NORTH DAKOTA — Two local runners recently put their fitness levels, endurance and resiliency to the test during a recent ultra marathon in North Dakota.
Lloyd and Roanna Sehn competed at the Maah Daah Hey Trail Race at Theodore Roosevelt National Park on July 29 and 30. Lloyd noted that in ultra marathons, usually, the distance would be 80 kilometres (50 miles) or 160 kilometres (100 miles), but Lloyd pointed out the Maah Daah Hey is a point-to-point race that was actually 90 kilometres for Roanna and 172 kilometres for Lloyd.
It began just south of Watford City and ended at Medora.
Roanna finished first in her age group and 22nd overall among 51 registered racers with a time of 16 hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. Roughly half of the runners finished.
She overcame a bad case of plantar fasciitis, which is a tendon injury in the foot, Lloyd said. They weren't certain how she would do, but she finished the race in her first attempt at the distance.
"I was pretty pleased with my finishing time," said Roanna. "I wanted to finish … as well as conquer some of my fears. I figured that I would be finishing the race probably in the dark, which I'm not a huge fan of. I'm also not a huge fan of snakes in general, but especially rattlesnakes, and just being out in the remote wilderness by myself."
Competitors are alone for most of the race, she said.
Prior to this race, the longest Roanna had gone was 52 kilometres at an ultra marathon in Regina in June.
Lloyd finished in 31 hours, two minutes and 14 seconds, which left him first in his age category and sixth out of 27 runners. Only 15 men finished.
Racers have a time limit to complete the Maah Daah Hey. There are 12 checkpoints and eight stations that racers have on the course where they can get a quick break, take off their hydration vests, and enjoy a quick snack and some water before resuming the route.
They also hired crews, consisting of area residents who will meet them at the checkpoints and manager their food and water. Lloyd noted the crews play an important role in the race, and take great pride in the success of the runners.
"We tried to keep our check stops to about five minutes, and in the first half of the race, I would say that was probably fairly close, but in the second half, our check stops probably got a little longer."
The Maah Daah Hey is on a groomed trail, but still has lots of challenges. One of them is the heat, as the temperature often clears 30 C. And they're running up and down buttes and through canyons.
"In the canyons, they call it a confection oven. So, if it's 30 degrees up on the plains, when you're down in the buttes, it's more like 40 degrees."
Lloyd said he was pleased with the end result. During the evening of the race, the area was hit by a thunderstorm that brought rain and hail. Prior to that, he said he was on pace to finish in 27 hours.
"I got caught in an open field in the hail storm. Roanna had to wait it out – the trail passes underneath the I-94, so she was close to the interstate, so she ran through the storm to get into the underpass to get cover, and she had to wait 10, 15 or 20 minutes before she could get going again."
The storm devastated the course, making it difficult to finish because it was muddy and slippery. It was treacherous, too, with cliffs that had a drop of several hundred metres to the bottom.
"Our feet got pretty battered up because they were constantly wet, and we ran out of dry socks and shoes. So, they got all blistered and skin was torn, so we had to do quite a bit of first aid on my feet to finish," said Lloyd.
The crew members were phenomenal in helping him with first aid, he said.
"Without them, it would have made for a truly miserable experience," Lloyd said.
The Maah Daah Hey was a training event for a much larger and more difficult multi-day event they plan to enter next year outside of Canada. They needed to run those distances in North Dakota to simulate what they would go through. It helped that the Maah Daah Hey was relatively close to home.
"We needed something with a very high degree of heat," said Lloyd.
They have a running program that they will follow, and they will spend time in the gym, working on their core and lower body strength. They will have to be self-sufficient during the race, so they will have to focus on their upper body as well because they will be carrying supplies on their back.
"I think we have a long road ahead of us as far as training, but it will be exciting," said Roanna.
