Date: June 29, 2019
Time: 5:50AM Start (Sunrise 5:46AM)
Support: Eric D’Arcy and Melanie Boultbee Start: St - Mary’s Weather: 26C, feels like 32C. Mostly sunny with some clouds in the morning.
The beginning of the day was fairly uneventful. The run began on a bike path, crossed the main street in St-Mary’s and headed out of town. I had map #1 in my trustee ziplock bag, some fluids and nutrition in my UD pack and I started conservatively, knowing it was going to be a long hot day in the sun. Our plan was simple. I would meet Eric and Melanie every 10ish kilometres at our pre-determined locations. They swapped my water bottle, gave me some food and changed my map, as required. They’d also give me a quick breakdown of what I was to expect in the next section of the trail.
The first 10km were simple, and I rolled through aid station 1 in less than two minutes. The Wildwood Conservation Area was stunning!! Forging ahead, I had a moment of confusion at the 32km map marker on a random loop, but all was well once I figured re-oriented myself. However, the trail conditions got worse pretty much from this moment on. As you could see on the pictures, many sections of the trail were very overgrown. The blazes were often difficult to find and running was slowed to a hike a lot of these sections.
At map marker 45.8, the Avon Trail website stated there was a reroute using a side trail. However, when I arrived at this location, there was a No Trespassing Sign and another sign explaining that this trail was closed. I photographed the signs, informed my crew and then turned around to follow the original trail down the street. Shortly after this, it was PIZZA time! Yummy!!!
Refuelled, and back on the trail, I continued trucking away in the fields and grass of the County. Eric jumped in to run with me at the 72.5km map marker. It was good to share to fields and mosquitoes with him ;) He ran through 2 aid stations with me, skipped one leg and finished the Avon Trail enjoying my singing I’m sure. (total of approx. 37km of pacing duties). We made one navigational error on map #5, but all in all, it was a fun adventure. :) We rolled into the finish at 10:36pm! Kissed the rock and celebrated a 120km (with mandatory reroutes) in 16hrs and 46min. A HUGE thank you to Melanie and Eric for helping me on this rugged trail. Their support was seamless! Big sweaty hug for each of you!!
Verification links
Although not an FKT (long story), this end-to-end was a great experience. I'll want to go back this fall though. I want to give it a hard effort and contend the female FKT.
Thank you,
Chantal Demers