An Okotoks athlete will be running in circles for his country.
Wayne Gaudet, 56, is competing in the 24-hour run world championship at Katowice, Poland Sept. 7 and 8.
Gaudet was invited to race for his country after establishing a Canadian age-group record last year when he ran 206.23km in 24 hours at the Commonwealth championships in Wales.
His goal is to beat that mark, which will mean he is aiming for nine kilometres per hour over the 24-hour period in Poland.
“I will be disappointed if I don’t do better than I did last year,” Gaudet said. “Apparently the run in Poland is a 1.6km loop around a lake, which is a lot better than it was in Wales. There it was up one side of the street and then down the other. All I had to look at was the centre of the boulevard.”
Although Gaudet will know more about the lake than a trout by the time he is done circling it about 130 times, there are some benefits to having an aid station every 1.6km when you are running 210km.
That’s not always the case when he competes in other grueling events.
Gaudet has competed in the aptly named Death Race in Grande Cache and the Sinister Seven ultra-marathons in Crowsnest Pass, both of which are in the mountains, in the dead of summer and are 100km or more.
“When you are in the mountains you are more aware when you need food or when you need water,” Gaudet said. “At a race like this I have a team manager and crew who I will see every 1.6 kilometres. I don’t have to think very much. They do the thinking for me. I let my mind wonder and think about how fortunate I am to be wearing a jersey with Canada on it and go for a run. I will be 56 years old when I do it, and I am thrilled to bits.”
His strategy is to run as far as he can without taking too many breaks.
“I can run along for six or eight hours without too much trouble and then you start to tire out,” Gaudet said. “At some point you start walking for whatever reason maybe to have a bit to eat. I remember one time having to stop to have a quick massage. I don’t like to stop because it starts to snowball.”
He keeps himself well hydrated during the race. In Wales, there was even a caterer who provided food for the runners.
“It was great,” Gaudet said. “I had rice pudding, porridge, whatever I felt I could handle. I tried a grilled cheese sandwich but that didn’t work out too well.”
Gaudet has put in plenty of work getting ready.
When Gaudet tells his wife Trish he’s going out for a jog, she can put on the Lord of the Ring trilogy in the DVD player and rest a while before hubby shows up again.
Gaudet goes on 50km training runs and competes in marathons — a relatively short distance of 42.2km for the ultra-marathoner. He competed in the Iron Legs 50-mile race in Bragg Creek last weekend and he can often be found Saturday mornings running with the Big Rock Runners at 9 a.m. at the Okotoks Recreation Complex.
Running in Okotoks has helped the veteran runner.
He said because Katowice is on about the same latitude as Okotoks, he will be used to the heat. A saving grace may be the altitude. Katowice is about 272 metres, considerably less than Okotoks’ 1,047 metres.
There also won’t be any 32nd Street-like hills around the Polish lake.
“These courses are typically flat because the runners want to get in as many kilometres as possible,” Gaudet said.
However, he will have to miss one of his favourite runs of the year – the Sheep River 5/10km Road Race on Labour Day in Okotoks.
“I have probably been there for the last 15 to 20 years and I was the race director for nine years,” Gaudet said. “It will be really different for me this year not to run in it.”
For information about the Sheep River Road Race or to register go to the website at www.bigrockrunners.com
For information concerning the 24-hour running world championship go to www.run24.eu
