‘It was relentless’: Ultrarunner sets new speed record on Icefields Parkway

The Whistler ultrarunner set a new fastest-known time on the roughly 230-kilometre stretch of highway from Banff to Jasper on Friday (Aug. 28).

“It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve done,” said Marshall, who stopped the clock at 30 hours and two minutes, about one-and-a-half hours ahead of Banff runner Sam Dickie’s previous record of 31 hours and 38 minutes.

Setting off from Banff on Thursday (Aug. 27), the heat was unrelenting and Marshall was already feeling it.

“I did the first 20, 30 kilometres maybe and I was really struggling with the heat right from the start,” he said.

But it wouldn’t be long before the clouds darkened and Marshall was running through hail, lightning, thunder and a steady downpour.

“Probably in the space of an hour or two I was struggling with the heat and dehydration to snow and freezing rain, but I guess that’s the Icefields,” said Marshall.

“The storm rolled in and it weirdly brought me round and gave me a new lease on life.”

With moonlight to lead the way, Marshall would run through the night taking no breaks for sleep.

“Running through the night was probably one of the most memorable experiences I think I’ll ever have. It was just so cool to have the Rockies lit up with the moonlight,” he said, describing a partial eclipse he and the crew witnessed.

Making it through the darkness with friends taking turns biking or running by his side, Marshall hit his lowest point of the run not long after the sun came up.

“My energy levels just dropped and it was so strange. I thought it’d be the other way around,” he said. “By that point I’d run probably maybe like 150 kilometres, so I was well into it.”

“That probably lasted pretty much till the end.”

Spending no more than a few minutes at the car, a.k.a. his aid station, where a crew of friends waited to hand him new layers or a bite of pizza to refuel, Marshall could see the record was in reach.

“I didn’t really ever give myself too much of a chance or time to sit and think. I was straight into the aid stations when I’d meet up with the car, and I’d be there for maybe three or four minutes … My crew just kept pushing me back out, which was super helpful,” Marshall said.

“The last 15 kilometres or so, my legs were just absolutely battered.  I couldn’t get more than maybe 100 metre stride together before I had to walk again, so I had the poles out and a little grandad shuffle to the finish line.”

Reaching the Jasper townsite nearing 7 p.m. on Friday, Marshall turned the corner to see his friends cheering him on in the last few steps before the end of the line.

“The finish line’s quite anticlimactic, really. It’s just a junction and some traffic lights,” Marshall said with a laugh.

“I walked around the corner and I saw the traffic lights and just started crying. It was just complete relief that it was over and I didn’t have to keep moving anymore.”

With plenty of ultras under his belt, Marshall says it was his crew supporting him along the way that made this challenge special.

“Normally when you’re doing trail races you might have a crew with you, but they meet you at various points. But this was just a unique experience because everyone drove or rode the same route,” he said.

“It really felt like everybody was in it together.”

“[The record] is just the cherry on top really at the end.”

The challenge is one of many the ultrarunner has dreamed up since he first started running as a way to deal with grief and raise money for charities in memory of his brother, who he lost to suicide, and his mom who died of heart failure just a couple of years later.

“It’s just been a bit of a progression ever since and I’ve just always really enjoyed having a big goal to focus on,” Marshall told the Outlook earlier this summer.

While this one still hasn’t sunk in just yet, Marshall knows on his next challenge he’ll be back to digging deep on dirt trails instead of pounding pavement.

“I think I kind of underestimated how much more of an impact running on the road is on your body than in comparison to the trails.  It was just relentless,” he said.

“I’ll go back to the trails after this.”

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. This position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.