The South African team of trail runner Tarryn Gordon-Bennett — the women’s winner in this year's 230km, five-day Ice Ultra Marathon extreme race in Swedish Lapland in the Arctic Circle — acclimatised to their snow shoes running on a beach.
There are echoes of the story of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Winter Olympics, featured in the film Cool Runnings, in how the six South Africans participated in and all finished the 39-entrant event six weeks ago where eight runners did not. That movie was a light take — the Ice Ultra is a monumentally serious race.
To understand how extreme the event is, envisage first that each stage except the 15km fifth day is a marathon length or longer. The fourth is 64km, 8km further than the 56km Two Oceans Ultra Marathon. And marathons are run in ultralight kit on tar roads, not winter gear across icy, snow-covered Arctic tundra, mountains and frozen lakes, most of the way in snow shoes (the modern racing version of what used to look like tennis rackets) in temperatures as low as -40°C.
Oh yes, the race is self-sufficient so competitors carry what they need — 8.5kg — on their backs. There are no crowds to cheer runners on. On the route through the Unesco heritage site in Laponia, Europe’s last remaining wilderness, there is no-one — just reindeer and thousands of kilometres of pure white snow.
Add another factor for the South African team that also included Gordon-Bennett’s race running partner André Erasmus (seventh place), Nick Denoon-Stevens (ninth), Cordi van Niekerk (22nd), Robin Kelly (24th) and Paul Venter (26th) — snow, let alone arctic conditions, are not really this country’s thing.
Gordon-Bennett placed sixth overall and top woman in 39 hours 09 minutes, just over six-and-a-half hours behind Irish ultra-marathon runner Alex O’Shea in first (32:31). Erasmus was five minutes behind in 39:14 and Denoon-Stevens ran in 42:25.
“What an amazing but brutal race,” Gordon-Bennett said. “The first day is run across 50km, day two is 43km, day three 42km, day four was the big one with 64km, and day five was 15km. It was a mini-Comrades for the first three days, almost a Comrades on day four, and then we finished with a bit of a sprint.
“I felt great for the first three days. It was extremely challenging. The snow was thick — we ran in our snow shoes 90% of the time.
“On day one and two there was quite a climb — a 1,000m elevation on both. The climbing in snow shoes was brutal. We also hit -36°C on day two on Mount Kabla, where we had to put on all our layering, but the visibility was great.
“Day three we were hit by a blizzard and a whiteout on the lakes so the visibility was poor and it was just survival. It was also -25°C and it was flat — running 20km-plus on lakes we heard the lakes groaning and creaking and actually moving and it almost made me feel a bit uneasy. But what an experience to look back on.
“On day four I hit the wall a few times. It was 64km, I started becoming hypoglycaemic at about 55, I ran out of food and it snowed for about the last 20km, so it was extremely cold at the back end. I didn’t put my jacket on soon enough, so my core got cold. That was the toughest day.
“But finishing [on day five] I felt completely cleansed — the self-accomplishment after an event that big, the feeling is amazing.”
The South Africans conducted a lot of research on what was needed to complete the five days and prepared accordingly.
“It was extremely difficult to prepare for a race like this. The conditions — the snow, temperatures down to -40°C — are extremely difficult. Preparation comes down to physical fitness and having a really strong mind.
“We didn’t run too much on the beach, but when we did try our snow shoes out it was on thick sand.
“We also spent a day sitting in a freezer at -20°C to test our kit. But, really, we arrived in Lapland not knowing what to expect. A lot of us spoke to past participants, trying to understand what kind of kit we needed to wear — the layering system was important.
“Our team consisted of two members from Cape Town and the others based in Johannesburg. We would have lots of dinners where we would discuss the kit.
“It took us about a year to prepare for what to wear, what bag to carry — we carried about 8.5kg on our backs. It was a self-sufficient race so we needed to carry all our own food and medical supplies. There was no change of clothes, so as soon as you got to camp you hung up your kit hoping it would dry for the next day.
“Nothing about this race was easy. We had to walk to go and get water after the race, we had to carry our own night bags for camping. We had no lights in our accommodation so we used headlamps. We needed to boil water. Then, obviously, toilets were outside — we used long drops.
“So preparation from that point of view was extremely difficult, but all I can say is the physical and mental state were super-crucial.”
Even putting their bodies through such an extreme test, the experience of running alone though the Arctic wilderness made an impression.
“The highlight was being in the middle of nowhere. We were on a heritage site in Laponia where we didn’t see a single person, I didn’t hear a bird, I never saw an insect. I saw some reindeer in the mountains, but it was silence like we have never experienced before. We come from Africa where we go to the bush — you think that’s silence, this is another level.
“Endless kilometres of thick white snow, the beautiful tall forests you run through. The highlight was that pure silence participating with a group of friends you’ve built solid relationships with over the months in the build-up.
“Some ran together, some didn’t — I ran with André. And I can say from start to finish we didn’t see anyone on the course.”
The Ice Ultra, which was held from February 20 to 24, is part of the Beyond Ultimate series that also includes the Desert Ultra, Jungle Ultra and Mountain Ultra.
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