1. Ontario runner shatters Bruce Trail FKT
2. A cautionary note as sports ramp up quickly
3. The pride of Ross Proudfoot - and a legacy like few others
4. Photos This Week
5. Upcoming Events: August 7 Sudbury Camino, August 8 Bush Pig Open, August 14-15 Conquer the Crater, August 22 SFC Crowley Lake Open Water Swim
6. Running Room Run Club Update: 
7. Track North
   

Kip Arlidge, 28, of Sundridge, Ont. has taken an astonishing 14 hours off John Harrison Pockler’s Bruce Trail FKT (fastest known time), set just last September at nine days, 17 hours. Arlidge completed the 890-km trail on June 27, running from Tobermory (on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula) to Queenston in the Niagara region, in nine days, three hours and 27 minutes.

Arlidge has raced ultras in Ontario such as the 2018 Limberlost Challenge (56 km distance) and the 2019 Haliburton Forest Trail Race (100 miler), both of which he won, but this was his first major multi-day project. Initially his goal was to go sub-9, but he soon realized that wasn’t realistic, based on how much ground he needed to cover and how much abuse his legs could take. “I learned a lot and made a ton of mistakes,” Arlidge told us in a phone interview. “I think sub-9 is possible, and I looking forward to supporting whoever is crazy enough to give this another try.” He adds that he’d like to actively help anyone who wants to take a crack at running the trail. “I received a lot of help from the ultrarunning community and am looking forward to helping someone else set a new record.”

He says his pacing was quite different from Pockler’s, who started strong, then developed some knee issues and backed off the pace for a few days, then pushed hard through the final three days. “Mine was more of a gradual decline,” says Arlidge. “At one point, around day 5, I had a close to a 24-hour lead, but then I faded a bit.”

He says the only time he panicked was near the end, with only 60 km left. “I had hoped to push the last 100 miles without sleep, but I started cutting sleep one day too early. I tried to kick for the last two or three days, but my body just didn’t have it. With about 60 km to go, I took an extra 90-minute sleep, woke up and was completely seized and could barely get up. For about half an hour I was working as hard as I could to just walk at all. That came and went, and I loosened up a bit, so I maybe lost an hour or two over the last day.”

Arlidge commented on the generosity of the other runners he met along the way, in particular Steve Kenny of Owen Sound, Ont., who was trying for the FKT himself, at the same time, running from south to north. They crossed paths on Kenny’s sixth day and Arlidge’s third. “We got a lot of support from his crew, who were equally willing to help me out,” says Arlidge. “We were both waiting for COVID restrictions to lift, and it was really cool that we bumped into each other.” Kenny had fallen off the pace by the time he ran into Arlidge, but he did finish the route, in 12 days and change.

Arlidge explains that the northern parts of the trail on the Bruce Peninsula are technical, hilly and rocky, which is why most people want to do them at the beginning, when their legs are fresh. “It’s also the most scenic, in my opinion, so I wanted to cover it at the beginning, when I was well rested and could appreciate it more,” he adds.

The distance is equivalent to about 21 marathons. To do it that quickly means covering around two and a half marathons every day, for nine days in a row – sometimes running, but mostly hiking, and sleeping only a few hours at a time, or less, depending on the clock.

Arlidge says he didn’t train much differently than he would for a 50-miler or a 100-miler. “I just tried to put in lots of volume,” he says. “I would have liked to do more long, slow work, but it wasn’t time-efficient.” He did, however, taper more than he usually would, backing off close to a month before the start of the run, because he was dealing with some glute strain issues and wanted to go into the project injury-free. “The whole thing was about getting through it without blowing up,” he says, “so I got more rest and did more preventative exercises than I would before than a typical race.”

The Bruce Trail is Canada’s oldest long distance hiking trail, dating back to the early 1960s. The route mostly follows the edge of the Niagara Escarpment from Queenston to Tobermory and features a variety of terrain, from rocky, hilly singletrack to gentle paths through forest and farm fields, as well as some gravel and paved roads. While some sections are owned by the Bruce Trail Conservancy or by local conservation authorities, much of the route is on private property and depends on the goodwill of the landowners.

Arlidge emphasized that his success was entirely dependent on his support crew, and on how good they were to him – in particular, Eric MacPherson and Maddy McDonald, one of whom was running or hiking with him throughout most of the route.

For more on the Bruce Trail FKT, go to fastestknowntime.com.

Thousands of young athletic Sudburians are chomping at the bit to reintegrate themselves into the training regimen of their specific sport or sports.

Kim Brouzes fully understands that. It's a feeling that is all too natural.

Still, in spite of the fact that it's not the message that athletes, coaches and parents would like to hear, the owner/operator of Active Therapy Plus is sounding a cautionary note.

"As parents, as a sports community, we need to slow the season down a little bit," said Brouzes. "Instead of throwing them into the same practice that you might have planned in the summer of 2020, maybe take it a bit slower."

As much as Brouzes works on a daily basis with injured athletes, she would just as soon ensure that the malaises that can be avoided are avoided.

"Our job is to develop these kids through all stages of their growth and development," she suggested, alluding to an all-around concerted effort that involves all those who work with the training of young athletes.

"The biggest factor to keep in mind is that it's been 16 months since these athletes last competed. Kids change a lot in 16 months. They are different humans, different people."

