BC Backyard Ultra

TLDR: Training for Mt Baker Ultra, an injured knee, a canceled race, a last minute BYU registration, and climbing in Skaha.

Written December, 2024

I didn't actually plan on running Backyard Ultra. I wanted to run a mountain race.

I'd long looked at Mt Baker from the Chilliwack River Valley, hoping to one day stand on top. I heard about a nearby race called "Mt Baker Ultra" which summited Sherman Peak (a subpeak on Baker). At 90 km with 3,500m of gain, the route was a big undertaking. So, after I signed up for the 2023 edition, I started training. Oh, it is also worth mentioning that the race cost over $800 CAD. Not a small amount for a student!

Over the winter of 2022-23, I started doing winter training runs with local legends Ihor and Andrea. You might recognize the names, as they've both won some serious ultramarathons, including HURT 100 Miler in Hawaii. As I write this in 2024, Ihor went on to not only finish, but win the Barkley Marathons in 2024, and he also helped set a world record in the 2023's Big Dog's Backyard Ultra... running a total of 717 km in 107 hours.

All this to say, I wasn't anywhere near their caliber as a runner... I didn't know what I was getting myself into by trying to keep up with them...

Winter Training

It was really fun to get out in the cold and snow and clock some vert on the nearby trails, including Qoqo:lem and Bridlewood Trail in Sardis. Neither were very long so the training consisted of mostly hill-repeats, which is a lot on the knees. On one of the coldest days of December, Ihor and I mixed it up and climbed the trail up to Gloria Lookout. By the time we got back to the car our faces were covered with icicles!

We invited more friends and formed Thursday Night Hills Club - with myself, Ihor, Andrea, John, Heather, and often Jas would join. Other attendees included Jaden, Sam, Kalyn, Rhys, Vinnie, Matt, Carol-Anne, and Jeremy. By the end of January, I started to wear a knee sleeve since I was having some discomfort in my right knee. In 2020, I had finally won a long battle with patellar tendonitis in both knees... and my right knee was starting to feel the same way again. Hoping that it was just a short-term niggle, I kept running with the groups. In February, I switched to running only flats to see if the hills were the problem.

But my knee just got worse. To top it all off I got a bad case of bronchitis for all of March, which was the final nail in the coffin to sideline myself. After six weeks of barely any physical activity, my training was a bust. I wasn't willing to worsen my knee and jeopardize my entire summer of hiking and climbing, so I decided to pull out of the Mt Baker Ultra Race.

A Turn of Events

The day after I emailed the Mt Baker Ultra race director to drop out with a partial refund, he sent an email saying that the race was cancelled due to not enough registrations, and that he would either refund or carry-over registration for racers to the next year.

I immediately emailed back, opting for the full refund of $800 CAD.

Silence.

A few days later, he emailed all registrants essentially saying that he couldn't refund at this time because he "spent all of the money already," and something about "investing it in his business."

I was pretty frustrated, so I contacted UltraSignup, but they couldn't get a hold of him either. He was playing hooky on everyone, what a rascal!! In July, over three months later, I went back and cancelled my credit-card purchase since I didn't receive anything for the funds that I paid. Thankfully, I got all my money back in the end. Since then, the race has ceased to exist... I figure UltraSignup won't let him use their services again.

Rewind to April, I was still out $800, nursing my tendonitis-ridden knee, and recovering from bronchitis.

I told Ihor that Mt Baker Ultra was cancelled, and he encouraged me to sign up for BC Backyard Ultra (BYU) in Salmon Arm in late April. "It'll be fun!" he said. I could stop whenever my knee started to hurt, so no pressure.

If you don't know what "BYU" is, runners complete a 6.71 km loop (~4 miles) every hour on the hour until they can't anymore. If they don't start the next loop on time, they're out. Last one standing wins.

It seemed like not the worst idea, since I could drop out at any time. Plus, it only cost $150. My friend Mitch knew the race director and pulled some strings for me to get a late race-entry. So, near the end of April, I found myself getting excited for a race after all!

My plan? Just have fun, and stop when my knee started to hurt.

A few days before, I tried jogging a "yard," or 6.71 km, with my friend Fraser. My knee was extremely aggravated by it, so I set my expectations to run perhaps one or two loops maximum.

