ESTEVAN - Lloyd Sehn’s second foray into an event known as the Death Race provided to be much better than his first.
Sehn was among those to complete the rigourous competition held at Grand Cache, Alta., during the August long weekend. He completed the 116-kilometre journey in 21 hours, 33 minutes and 43 seconds, placing 63rd out of the 332 competitors entered, and 22nd among the 114 entered in the masters’ category.
Runners have 24 hours to complete the race, and they have to finish each of the five segments within a specified amount of time.
“It’s a really international race, so it fills up pretty fast, and even just registering is a race,” said Sehn. “I believe they opened the registration at 11 p.m. Saskatchewan time, and I was on my computer with my payment information ready to go ahead of that. I registered right away and made sure I got in.”
Sehn has competed in Ironman Triathlons before, which incorporate running, swimming and cycling, and actually last longer than the Death Race. And he was in the Death Race in 2013, but didn’t complete the event due to the worst storm in the event’s history.
“I missed the 68-kilometre cutoff by one hour, and I spent half of that hour hunkered under an evergreen tree, avoiding a huge hailstorm that came through,” said Sehn.
The course, which is treacherous to begin with, became muddy and slippery that year, so he had to drop out after the third of five legs.
The death race is held on the August long weekend each year, and begins at 8 a.m. on the Saturday morning.
Five demanding sections
The first leg, which is 16.6 kilometres, has to be completed in four hours to qualify for the second leg. There’s less elevation, but it’s covered with muskeg and mud bogs for a single-track trail.
“There’s a high degree of difficulty in your footing,” said Sehn.
There are also extra competitors on the trail to contend with, as there is a mini Death Race that has just the first two legs, and a relay race that is happening.
“You have all three events running through that small channel, because there’s a lot of single-track trails … so only one person can go at the same time,” said Sehn.
Leg 2 is 29.8 kilometres in length and has to be completed by 5:30 p.m. Sehn called it the most difficult stretch, because there are two mountains to summit: Flood Mountain at 6,100 feet and Grand Mountain at 6,500 feet.
“The area between those mountains is a valley, and that valley is called Slug Fest for exactly what it sounds like. You’re slugging. You’re pushing bush. You’re in the mud bogs. It’s incredibly technical. It’s extremely steep, both on the down elevation and in the up elevation.”
Two sections are called the Bum Slide because it’s so steep going down, trying to run down is a risky proposition. Many entrants will slide down on their butts to avoid falling.
When you get to the bottom of Slug Fest, it’s back to mud bogs and muskeg. The trail isn’t clean cut and designed for people. It’s full of rocks, roots, branches and fallen trees.
At the bottom of Slugfest, before heading up Grand Mountain, is what they call the Stairway to Hell vertical.
“If 90 degrees is straight up, it’s probably greater than 75 degrees, for sure. It’s so steep and wet and muddy that all you can do is try to find these roots to get your footing to climb up and out of there,” said Sehn.
Coming down Grand Mountain is the Power Line, which Sehn said many racers believe is the toughest part of the race, with six kilometres of steep decline down boulder fields. Competitors will often emerge with battered toes and painful quads.
Leg 3 is 20 kilometres and starts in a community, but then they run through the Smokey River Valley, which is the lowest altitude point of the race. It’s considered one of the easiest sections, but the terrain still includes boulders, roots, mud bogs and knee-deep water.
The fourth leg is called the Hamel Assault, which is the third mountain and the highest peak at 7,000 feet. The first half is still in the forest but then it shifts to a mountain.
About halfway up, there is a brief reprieve with some flat ground for a few hundred metres, and then it’s all rock and shale.
“Once you get through that first half, the second half goes a lot better because you’re not taking the elevation nearly as fast,” said Sehn.
To finish the fourth leg, he faces a steep descent, with each step creating 600 pounds of pressure.
“When you’re coming down the Hamel, every foot strike at that point is absorbing at least that much pressure, if not more. And it’s all in boulder fields. There aren’t many places where you’re running down dirt.”
He reached the peak of Hamel in the daylight, but night settled in partway through his descent.
The final leg is about 18 1/2 kilometres and has to be started by 4:45 a.m. Sehn started around 1:30 a.m. He had to go through thick forest to reach a river, and then he had to pay a toll – using a coin he picked up on the fourth leg – to cross on a ferry. The final sailing is at 6:30 a.m. and if you don’t make it on time, your race is over 10 kilometres from the finish line.
After the ferry, it’s another 1,000 metre climb at a 75-degree elevation.
“You hit the gravel road to take you back to the highway to take you back to town for the last three or four kilometres,” said Sehn.
The finish line is in the community’s recreation centre.
There were also transition points between each leg that provided a brief rest.
Extensive training required
The average person burns 30,000 calories during the course of the race, he said, so a nutrition plan is essential. He took in approximately 14 litres of water, about 6,000-8,000 calories, and roughly 40,000 milligrams of glucose, sodium and potassium.
Training for the Death Race started during the winter months. It was difficult to train, because he doesn’t have trees and hills to contend with here.
“I ran, in training, a little more than 2,000 kilometres getting ready for this race, but somehow I had to get prepared to run mountains.”
Working out at Studio C Fitness, he spent three hours on a stairmill, which simulated climbing the Hamel, and then he ran for 30-60 minutes on a treadmill.
“I did a lot of core and strength work, too, specifically lower body and core, because when I’m running, I’m carrying two or three litres of water, all my food, my safety items, a change of clothing and jackets. All of that had to be on your back.”
And he trained a lot in the heat, which paid off on a hot July day in which temperatures reached 27 C.
Approximately 50-75 per cent of entrants will finish most years, but only 40 per cent completed this year.
“I am pretty happy to have been able to complete it in my second attempt.”
Great community help
His fiancée, Roanna Fleischhacker, was also his crew chief and was all business.
“She packed my gear, hydration and nutrition, dressed my wounds and would not let me stay in the transition area any longer than necessary. As soon as my pack was ready and my needs for the next leg met, she would kindly say ‘alright, time to get back out there.’”
And the community was very supportive, including family, friends, the running community and people he plays hockey with.
“There was a big group of people rooting for me. And that helped. There was times when I was climbing Hamel in which my legs started to cramp up, and then they started to spasm.”
That was the one time in the race where he thought he might not be able to finish, but it was in those times he dug deep and heard the voices of family and friends rooting for him.
“You know they’d be proud of you no matter what, but it just gave me that extra motivation to keep going. And it was all about relentless forward progress. That was the one phrase that I kept saying in my mind the whole time, especially when you’re suffering.
“Over 118 kilometres, it’s not about if you’ll have pain or if you’ll suffer. You know you’ll have pain and it’s about how long you can suffer with it.”
