The first Toughest Mudder in Canada event was held Saturday, June 17 in Whistler – an all-night, eight-hour obstacle race, one of the biggest, toughest, meanest and longest of all Mudder races. Among the 292 elite athletes was a Coaster, Shaun Stephens-Whale, wearing just a wet suit top and shorts. He was perhaps under-dressed but ready to tackle 50 miles and 87 obstacles including full submersion in icy cold baths, water hazards and muddy barbed wire crawls.
Starting at midnight, the race would end eight hours later. The first to get to 50 miles – if even possible – would bank an additional $5,000. After a kneeling prayer to honour Canada’s fallen soldiers, the horn blew, and dust, smoke grenades and a sea of bobbing headlights heralded the beginning of a huge and difficult odyssey for all racers.
Living up to his trail running standards, Stephens-Whale was the first to mile one. As the dust settled, a group of 20 runners – among them multi-time Obstacle Course Racing World Champion Ryan Atkins (Canada) and 2015 World Champion Robert Killian (U.S.) – separated from the field, only to be misdirected during the first five-mile loop, adding a further unnecessary two miles. As the night went on, three forerunners emerged to battle it out. At three loops (15 miles) Stephens-Whale had a small lead on Atkins of 2.5 minutes, and 20 minutes behind was Killian.
Hoping to complete ten five-mile loops before 8 a.m., runners needed support staff who pumped their athletes full of nutritional drinks, electrolytes, special amino acids, gels, bars and hot fluids. Nutritionist Jan Stephens kept a close all-night watch on her athlete, making sure adequate carbohydrates, protein and sodium were taken in. As each lap went by, the importance of this increased: too little could result in a DNF (did not finish).
As the night wore on, Atkins’ unrelenting pace and proficiency on the obstacles elevated him into first place with Stephens-Whale holding strong in second. In the end, for Stephens-Whale, the limiting factor was the cold, forcing him to cut short his last lap and creating an exciting dramatic finish, forcing Killian to finish his last lap within 71 minutes. Killian was able to pull this off within seconds, moving Stephens-Whale back from second to third place, with 1.5 minutes separating Killian and Stephens-Whale after 7.5 hours of intense effort.
After a visit to the medical tent to warm up, Shaun was on the podium for a champagne shower, photos, congratulations and a lot of hand shaking, along with a pretty good payday, an amazing finish for a very long night.
– Submitted
