Riley Welden Conquers the Death Race – CochraneNow.com

The 125k mountain course of the Canadian Death Race is a challenge to complete in 24 hours in the best of weather. Slugging it out on a water-saturated course is even a bigger feat.

Riley Welden, 43, who works in the town’s planning department, not only beat the 24-hour window, he crushed the course in 17 hours, 25 minutes and 22.2 seconds (17:25:22.2). 

In his first solo ultramarathon mountain race of this duration, Welden came a respectable 21st overall of the 182 male soloists who completed the race. Nine barely missed the cut-off and another 93 did not complete the race.

Riley Welden on Mount Hamell. (Courtesy of Raven Eye Photography)”I’m super happy. I surprised myself a little bit and it worked out way better than I thought.”

“My target was to do under 20 hours, but I wasn’t basing it on anything because I had never done anything that distance before.”

Despite the soggy conditions, Welden says weather was ideal for running. The temperature was a high of about 19 degrees Celsius and it was cloudy. At higher elevations, the trails were dry and in great shape. 

“The race organizers were saying it was one of the wettest and muddy years that they’ve seen. Similar to Calgary, Grande Cache had a lot of rain over the spring and summer so the lower areas of the course were extremely muddy. It made the climbing a bit more difficult because you were slipping and sliding up some pretty muddy trails.”

Equipment selection for the race is key and among the most important is footwear and feet care. Welden had fresh pairs awaiting at each transition point from his support team.

“They also had towels ready to clean my feet because they were so wet and muddy. Starting each new leg with dry shoes and dry socks is huge. So that kept my feet in relatively good condition and I only got a couple of blisters, which I think is pretty lucky.”

Welden couldn’t say enough about the important role played by his support crew. They had to be ready with a chair, footwear, food and water at each transition. The runner comes in and within five minutes is back out on the course.

“They had to do that four times. They also have to stay up so they’re there from the beginning and they’re staying up with you the entire time until you cross the finishing line.

In Welden’s case, it was1:30 a.m.

“It’s such an enormous help. It’s a lot of work on their part.”

Crossing the finish line is special.

“At the end of these things when you cross the line and you see your friends and family and the people who have been there the whole day it’s such a great feeling. It’s elation, you’re just so tired but you’re so happy to see everybody.”

Quitting never crossed his mind during the race.

“There were some points where I definitely wasn’t loving life and feeling a bit sore, but I had no doubt that I was going to finish.”

Welden is taking back many memories from the positive culture of the running community. He also enjoyed the space it provides and the incredible scenery.

“When you’re running by yourself quite a long time you have a lot of time to reflect and just zone out a little bit. You get up to the top of these mountains and you see some of these views. It’s just magically. It’s such a great feeling.”

This race was more than a personal challenge for Welden. It was an opportunity to support a local charity. He established a  “Hunger Before Death” campaign to raise money for the Cochrane Activettes food bank.

While he’s completed the race, there is still time to contribute to the food bank. 

Pledges can be made online directly at www.cochraneactivettes.com or can be made in person at the local branches of Royal Bank or ATB Financial. 

Cheques can be made out to the Cochrane Activettes and mailed to them at Box 535, Cochrane, AB T4C 1A7.

The Death Race takes runners through in 17,000 ft. in elevation changes and over three of the mountains that surround the mountain paradise of Grande Cache, AB. that is the gateway to the Willmore Wilderness Park on the Great Divide.

David Brown, of Cochrane, also successfully completed the race, finishing 46th with a time of 19:13:59.