Some guys will do anything to stay out of the rain.
Okotoks’ David Proctor decided to forego any naps en route to winning the 100-mile Lost Souls Ultra in a record time of 19 hours and five minutes on Sept. 10-11. in Lethbridge.
“Oh, I didn’t sleep – I knew there was a lot of rain coming and I wanted to get off the course,” Proctor said. “I had a few drops on me and then it poured.”
Proctor was the one who poured it on as he established a new record on the 100-mile route. His time of 19:05:00 beat the record held by a guy named David Proctor, when he won in a time of 19 hours and 27 minutes in 2016.
The Lost Souls 100-mile Ultra consists of running the same 33.3 mile course three times. Proctor ran the first two laps in just over 11 hours. He completed the final loop at approximately 8 hours.
“I might have started out too fast,” Proctor said. “In the last leg, I started having stomach issues and I hadn’t done a lot of hill training.”
He said the hills in Lethbridge are quite steep.
It was not a bad effort for a guy just trying to get some miles in before running the elite Big's Backyard Ultra in Tennessee in October.
“This was like a training run – I didn’t taper for this (Lost Souls),” the 40-year-old Proctor said.
It was also a confidence booster. Proctor had to stop midway through his west to east 573km Trans Alberta attempt in three days early this summer due to health reasons.
Now, he is focused on the Big’s Backyard Ultra.
The run consists of runners doing consecutive 6.7-kilometre loops in less than one hour. Once a runner cannot complete his or her loop in 60 minutes they are eliminated. The winner is the last runner still eligible.
Proctor finished third in 2019 at 58 loops. Maggie Guterl was the Last Person Standing in 2019 with 60 loops.
He is also continuing to train for his cross-Canada run in 2022. He plans to attempt the St. John’s to Victoria run in less than 72 days to break Al Howie’s 1991 record were put on hold in both 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
Proctor said he has not decided whether he will run in his hometown Okotoks Sheep River Road Race on Sept. 18. However, he said he will be there to cheer on family members and others running in the annual event.
The 5km/10km Sheep River Race starts at 9:15 a.m. behind the Foothills Centennial Centre. There is a Kids’ 1km fun run at 8:40 a.m.
The event is organized by the Big Rock Runners, a social running group in Okotoks.
For more information about the race and the club go to bigrockrunners.com
