Adventure racer Andrew Cameron relaxes in his backyard after placing second in the Rock and Ice Diamond Ultra.
If a 42-km marathon seems daunting, consider covering 225 km over six days in the forbidding cold of the Northwest Territories. Substitute a pair of runners for snowshoes and add a sled hauled from a rope tied at the waist.
Sounded like fun for 35-year-old local endurance athlete Andrew Cameron. He placed second in the Rock and Ice Diamond Ultra event outside of Yellowknife on March 26.
With long blonde hair and the remnants of windburn on his freckled face, Cameron looks the part of an outdoor adventure enthusiast.
He was one of 28 competitors from nine countries taking part in the exhausting race, snowshoeing or cross country skiing between 24 and 45 km a day across ice and deep snow in Canada’s North. Twenty-two racers competed in Cameron’s event, snowshoeing.
Despite his success, Cameron doesn’t typically compete in snowshoe events. He’s more accustomed to adventure races – triathlons of sorts with running, mountain biking and a paddling sport like canoe or kayak.
So why the snowshoe race in Yellowknife?
“The event as a whole scared the crap out of me,” explains Cameron. “Which made it a perfect event to sign up for – it was out of my comfort zone.”
Every night during the race, competitors slept in an improvised camp set up at different stages of the course by race organizers.
The racers were self-supported, meaning they carried all the food, sleeping gear, and clothing needed for the six days.
As they raced, participants dragged their belongings in a type of sled called a “pulk.”
Beyond the physical exertion, there are serious issues with a race in the Northwest Territories.
Temperatures can drop to -40 C, so competitors need to try to find the right balance between staying warm trying to minimize sweating.
Warmer temperatures can also be a problem. If the weather gets anywhere close to zero, snowshoeing becomes much more difficult because of the softer snow.
Fortunately, Cameron says the weather was consistent, allowing him to approach each day the same way: wake up, eat breakfast, put on gear, and run.
Cameron says he signed up because the challenge and the opportunity to see Canada’s North in a unique way appealed to him.
But the prize for first place was appealing, too.
The event’s winner, Greg McHale, won an Ekati Diamond from a mine owned by BHP Billiton in the Arctic.
Still, Cameron says he isn’t upset about his second-place finish, and the small trophy he received was good enough for him.
“Greg’s an extremely strong racer. He does adventure races professionally. I certainly have no problem coming second to him,” he says. “He lives in Whitehorse after all.”
Cameron finished the race in 33 hours and 24 minutes – four hours slower than McHale and four hours faster than the third place finisher. The slowest racer took more than 69 hours to complete the race – snowshoeing for as many as 15 hours in a single day.
Scott Smith, the race’s co-ordinator wasn’t surprised with how well Cameron did, despite the very strong field that was in the event.
“I’ve seen Andrew race before,” he says. “I knew he was a strong competitor.”
Cameron is an amateur athlete that says he has to balance his racing with real life. He works at a wind energy company called Garrad Hassan Canada on Albert Street and says he’s lucky enough to get time off to “play.”
He’s hooked on these outdoor events and says he looks for new and challenging races to do every year. He’s so busy with racing he says he doesn’t even train anymore, at least not in the traditional sense.
“I just do a lot of activities that I love doing,” he says. “At the end of the day, it leaves me trained enough to compete at a level I’m happy with.”
Cameron also tries not to do the same race twice.
“There are so many fun events out there to do,” he explains. “It would seem like a crime to keep doing the same one.”
But he might make an exception and be back in Yellowknife next year. “I’ve really stumbled across a jewel with this one.”
He means the race, not the diamonds.