In order to race this weekend, Adam Campbell must believe lightning can’t strike the same spot twice.
That spot being his head.
The Canmore lawyer/ultra-runner was in the spotlight last year when he was indirectly struck by a lightning bolt while running the Hardrock 100 mile race in Colorado, and still managed to finish third.
Ninety kilometres into his race last year, Campbell and his pacer, Aaron Heidt, approached Handies Peak, one of Colorado’s famous 4,000 metre peaks, when they ran into a thunderstorm near the summit ridge trail. Two hundred yards from the summit, they saw lightning strike the peak. Fully exposed to the elements with no cover in sight, they pushed..
A deafening crack boomed and both runners saw a flash of light. Campbell’s headlamp popped and zapped, and they were both thrown to the ground in shock.
Heidt’s body tingled and Campbell’s chest tightened, but remarkably they were able to stand up and continue on.
“Hopefully, lightning never strikes twice,” said Campbell, recovering from his last training run before the Hardrock kicks off on Friday (July 10).
Undeterred, he knows Friday’s race will hurt a lot, but he can’t pass up the chance to run through such rugged high country.
“It’s probably the most scenic ultra distance run in North America, or the world. It’s fun to be a part of that. It’s a small, grassroots race.”
There is no easy way to run 160 kilometres in one day, especially on a trail which hovers around the 4,000 metre elevation mark and includes 10,360 metres of climbing over the entire route.
“In a 100 mile race, the course always wins. I’m not there with any points to prove. Killian Jornet will be there, and it’s really his race to lose. But races like this, they are races and they’re not at the same time. They are personal challenges,” Campbell said.
Controlling emotional highs and lows is key over the course of 100 miles, Campbell said, as is transforming the race into a series of smaller goals.
To make the challenge even greater, the course is sparsely marked, lending to an even greater sense of wildness. To prepare, Cambell has spent less time running, and more time mountaineering and ski mountaineer racing.
“So many races we have are great trail races in a more controlled area. On this one, you’re off-trail through meadows, scree fields. It’s not an orienteering race, but it’s minimally marked and also a natural loop,” Campbell said.
As a final training run, Campbell challenged the Powderface 45 kilometre race in Bragg Creek on Saturday (June 4). He finished in a time of 3:42:58.6.
“It was really good. I’ve been spending time in the high mountains. The Powderface is a classic loop and it was my last big training run,” Campbell said.
Mack Kont of Canmore was second, and James Greene of Edmonton was third. Stephanie Murphy of Calgary was the top woman with a time of 4:55:04, followed by Pam Litwin of Okotoks and Sarita Drew-Stanier of Bragg Creek.
