I’ve had the pleasure of working with Bre since March of this year. After an exciting year of 2023 racing, Bre was coming off some much-needed down time over the winter to allow some injuries to heal. After several months of consistency and hard work leading up to her goal race – Canadian Death Race 125km – some health challenges on race day led Bre to make the necessary decision to DNF around 60km in. True to Bre’s relentless drive and positive spirit, she quickly identified an opportunity to capitalize on the months of training she had put in, but had not been able to see come to fruition at the Canadian Death Race – Bre pivoted and signed up (with my full support and buy-in) for the Backcountry Rise 50km just two weeks later where she pulled off a top 10 finish! Read about Bre’s experience below and enjoy these gorgeous photos from on-course. **The above details and race recap below have all been shared with Bre’s explicit consent**
Backcountry Rise 50k was the race of my dreams. It was the true culmination of consistency, hard work, self belief, the best coach, an incredible training block, and some race day magic. The course was hands down one of the best races courses I’ve run- rugged, exposed, tough, and wildly beautiful. I started out conservative, which was made easier by a conga line when we hit the single track 100m into the race, and kept steady on the long climb out of the first aid station. With most of the elevation gain being in this leg, I didn’t stress about pace and just focused on feeling good, eating, and managing the heat. At the aid station I filled up water for the next section which would be long and dry. I had an energy boost leaving the aid, and really felt like I made up some time here, catching up to people who were previously way ahead of me. Eventually my speed slowed with the climb up coldwater peak, but I stayed consistent and on this out and back I noticed only 2 women were ahead of me. I started to wonder how many were in front of them.
From the top of cold water peak at 33km, the trail is incredibly runnable from here with like 90% of the vert being done. I enjoyed the down and tried to keep myself moving strong! After a lot of enjoyable downhill and few GI stops (
) I found myself at the last aid station. I very happily accepted their offer of water dumped all over me to keep cool for the final 5km. I kept up my pace on the road even though I was tired, and as I got to the final climb and final km’s I played Liz’s game of challenging myself to run 20 strides. The last km seemed to suck everything out of me, but the second I saw the finish line I ran towards it as fast as I could to secure a sub 8 hour finish and 10th place female!
The magic in the day came from all of the various stars aligning, but it was truly the first time that I felt my potential shine through. It’s like I’ve known I have it in me, but couldn’t quite crack it open until this day. I have Liz to endlessly thank for that. She helped me crack it open, cause she knew and believed it was there too. Her training and approach, encouragement and push, and fierce belief that I am capable of big things- it got me to this start line to have this special day. The fire is very fuelled now, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us next!
You can follow along on more of Bre’s adventures at https://averageadventurer.ca/ and https://www.instagram.com/bremirynech/ (@bremirynech)
This one time I went running 