Guatemala

As I write this, I’m sitting in a thatched roof beached hut, the air heavy with the smell of palm husks and salt water, the sound of waves breaking in the distance and my foot tapping to the bass rhythm of smooth electronic reggae. Life is pretty good. 

My wife Laura and I were invited here to run the Ultra Trail Guatemala, a 100K race that starts and finishes in the historic town of Antigua and runs across three volcanoes in the area. It’s a beautiful race, on steep and technical terrain. The trails are dirt paths used by local farmers cultivating the rich soil at the base of the volcanoes. Then they wind up through dense jungle forest before opening up to the soft soil of the summits at almost 4,000m of altitude, where the thin air has a chill that belies the area’s southern latitude.

RELATED: Volcanic eruption no obstacle for Canadians in Guatemala

Enthusiastic locals

The local trail community are a proud and enthusiastic crew, opening their homes to us and giving us a true insider’s view into the country. Trail running is a fairly democratic sport, since the barrier to entry is relatively low. The biggest cost to a lot of people is the race entries, with gear being the indicator of someone’s local status. The race tries to offset this by providing discounted entries to the locals, a form of thanks for letting the course pass through their villages, and to encourage participation by those who have moved up and down the volcanoes for their entire lives. It allows the volcanoes to be seen as a place of work, sustenance and mysticism, but also recreation and fun.

Trail races attract a wide range of people

You see a wide range of equipment on the runners, from the latest technical fibres and high-end shoes to second-hand cotton shirts and shoes with holes around the toes and treads smoothed by years of use. We are exposed to a wider demographic of people than we might otherwise be exposed to as tourists, brought together by a common passion of challenging ourselves and moving through natural spaces. In our time here, we got to run with highly successful businessmen, local mountain guides and farmers, artists, electricians, restaurant owners, physiotherapists and medical professionals. We have noticed this same cross-section at our local run group back home, the Bow Valley Dirtbags in Canmore, Alta., as well as when we raced in rural China, at the Lijiang Skyview ultramarathon in May.

RELATED: Trailhead

Going off the beaten path

Many of the most popular races around the world now have complicated qualifying processes and lotteries. With a bit of research you can move beyond these events and get a true local flavour. With the international growth of trail running, there is an incredible opportunity to travel and experience new cultures and places. There are races in the smallest towns and in every possible micro-climate, so with a bit of creativity, you can likely find a race anywhere in the world. Through the sport you have ready-made friends in runners around the world, with a passion that reaches across cultures and language barriers. Since coming to Guatemala, I have three different groups of people, strangers as of 10 days ago, referring to us as “familia” and inviting us to dinner at their homes.

Newcomers welcome

In my experience, local organizers and runners are incredibly happy to have foreign runners come and visit, a certain level of security and structure when you go there and the opportunity to see places that may not be on the regular tourist map. Do some research on the organizers, because the quality of events varies. Keep an open mind, because local customs and expectations may be different from your local event, but that adds to the adventure and makes for great stories. I’d also recommend familiarizing yourself with the language. Even a broken attempt to ask for Coke at an aid station can bring some laughs and is greatly appreciated.

Taking it all in

The best thing about going off the beaten path to race may be that expectations and results around times and placing are secondary to the process of finding the event, figuring out the logistics and experiencing the local trail-running culture. In fact, despite being in a race, you may find yourself wanting to take a minute or two to soak it all in and feel the support and cheering of spectators, volunteers and fellow competitors.

Making a vacation of it

Although I have done some races as a quick visit, this time Laura and I made an extended vacation of it. After the race we went to the coast to soak up some warmth before settling in to a long, cold winter back home. There is no better post-event and season wrap up than going for easy barefoot runs along the shore, playing in the surf and loading up on handmade tortillas and local avocados. It was great to put our feet up in a hammock and listen to the surf hammer the beach as we sipped on cold beers while watching the sun set. The next day, we headed into the city to go and visit one of our new local families and join a local group for a run on some urban trails–a familiar experience in a whole new place.