First-ever Alpenglow long-distance race smashes expectations

100k racers crossed the starting line at 9:30 pm Friday night, meaning the first portion of their race was overnight in the dark. /Rachel Fraser

By Rachel Fraser

450 ultra-marathoners tested themselves against Valemount’s alpine last weekend in the inaugural Alpenglow 100 race. 

The event offered the ultra-fit three distance options over two mountains: the 35 km course over Mount McKirdy, the 60 km course up Swift and over McKirdy, and the 100 km, over McKirdy, up Swift Mountain, and returning over McKirdy again.

Staging the race from Lee-Ann McDougall’s Whiskey Fill Farm gave the event a uniquely Valemount look-and-feel with the third 100k finisher dodging sheep to cross the finish line.

Uniquely Valemount: 3rd place men’s 100k runner, Oskar Michalak, dodges sheep on his approach to the finish line. /Rachel Fraser

The race is the brainchild of race director Gary Robbins, co-founder of Coast Mountain Trail Running who, with business partner Geoff Langford, currently puts on about eight race events annually. He had been looking for the right place for a true mountain race, up over 2000 metres, featuring ridgelines in alpine terrain. When he visited Valemount two years ago for the first time, he realized this could be the best place.  

This map shows in purple the route that runners participating in the 100km event followed. /Photo courtesy Coast Mountain Trail Running

“The landscape is phenomenal, second to none; the people are even better than that,” Robbins said.  “So many people locally have asked if we’re coming back next year, which is almost comical to me because we’re hoping to be here for the next ten-plus years and really build something special.”

Robbins referenced another Coast Mountain race, the Squamish 50, which he said they’ve grown over the last 10 years from 350 runners to the biggest ultra-distance race in the country. He said that the event is capped at 2000 runners because that is the threshold that can be managed in that community with the available resources and stakeholders.

According to Robbins, an economic impact study that Coast Mountain did in Squamish a couple of years ago showed that the event generated $3.5 million locally.  

He said the feedback he’s received from the Alpenglow weekend was resoundingly positive; that all who came had a special experience and that there is the opportunity to grow the event collaboratively with the community to a right size that works for all involved.  

“This event will be as big as the community and the stakeholders want it to be.”

View more photos from the event below.

Local racers Jean-Ann Berkenpas (right) and Scott Graham (second from right) taking their first steps in the 35k. /Rachel Fraser
Valemount local Sherry Tinsley (centre) takes off from the 35k starting line. /Rachel Fraser
Men’s 100k winner Nico Lightbody on his final stretch just past the Swift aid station. /John Crowley
Finley, whose mom Jean-Ann would later run the 35k, approaches the finish line of the kids 1k fun run. /Rachel Fraser
2nd place women’s 100k winner and 3rd place men’s 100k winner Nika and Oskar Michalak from Squamish are training up the next generation of runners, daughters Kaya, 9, and Sara, 7. /Rachel Fraser
1st place Brittany Peterson from Canmore at 13 hours and 38 minutes, 2nd place Nika Michalak from Squamish at 15 hours and 43 minutes, 3rd place Dawn Glover from Jasper at 16 hours and 35 minutes. /Rachel Fraser
1st place Nico Lightbody (absent) from Victoria at 11 hours, 39 minutes, 2nd place Shota Ida from Revelstoke at 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3rd place Oskar Michalak from Squamish at 13 hours and 2 minutes. /Rachel Fraser
4th place women’s 100k runner, Valemount local Tracy Garneau (right), checks into M&M aid station at 3:50 am, welcomed by volunteers Taylor Gidney (L), Sherrie Houghton and Sheri Malone. /Submitted

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