Vegan Golds at Bromont!

Canadian mountain runner Alister Gardner showed gritty determination to win the 100 mile Bromont Ultra.

10 October 2017

The 162 trail run took in a colossal 6437 metres of height gain in the Monteregian Hills in Quebec, Canada.

“I’m really stoked to be representing vegan athletes with this win!” Alister told our site afterwards. “The race was tough, but all things considered it went pretty well to plan. Within the first few kilometres I could see that there were two other guys fired up for the win, so early on I decided to drop back and let them do their thing. It wasn't until another 20 kms later that I came across one and then the other at around 45 km.

“Despite picking up a short lead after that, there was still along way to go so I was never convinced I was going to win until Clothilde [Alister’s partner] told me I had over an hours' lead with 17 kms left to go. From there on, it was about keeping on going until it was done.”

Finishing in 21 hours 43 minutes left Alister exhausted mentally and physically following the convincing win.

Living and training in the area gives Alister an advantage in that he knew the trails well. “I was able to visualise many sections and break them down into smaller bite size pieces. However, the humid weather and patches of rain made the course slippy in parts and meant having to hydrate very regularly, and on long runs like that it gets harder and harder to consumer essential food and drink to be able to keep going. Fortunately, my pacer, David Jeker (also an amazing vegan athlete) was regimental with my energy gel and drink regime and helped stay on top of things right to the end.”

Recovering

Part of dealing with such punishing racing is recovery, and Alister has some different strategies in place.

“For the next day or two I will just take it easy and enjoy the time off; mostly walking in the woods with Gaston (my dog) and doing plenty of stretching. I will also be doing plenty of self massaging on my legs and ankles to speed up recovery.”

After expending thousands of calories, Alister’s made some room to take some on board.

“I usually treat myself to a day of crisps and beer the day after the race but get quickly back on track with proper whole foods to help ensure a speedy recovery. The season is likely officially over for me in terms of big races but there are still a few local events I like to compete in.”

The 160km race was one of several distances over which runners competed on the day, with 80km, 55km, 25km and 12km also available to runners.

More good news for fans of vegan athletes came in the 55km race where last years’ winner, vegan Elliot Cardin again took the win. Eliot is pictured above wearing the red shirt next to Alister (centre).

“We train a lot together and I have watched his performance develop over the past few years and he has great potential!”

Thanks to Alister for sparing the time to update us – we hope you enjoyed your beer!

Alister’s profile

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