Photos & Video Day 6 - Final Stage

Day 6 start

Home-made sled, pole and harness - only broke once during the race!

Thanks to my employer Spirit Aerosystems, the worlds largest designer and supplier of aircraft structure, for sponsoring me.

The trail goes on...

Tough going..

 

Heading north on Grate Slave Lake to the finish line - a 'moonscape'.

Crossing the finish line after 6 days

 

Fellow racers completing a challenge they will never forget

Phil McMullen from Ireland receiving his finishers crystal from Scott Smith, race director

The finishers crystal

Whiskey, just what the doctor ordered (Edward Gilbert in red and Jack Broardhurst in blue are both doctors and chose this race to learn to cross-country ski!!)

An evening of celebration in Yellowknife's Dark Knight bar

  

 The awards for the top 3 in each category

Photos & Video Day 5

Another beautiful day

 

Start of day 5

  

Spirit Aerosystems sponsored sled performing well

 TO BE ADDED

Approaching the end of the stage (ignore the last xx senconds, need to edit out)

 

Sled park

 

Trout Rock Lodge - V nice

 

 Proud winners of the 2002 Caribou Carnival 'Ugly Truck and Dog Contest'!

 

That looks like an eaisier way to get about..

 

 

End of day chat

 

Last night on the trail

Photos & Video Day 4

Fast start

En-route

Leaders in the ski category race for the line

At Camp

Camp life

End of day summary

Light show

Photos & Video Day 2

En-route

Lake crossing

Arriving at camp

  

 End of day video

The Northern Lights over Jennyjohn camp

Photos & Video Day 1

Pre race briefing

 

Final preparations in the tent

 

Heading to the start line

 Video - 5 miles to go

Video - End of day 1 arriving at the camp

Race complete!!

Job done!

Superb day today and hardest day of the race for me. We all slept in a 'work in progress' lodge at Trout Rock which was great and certainly better than a tent on the ice (don't get me wrong, the tents were amazing as you'll see in the photos to follow). Breakfast was in the main lodge and was plentiful, lots of toast, jam, cheese, coffee and porridge.

Start as always at 9am with just myself and Andy in the foot race wearing snow shoes. Bright clear day, -20C at the start with a 20mph wind. Made a good start chasing the leading girls and overtaking for a while as I had better traction with the snow shoes. Jen and Denice soon overtook me. My knees began to complain 10k in to this 39km (24mile) final leg. From this point in I slowed but was still able to run.

The final 10km involved crossing a couple of smaller lakes then crossing a hilly few km before the final 4km back on the Great Slave Lake up to Matrix Village. (the lake is the worlds 9th largest).

The final stretch on the lake was tough going as the knee became worse but helped by a tail wind and knowing that the end was in sight. As loose snow blew in small drifts across the lake it felt like a moonscape. The only person I saw on this stretch was Josh Capple who blasted in on a snowmobile to take some pictures then quickly disappeared.

Amazing feeling crossing the line to applause from a small group of well wishes, a handful of photographers and a representative from BHP Billington, the main sponsor. Scott and his team were on hand as always and presented me with the finishers crystal.

I finished in 6hr17min, after 38hr18min of racing I'm really pleased to finish in 3rd place.

A superb and unique race with support and guidance from the organising and safety teams which is second to none. Real contrasting trails and terrain from still and serene portages and trails through the snow clad trees to windswept desert like open lakes with hard packed snow underfoot. The feel of the 6 day race changes each day from the first where there are three races going on at the same time through to day 4 onwards where only the six day racers remain.

A fantastic experience and an amazing adventure. More to follow with photos over the coming days.

Huge thanks to Scott and the team.

Day 5 complete

Wed 25Mar 16:22

All racers are now in Trout Rock Lodge in the warmth enjoying some Caribou Stew and a beer. A great sunny day today but with a cold start and a cruel wind, -26 at the start line at 9am and take a few off that with the wind chill. Shortest day today at 24km (16mile).

The trail was hard underfoot and quite fast, I stayed with Jen and Denise for an hour or so who are fighting it out for the 1st place (and the Diamond) in the ladies foot race. Greg was off to a usual fast start with Andy chasing, both Canadian and in 1st and second position in the mens foot race.

I past the ladies at the half way point but got caught by Denice close to the finish as I took off my snow shoes.

A great day and real luxury to be staying under a roof tonight and having food cooked for us!

Final day tomorrow is about 24 miles back to Matrix Villiage and the finish line. I'll add detailed reports for the previous days and photos soon.

Wow what a race!