A Fernie woman has ran the equivalent of three-and-a-half marathons in less than a day, finishing as the top runner in the grueling Sinister 7 race.
Abi Moore of Fernie ran 148 km in just over 21 hours.
Moore’s longest distance before this race was 50 km, a feat she accomplished just once, two weeks previously.
“I can’t get my head around it either,” said Moore.
Participants in the race start in Blairmore, Alta. From there the race is broken up into seven stages of trail running through the Crowsnest Pass ranging from 12 km to 35 km and finishes in Coleman, Alta. Runners must finish the race in 27 hours.
Moore, who moved to Fernie six years ago, had never done any trail running before arriving in British Columbia.
Over the last four years Moore has gradually done more and more trail running with her husband, Mike.
“My husband did the Sinister 7 last year. I decided if I ever wanted to see him I better start running,” said Moore, adding that Mike finished in the top 10 last year.
Moore and her husband started this year’s Sinister 7 together, but he had to pull out of the race due to stomach issues caused by the extreme heat.
“That was pretty hard at that point. I thought I didn’t want to continue on,” said Moore.
“But after doing all that training, I felt like I had to finish for the both of us.”
After dropping out, Mike, and several other supporters, were waiting at each stage cheering Moore on.
“He was really encouraging. He just wanted me to finish,” said Moore, adding that seeing all those smiling faces at every stage helped push her along.
Moore wasn’t expecting to be feeling as strong as she was at the end of the race.
“Mental focus is the biggest challenge. My body didn’t bother me too much,” said Moore.
“It was such an amazing race. There were thousands of competitors,” said Moore. “It was so nice chatting to people as you ran. All the sudden you’ve done 5 km. You can easily get distracted.”
Towards the end of the race, Moore let another female racer pass her and didn’t even know it happened.
“On the last leg I had to up my pace and try to catch her. And I came through ten minutes in front,” said Moore.
Moore received $1,000 for being the top female runner.
“I didn’t even know about the money beforehand. That was an awesome touch,” said
Moore, who plans on spending the money to travel back to Scotland to visit family.
“I don’t want to spend it on anything racing related.”