Before I left, I made plans with my girlfriend Jas (now wife!) and our friend Maddy to drive out and meet me in Salmon Arm after the race. Afterwards we would drive to Skaha to climb with our other friends Nich and Sophie! I'd be pretty fresh after running only 13 km maximum, so climbing seemed like a terrific idea to extend the trip.

I drove up with my friend Jeremy, who was crewing his friend at the race. We arrived late, set up our tent, and tried to get some shut-eye. That night I asked God if he would heal my knee for the race...

Race Day

I woke up to a beautiful sunny day on race morning, and walked to the registration table with Jeremy. With our race package, we were told to write a goal on our bib. I wrote "to talk to all my friends, and meet 5 new people."

As the corral filled behind the start line, I made my way over to some familiar Fraser Valley faces. At the start of the lap one, I set off with a goal of getting to know a few people. Asking questions about where they grew up and their work, I met some radical folks, including a lady who works as a biomedical engineer for Garmin, designing optical HR sensors!

By the end of the 1st lap, my knee was feeling pretty good. So, I toed the line for lap 2. And Lap 3.

Jeremy kept encouraging me, and he even took time to refill my water and get me some snacks. I didn't even ask him to crew me, he just stepped up and did it! What a great friend.

After 3 laps, my knee actually started feeling BETTER than ever. So, I just kept toeing the line every lap. And every lap, I talked to someone new... eventually I updated my goal to be "meet 25 new people". By my estimate, I think I met and talked with about 45+ people. I did a little test after I DNF'd (did not finish), and I knew 32/33 names of those who kept running after me, as they crossed the line. Not bad!

A major highlight was talking with a guy named Brett. We talked for an entire lap together and delved into spiritual and intellectual layers. Later, on my 11th lap, I couldn't muster up the energy to talk (I basically talked non-stop for 10 hours). So, I sought out Brett, and we had one last hoorah of a conversation; the whole day even brought me to bitter-sweet tears. That's when I knew the end of the perfect day was nearly complete.

My three names (Gregory Donovan Luesink) each have 7 letters (777). Thus, I determined that 77.7km would be the perfect distance to end the perfect race, on a perfect day, with a perfectly amazing group of people! I ran about 800m onto the course for the 12th lap, turned around, and high-fived all of the remaining runners and said my farewell. A guy named Andreas tried to drag me along with them, but I was perfectly content. I wished them well and returned to the start line.

After limping over to take hot shower, I tried to sleep but was absolutely wired. So, I cheered on everyone until midnight. I got a few hours of sleep, then cheered on the remaining 15 runners as they completed 24 HOURS (100miles) of running. By the time I left the next day, 12 runners had begun loop 27... and the winner ended up running for 43 hours.

Thanks again to Jeremy for crewing and encouraging me, Ihor for telling me to sign up, Mitch for pulling some strings, Kara (the Race Director) for letting me race, and every single runner I got a chance to meet and talk to, I couldn't have made it without chatting with each and every one of you!

Jordan, Jordan, Debbie, Renee, Laura, Jodene, Eric, Ryan, Erik, Ryan, Ryan, Josef, Dave, Damon, Kevin, Chuck, Tanner, Marina, Sydney, Don, Dan, Bastien, Brett, Dustin, Brandon, Brendan, Evan, Dominik, Anthony, Andrew, Andy, Tyler, Steph, Matt, Ben, Jen, Sandra, Craig,.. that's all I can remember off the top of my head (list compiled on Strava after race... my memory isn't that good).

Skaha Climbing

Jas and Maddy arrived a few hours after I finished racing, and we got some shut eye while the remaining racers continued through the night. In the morning, we made some breakfast, and drove off to Skaha to meet Nich and Sophie at the bluffs.

That evening, we enjoyed some climbing, some snacking, and some chatting. My legs were quite sore but I managed to enjoy a few climbs before we headed to the campsite on the other side of the lake.

The next day, we made some breakfast and headed back to the Skaha Bluffs for a morning of climbing. We found an amazing cliff with 5-star routes. There, we hammocked, napped, snacked, climbed, and chatted with other climbers until it was time to drive back to Chilliwack.

This trip was a spectacular mix of the best aspects of running and climbing and community all in 3 days. My knee was miraculously healed so I could run for 11.5 hours straight, and still enjoy climbing the next day - Praise God! This was a special trip to usher in 2023's adventures...