And while she absolutely recognizes that many who compete beyond a purely recreational level have remained busy, morphing workouts into whatever could realistically and feasibly be done, Brouzes also knows that there is a leap to be made when turning the switch to game mode - and even ultra-intense practices.

"The things that you can do in your driveway or your basement or your garage are very different than what you can do in an organized activity," she said. "Take ten minutes for each athlete, look at them, talk to them."

"Coaches need to re-introduce themselves to these kids, take a physiological profile, a quick scan of how they have changed - just get to know them again."

"If we try and throw these kids into the season as though we hadn't missed a beat, these kids are going to get hurt."

Though some of that might be unavoidable, Brouzes does have a few other suggestions that she feels might keep young athletes away from her office.

"Make sure they are doing good warm ups, that they are stretching enough," she said. "Their hip flexors might be tight right now, their backs and necks might be sore. Throwing them back into a full practice is risky."

"It's just to keep in mind to slow things down and train their bodies again," Brouzes added. "Their muscle memory will be quite quick. This has never been done before where you develop, develop, develop, stop in your tracks - and then start again a year later."

While the situation itself might be somewhat unique, the inherent issues at the heart of the problem are certainly not new.

"The fact is that 80% of all injuries in sport are simply trying to go too hard, too fast," said Brouzes. "We can't prevent all injuries, but we can use a little bit of education, just being mindful about what their bodies are going through."

“That last year of high school kind of vaulted me right in as one of the top competitors at junior nationals the next year.”

To this day, one of his favourite memories remains with the Western Invitational in his freshman year, pretty much the very first OUA race in which he competed. “There were guys coming up from the States who could run a 29 flat (for 10 km), and I had never even done a 10km before,” said Proudfoot.

“I had maybe five weeks of training at Guelph coming off a pretty good summer track season. Everyone told me to relax and stay in the middle of the pack – but I was feeling good and I kept feeling good.” The messaging, from the coaches, was suddenly subject to a mid-race 180. Time to relax would have to come later.

“All of the coaches who were telling me that the race really didn’t matter were suddenly really yelling at me,” said Proudfoot. A come from behind first place finish would be one of far too many to count over the years, his dominance reaching an absolute crescendo during his final year at Guelph (2014-2015).

In an era that is noted as among the deepest that Canadian men’s university distance running has ever witnessed, the Sudbury native posted a completely undefeated campaign on the track.

Claiming gold at the CIS cross-country championships in November (2014) in St John’s, Proudfoot would double down at the national indoor finals, winning the 1500m and 3000m and being named as the Canadian University Male Athlete of the Year – across all sports.

“If you look at it, it seems like those were the golden years, but really, those were the years where my body kept it together in spite of the kind of training that I was putting up,” suggested the two-time national open men’s cross country champ (2015/2016). “We had an ultra competitive group, everybody would work super hard.”

No surprise that this would lead to his most aggressive shot at the Olympics, but also a period when holding said body together would become increasingly more challenging. “You really have to kind of monitor how hard you are going every day,” he said. “Mileage is one thing, but a lot of it comes down to what kind of stress you are imposing on your body, how hard you are going.”

“I like to be competitive in every race.”

For Ross Proudfoot, even on a global scale, these words rang especially true.

In 2013, he would reach the 1500m final at the World University Games in Russia. In the summer of 2015, Proudfoot would record a fifth place finish in the 5000m final of the Summer Universiade (FISU Games) in Gwangju (South Korea), running in near forty degree heat.

Just five days later, flying from Asia to Europe, he established a personal best time of 13:29.32 at the same distance in Belgium, less than five seconds off the 2016 Rio Olympic standard. “I know I had the talent to be an Olympic team member – but injuries really took their toll in the last three years.”

None more so than a nasty battle with sciatica, the beginning of the end, if you will. “I have so much respect for those who make the long haul to the Olympics,” Proudfoot stressed. “But you have to look at the opportunity cost in life.”

Armed with an undergraduate degree in Human Kinetics, the Toronto resident who has spent the past four years with GlaxoSmithKline has morphed in quite nicely some of the work accomplished through his masters in Human Health & Nutritional Science.

“I’m really liking the commercial business side of science, strategic planning and things like that,” he said. “More of a strategic role is where I see myself.”

During the pandemic, Proudfoot was among a group of former Track North athletes who lent their wisdom, on-line, to those still pounding their way through the mileage. Though there is little way to avoid the mind flowing to the valleys of alternate realities based on altered training programs, the soon-to-be-married ultra proud northerner is moving on, confident he did the best he could with the knowledge at his disposal at the time.

“You have to try and figure out what works for your own body,” Proudfoot explained. “You have to kind of judge your own taper when it comes to in-season races and stuff like that. I think the biggest mistake runners make is pushing through, not reading that stuff correctly.”

With an Olympic berth as the ultimate goal, that is hardly the easiest read to make – even for one of the greatest university distance runners ever.

July 14 Finlandia

July 14 Finlandia

July 15 Finlandia

July 15 Finlandia

July 15 Finlandia

July 15 Off Mt. Ramey Mt. Path

July 15 Off Mt.Ramsey Path

July 16 Bennett Lake

July 16 Bennett Lake

July 16 Second Ave

July 16 Finlandia

July 17 Laurentian Lake loop (dog loses race)

July 17 Laurentian Lake

July 18 Crowley Lake Loons