Trails newcomer Ailsa MacDonald is Female Champ and 2nd Overall

Jackie Windh / 26.09.2015

Of the original fifty one racers who had aimed to complete all three days, seven had either DNF’d a previous day, or had elected not to start on this final day. We were a total of 78 on the start line, though, if you include the one-day runners. This was supposedly the “easy” day - as long as you hadn’t pushed your body too hard the days before. And today it was finally rainy... but at least not very cold.

Today’s route was relatively simple. Other than a short flat section on groomed gravel track along the river at the beginning and end, we were mainly on rolling single-track through the forest: all of it very runnable. Stage winner was - by a long shot - California’s Jorge Maravilla in 1:39, a performance which put him solidly in front as three-day champion, for a total time of 8:27:58.
 
Alberta’s Ailsa MacDonald continued her stunning performance - apparently she is relatively new to trail racing, just transitioning from road racing - taking first female and second overall with a total time of 9:10:03. I think we’ll be hearing more about Ailsa in the coming years!

This was a fantastic race, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. First-year races are always a bit of an unknown, because you just can’t be sure that the organization will be there for you. Here, RD Magi Scallion did a stellar job with everything - from providing pre-race info in a timely way through a very well organized website, to course markings on the routes, to keeping everything happening in a timely way as the race unfolded. (And appropriate instruction at the pre-race meeting about grizzly bears, and how and when to use bear spray!).

The routes are simply stunning - in particular, the Day 2 ultramarathon day with the ascent along the canyon rim and then the ridgeline traverse. If you are a mountain trail runner, and if you want to experience the wilds of the Canadian Rockies, this race is for you. And, knowing that ultrarunners need to figure out race dates well in advance, Magi has got her Golden Ultra race dates set for the next three years: Sept. 23-25, 2016 and Sept. 22-24, 2017 and Sept. 21-23, 2018.

So there is no excuse not to fit this great race into your ultramarathon adventure plans!­

Jacqueline Windh is an ultrarunner and adventure sports journalist, and editor of www.runningultramarathons.com

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