Day 3, two races finish, one more to go…

Today marks the end for the 3 day Ultra racers and the half way point for the 6 day Diamond racers.

The weather today is somewhere in the mid to low teens! Cloudy, light wind and we had another inch of snow overnight.

The day starts by meeting RN 406, a female Italian Diamond racer that dropped out of the race on day 2 because of severe knee pain. She weighs 49 KG and the ski pulk she was pulling weighed 20 KG which set off the knee pain. On a tech side, she didn’t like the pulk she was using because it didn’t track straight and kept pulling her from side to side. Her next race in May is a 6 day ultra run in Africa.

The media team grows as we welcome on board RN 406 and 415 for their expert knowledge as we travel the course. Unfortunately both athletes dropped out of the race due to medical reasons.

Sadly I meet RN 225 on the course while she is on the back a snowmobile. You will re-call RN 225 was the five star chef of peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches for her partner. Due to the wet brutally cold feet she abandoned the race. She later learned her partner also was forced to leave the course due to sickness. In her ever positive way she told me a touching story about the volunteer that gave her smokey peanuts in the 2008 race and met them again at the same point in the race this year and had in his hands for them, smokey peanuts!

From our vantage point on the Ice Highway, we see the athletes heading toward the finish line focused but with a tiny smile because this is the first time in three days they have full traction under their feet. From our moving warm media van these cold weather extreme athletes tell us:

“I’m doing as good as possible after 130 K but I’m a bit of whiner” This self called whiner ends up winning the Ultra Snowshoe Male Division.

“I might sound like a bit of a southerner but how cool is it to be running on an ice road”

“Hard day one day, tailwind today”

“Does anyone speak Spanish?”

“All I need today is one layer” I have spoken to RN 424 before, a male diamond racer and I have come to the conclusion he is a human furnace.

A very touching moment at the finish line, RN 204 Sara Montgomery who wins the Female Snowshoe Division runs straight into the arms of her husband Derek Spafford who had to drop out of the Diamond race due to sickness. The first words she uttered with tears in her eyes were, “are you okay?”