6633 Arctic Ultra: CP1 to CP2 (Arctic Circle to James Creek)

We leave CP1 and now we get to the real nitty gritty of the 'race'. The first 23 miles were simply a warm up, now with the darkness arriving and some colder temperatures setting in, this is the start of the real test.

From this point on we decide to work on a 2 hour on/15min off schedule, so we'd hike at a steady pace for 2 hours, then stop for 15mins to eat, drink and do any admin that was required. This schedule worked well, we were making good ground and were staying topped up with nutrition and fluids, all-in-all everything was going well.....so far. 

From researching the route and chatting to previous competitors I knew we had a big task ahead of us on this leg, it's called Wrights Pass and it's 10 miles of climbing, anywhere between 6% and 16% gradient. 10 miles of climbing means quite a few hours of digging in and just keeping the momemtum going by placing one foot in front of the other. We weren't there yet, but most people said we should try to get it done in the dark, as you really don't want to see what's ahead of you (in the daylight) as it's such a long climb. 

As we approach Rock River we start to get tired and decide to bivvy out and get an hours sleep before we get to the base of Wrights Pass. This would be our first bivvy and I was keen to get one done, so we know what to improve on (getting our systems right) as we move through the event. We find a convenient place to stop off the main trail, get out our sleep systems and get set up in less than 5 minutes. This is a good start, as it's starting to get cold and we need to get into our sleeping bags as quickly as possible. I set my alarm for 1 hour and I'm asleep as my head hits the pillow. 

6633 Arctic Ultra: Start to CP1 (Eagle Plains to Arctic Circle)

The day has come! After many, many months of training, planning and researching, the 6633 Arctic Ultra is finally here!

We wake at Eagle Plains, grab a quick breakfast, finalise our drop bags, fill our flasks with boiling water and Camelbaks with warm water, tinker with our pulks for the final time and then its time to line up outside for the start. The mayoress of Eagle Plains starts the race and we’re off. We start quite leisurely with a 10K down hill and everyone settles into their own pace.  A few of the ‘fast’ guys shoot off the front (American David, Didier, Patrick, Avram and Vlad (120km)), whilst the rest of the group settle into their own pace. As we hit the Eagle River Bridge the race starts its first real climb (about 10km), now we start to know if our pulks, harnesses and clothing are correct. As we climb we all start to warm up and a few people seem to be overheating already (gone a bit too hard too soon) and start delayering, which is a common occurrence over the next few days. 

The terrain undualtes for about 6 miles, where upon the landscape becomes more exposed but the wind wasn't too bad (in fact the weather was very good, but more on that later), so all in all everything was going smoothly so far. This leg is a shorter leg at 23 miles and one that's used to get you used to the environment, and the condtions, and get you used to using your systems; my plan at this point was to keep on snacking and hydrating whilst on the move as I'd planned to not stop during this leg for a dehydrated meal and wait until after CP1 to have some real food. Each Check Point is subtley different, some are warm community centre's or school halls, whilst some are simply a trailer (a bit like a large horse box) with 2 gas burners in them to boil water. CP1 was a trailer, so the plan was stop at the trailer, refill my flasks (I had x2 two litre Stanley flasks) and my 2 litre Camelbak, make up a dehydrated meal (in my Stanley food flask), head out the door as quickly as possible then stop 3 or 4 hours further down the route and stop for a good break and some real food. 

The hilly terrain continued until arrival at the check point (which is right on the Arctic Circle) and we arrived there just before it was getting dark (when I say 'we', I was with Hayley Robinson at this point). I had no time to admire the "Welcome to the Arctic Circle" sign, instead I had a quick chat to Chris (who was already in there) and then I ran through my mental check list, got my water sorted with the aid of the crew, got out my head torch and an extra layer of clothing ready for the first night section and got going.....CP1 done and dusted! 

Start to CP1 (Eagle Plains to Arctic Circle): 23 miles

6633 Arctic Ultra: pre-race news

After many months of training, the time had arrived to fly out to Canada for the 6633 Arctic Ultra. The time had really flown by and after some last minute frantic packing, I was ready to head to Heathrow to start my journey to Whitehorse via Vancouver. To be honest I was a little worried about the weight of my luggage and the fact that I was carrying some pre-packaged foods, but it couldn’t have been easier at check in and we were away on our journey with no fuss. 

