Last weekend, the Harricana.info team was on location for the very first edition of the Skyrunner Series Canada in Gaspésie. Race Directors Geneviève, Martin and Sebastien experienced the event first-hand.

The Gaspésie region is a unique part of Québec with the St. Lawrence River up north, the Atlantic Ocean in the east and Baie des Chaleurs down south. The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Albert takes place at the very heart of the region, in the Gaspésie National Park, right behind the wind turbines.

Not only are its inhabitants very warm people, the weather is as well. To that effect, a very hot and sunny weekend made it even tougher for some 150 runners who had come for the race. There were four events with four different race courses: Kilomètre Vertical (5 km), Skyrace (22 km), Skymarathon (42 km) and Ultraskymarathon (100 km). For those of you out there who are wondering how hard the 100 km event is, it is pretty hard with 6,000 m D+. The runner who clinched first place, Nathaniel Couture from Fredericton, completed the event in 17 hours and 51 minutes. Just to give you an idea of how hard it was, Christophe Chevet from St-Pierre and Miquelon came in second with a time of 20 hours and 34 minutes, exhausted and knocked out by the heat. He had previously finished 15th at the latest Transmartinique event (133 km, 5,250 m D+) with a time of 24 hours and 13 minutes. Finally, Joel Rabessa, a regular at the Ultra-Trail Harricana, proudly crossed the finish line after 22 hours and 26 minutes. Joel is a sturdy trail runner with unparalleled strength of character. We’re already looking forward to seeing how Joan Roch could do at this event next year. Joan???
Here are the rankings for the other events

=> Kilomètre vertical du Mont-Albert (5km, 1000m D+)
Mens:
1/ Joël Bourgeois (N-B) 0:38:57
2/ Joshua Ferenc (É-U) 0:40:47
3/ David Jeker (Qc) 0:44:58

/7 Sebastien Cote (Qc) 0:50:45

Womens:
1/ Sarah Bergeron-Larouche (Qc) 0:50:39
2/ Mélanie Bernier (Qc) 0:52:16
3/ Caroline Drolet (Qc) 0:56:41

=> Skyrace du Mont-Albert (22km, 1500m D+)
Mens:
1/ Julien Crete-Piche (Qc) 2:38:10
2/ Mathieu Coulombe (Qc) 2:45:54
3/ Sébastien Hétu (Qc) 3:00:11

13/ Sebastien Cote (Qc) 3:24:12 *27km au compteur plutôt que 22km
33/ Martin Vallières (Qc) 4:14:18

Femmes :
1/ Sarah Bergeron-Larouche (Qc) 2:44:58
2/ Mélanie Bernier (Qc) 3:00:36
3/ Frédérique Vézina (Qc) 3:09:17

=> Skymarathon du Mont Jacques-Cartier (42km, 2000m D+)

Mens:
1/ Joshua Ferenc (É-U) 4:26:36
2/ David Jeker (Qc) 4:49:01
3/ Richard Ferron (Qc) 5:57:55

Womens:
1/ Caroline Drolet (Qc) 6:20:21
2/ Karine Comeau (N-É) 7:31:26
3/ Carole Fournier (N-B) 8:33:01

=> Ultra Skymarathon du Mont-Albert (100km 5200m D+)
Mens solo :
1/ Nathaniel Couture (N-B) 17:51:14.
2/ Christophe Chevet (FRA) 20:34:33
3/ Joël Rabesa (Qc) 22:26:22

Départ Skymarathon (22km)

Harricana.info Directors Martin Vallières and Sébastien Côté competed in the Skyrace event. Sébastien had to push hard to get back on track. Indeed, after taking a wrong turn, he completed the event with 5 km in excess of the initial 22 km. As for Martin Vallières, this was his first participation in such an event. He followed his race plan and managed the race so as to have enough energy left afterwards for his 18-day kayak trip down the St. Lawrence River. Congratulations to the pack!

Martin et Sebastien, directeur Ultra-Trail Harricana

Sébastien Côté used a new piece of equipment which he had been testing for a few weeks prior to the race. He thought that the Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek Ultra Vest was very useful, a good fit for him, and that he would use the vest through to the end of the season. In terms of shoes and clothing, he was quite impressed with how accurate and light The North Face Ultra Trail shoe was: “This shoe still surprises me every day and has earned its spot on my roster.” The split shorts (MEN’S BETTER THAN NAKED™ SPLIT SHORTS 5″) were both comfortable and practical with their tiny lateral pockets, perfect for summer.

Finally, Sébastien used the x:act NUTRITION products during the race, and has been since the beginning of spring for that matter. One Fruit3 energy fruit bar prior to the race, Fruit2 fruit bars during the race, and one ProKrunch 2 hours into the race and after the race. 

Nous remercions l’équipe de l’Ultra-Trail du Mont-Albert de nous avoir accueillies sur place, à l’an prochain.

La rencontre entre les directeurs de course Sebastien, Genevieve et Matt Nelson UTHC meet UTMA

Réunion sous la tente

Discussion avec les organisateurs de l’UTMA

Christophe finisher Ultra Skymarathon 100km

Sebastien Cote sur le Kilomètre Vertical UTMA

Nathaniel le gagnant du 100km UTMA