James Hiebert Racing

Idaho Peak Ultra (Kootenay Sufferfest)

Date: July 28, 2019
Distance: 43.7 km
Time: 6:03:54
Pace: 0:08:19 minutes/km
Overall Place: 21/38
Division (Male (30-39)) Place: 5/6
Gender Place: 13/24

Hard course with a fairly low effort to reward ratio. The highlights of the course are *obviously* summiting Idaho Peak and the amazing 360 degree views of the Valhallas (and other ranges). But... not sure if it was worth the slog through innumerable crappy forest roads and ATV tracks. We traversed at least 3 out of commission mines. I enjoyed the climb up the Old Sandon Road and the Alamo Wagon Trail, but after that the trail deteriorated into very steep and nasty ATV track where you had to really watch your footing. The descent was nice for a while, but it was mostly on road and it just went on and on. At one point the "trail" hadn't been brushed, so you were basically bushwacking through willow/alder, occasionally getting a glimpse of flagging to remind you that you weren't actually lost. The final stretch from Three Forks went on and on and on. I'm not sure why, but my watch, at that point was registering around 38 km, so I thought we were basically done (and had enough energy for another couple clicks). My morale plummeted upon finding that we still had a solid 9km to go. I was happy to finish.

The weather was great for summer. Reasonably cool and mostly overcast with only a few sunny breaks, so it was easy to stay hydrated and not overheat.

Not sure if I'd do this race again, but I was glad to have done it.