I met fellow 6633 racers Hayley Robinson (380 mile race) and James Mowbray (120 mile race) once through security and we took a few hours to get to know each other and chat through how nervous we all were about the race. 

Travel to Whitehorse was easy and all bags arrived safe and sound, thank you Air Canada. We were met by Martin Like (Race Director) and some of his race crew team, who took our bags and drove us 10 minutes to downtown Whitehorse.  

Over the next few days we met all the other racers (from 11 countries), had the race brief, shopped for last minute supplies, built up our pulks, arranged all of our drop bags and had a familiarisation session (where we did a practise bivvy & used our stoves). On Wednesday we took the 500 mile drive north from Whitehorse to Eagle Plains, which would be the start location the following morning (race was due to start at 10:30am). If you can imagine an old style trucker motel from the Hollywood movies, which is in the absolute middle of nowhere (with lots of very large stuffed animals which seemed to follow you round the room), this was that place! A quick meal and a beer and then off to bed, ready for the big day tomorrow! 

6633 Arctic Ultra: training update.....the final push!

It's the end of February and I'm due to fly out to Canada to race the 6633 Arctic Ultra on Sunday! Where has the time gone? The last 2-3 months has absolutely flown by, the training for the 6633 Arctic Ultra has been very intense recently and the amount of planning, testing & checking of kit and equiment has been significant, to say the least! And with that in mind, here's the training update for February:    

February's training hours break down as:

• Running: zero 
• Hiking: 55hr 
• Strength: 7hr30
• Misc (research, testing equipment, planning food): 28hr 

From the training stats you can see that compared to last month the pure running was zero, the hiking specific training has decreased (due to the taper required before racing), the strength training has remained constant and amount of time I'm spent researching, planning and testing has almost doubled (yes, there's a LOT of planning and testing required in the final weeks for this kind of adventure!). 

Some of the key training sessions in February have been:

• Bigger training days (testing kit & equipment)
• Pulling the pulk (fully loaded with equipment)
• Night hikes (then straight into the bivvy bag and sleeping for a couple of hours)
• Testing, testing, testing!
• Planning, planning, planning!

As you can see, I've spent quite a bit of time finalising my systems and strategies for the event, especially surrounding choices of food, hydration, clothing and equipment. This has meant changing a few strategies and lots of last minute panic buying from Amazon!  

As this is my final training blog post, I hope you've enjoyed tracking my 6633 Arctic Ultra training journey. I'll try to post up another blog post from Whitehorse or Eagle Plains in Canada, just before I start the event on the 7th March, just to give you one last update and my final thoughts going into the event.

Once I arrive in Vancouver, I get a connecting flight to Whitehorse (2.5 hour flight), where I spend 2 days buying food and any kit that I've forgotten, doing mandatory kit checks and an outdoor kit & sled testing session with the support crew (so the race director and safety team are happy that we know how to set up our bivvy, get into our sleeping bags quickly and set up our cooking system to boil snow), before driving almost 500 miles north from Whitehorse to the start point at Eagle Plains (I'm sure this'll be a long, but stunningly beautiful drive). We'll then overnight in Eagle Plains and start the event at 10:30am the following morning.   

Just as a quick reminder, here's a few bullet points highlighting the race and a few useless facts:

• 383 miles on foot
• 9 days
• Approx 45 miles a day
• Approx 800,000 total steps
• Approx 85,000 total calories burnt
• Expected temperatures of -40'C (went as low as -76'C during the 2007 race)
• Athletes racing from 11 different countries

As I mentioned in my first blog post "6633 Arctic Ultra.....setting the scene" (you can check it out HERE) I'm going into this 'race' as a personal challenge and not as a true race. The extreme conditions and the very high DNF rate (some years there have been no finishers at all) mean that finishing the race will be an emormous achievement and one which I will desperately try to do. Sometimes you've got to step outside of your comfort zone and that's exactly what I'll be doing once I hit the Arctic Circle. To say I'm nervous is a massive understatement, but I'm excited in equal measure. The finish line is at the almost mythically named hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, this is where I hope to be on the 16th March......wish me luck!