"You basically live a lifetime each race."
James Galipeau's four-person "Team Bones" had just completed the 2023 edition of Expedition Canada Saturday afternoon -- in a total time of 103 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds -- and Galipeau's word selection struck us as apropos.
We hadn't witnessed the kickoff of the 580-kilometer, multi-day adventure racing journey in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning because the start line -- at Keefer Lodge, some 50-plus kilometers east of Vernon -- is almost a three-hour drive from our Penticton home base.
But we managed to catch up with some of the racers, many already separated by scores of kilometers, the next morning in the mountains somewhere east of Lake Country. And we kept catching up with them over the course of the next five days as they powered through a course that can only be described as brutal.
From Keefer Lake, they made their way west, by bike, to Coldstream, then south toward Lake Country, at which point they jumped into kayaks to paddle north again on the water through Wood Lake then Kalamalka Lake (that's 30 kilometers in a kayak), only to reappear in Coldstream.
From there it was south again, except now on foot. They'd trek 90 kilometers through absolute wilderness on the sinewy High Rim Trail, which cuts through the mountains to the east of the Okanagan valley, until the next transition point at Hydraulic Lake.
Hydraulic Lake? Yes it's real, and it's some 20 kilometers west of Big White. There, they'd switch back to mountain bikes and begin the long, long pedal to their seventh transition area thus far, located in the Kettle River Provincial Forest, approximately 50 kilometers east of Okanagan Falls in the middle of nowhere.
Already 400-plus kilometers into their voyage, the racers were next asked to hop in a packraft on the always active Kettle River for a 55-kilometer aquatic beatdown to a destination just north of Rock Creek and the international border.
The final leg was a colossal 124-kilometer bike ride from Rock Creek to the Penticton finish line that included murderous climbs up (and all around) Mt. Baldy.
Now here's the thing. Beyond all those crazy distances and all those disciplines, the competitors did not know in advance where they were going. That's the big rule of adventure racing. Nor could they use modern technology to guide them.
They're given maps along the way and they use those maps in conjunction with old-school compasses to figure where to go next. GPS is strictly forbidden. And although they're allowed phones for safety reasons, they have to keep those phones sealed in bags or risk disqualification.
And then there's the little matter of supplies. Competitors carry everything they believe they'll need for the duration of the race on their bodies. We were momentarily given a typical Expedition Canada backpack at the Coldstream checkpoint. It weighed 20-plus pounds and the idea of trekking with it over the upcoming 90-kilometer mountain leg seemed ludicrous.
But if all of the above fails to get you, sleep might. Expedition Canada does not have designated rest/sleep breaks. So in an effort to win the thing, teams sleep as little as possible. Sometimes they'll keep on trucking right through the night. It's not uncommon for total sleep hours from beginning to end to be in the low single digits.
Put all of the above together and it's easy to understand James Galipeau's "You basically live a lifetime each race" sentiment. Galipeau's team would ultimately finish fourth out of 24 teams. That was nearly 30 hours behind the winner but dozens of hours and sometimes several days ahead of some competing teams.
It was a solid result.
"It's a microcosm of life and you are completely immersed in it," said the 47-year-old Chilliwack resident at the Skaha Beach finish line.
"It's interesting. I usually don’t have a single thought outside the race in the first two days. Then I'll have a thought about my wife or my family or work. But the race forces you to be present every second for such a long period of time."
According to Galipeau, his team faced "pouring rain" for the "entire climb up Baldy." The long-time adventure racing veteran called the event "among the most challenging" he'd ever done.
Almost 30 hours ahead of Team Bones and five and a half hours up on its closest rival, "400Team Givaudan," which came to the Okanagan direct from its home country of France specifically for the event, was the star of the show.
Its total time of 75:57:49 (75 hours, 57 minutes, 49 seconds) was startling to most.
According to 40-year-old team spokesperson Adrien Lhermet (the only member who speaks un peu English), Expedition Canada was the first time together for the foursome.
"We've never won together," he said, celebratory beer in hand, "so we've very, very happy."
Lhermet, who said it was the first time to BC and the Okanagan for anyone on the team, was generous with his plaudits. He gave props to the lakes, the mountains, the wilderness and event organization.
As for the 5.5-hour victory margin, he figured his squad made its biggest moves during the trek and "in the river." To most observers though, 400Team dominated throughout.
The closest challenge to the French bunch was posed by "Bend Racing," a foursome from Oregon and Washington states that seemed to be regarded as the team to beat pre-race.
Their final time of 81:25:26 may have been a few hours off the pace, but it was six-plus hours up on third and 22 hours to several days up on anything else.
Later, Bend Racing's Jason Magness told PentictonNow that the weather was especially tough, running the gamut from cold and sincerely stormy (which we certainly witnessed) to hot and stifling near the finish.
But, he added, it was "great fun."
"It was super tough," he said. "This is such a good place to race. We'll for sure be back next year to try to take back the title."
To Magness, the best part of adventure racing is being part of a team.
"You get to know these people," he said. "Everyone has their ups and downs and everyone gets to be a hero. And everyone gets to accept help. You learn a lot about yourself.
"I think the biggest part of the sport is how to deal with relationships when they're at their best and at the lowest. The first 24 hours is just madness, then sleep deprivation sets in and you're up in the mountains and it’s brutal. There are times when you're wondering how the race can have so much left when you've already been going so long."
A bit less successful this past week was Warrenton, Oregon's "Just For Fun." The only team in the competition with just two competitors, Just For Fun consisted of dad Sam Thoma and teenage daughter Grace Thoma.
Both have adventure racing experience, but not at this length. In the end, they became one of three teams to retire.
"We've raced several 6-hour and one 24-hour race before," said dad Sam, "and we volunteered at two Exhibition Oregons and last year's Expedition Canada, and we knew we had to try one eventually.
"So we chose this one and gave it a try. We knew it would be really hard."
By the mid-point of the first bike section, Grace's hip flexor was "getting aggravated." By the time they retired at the end of the kayak segment, she could "barely walk anymore."
"I think the tracker said we were at it 59 hours and we'd only slept like two," added Sam, admitting just how difficult it was. "We weren’t making the best decisions, we weren't eating or drinking as much as we should have either.
"I think we'll take a year off to train harder and do a team of four next time. We have to come back. We didn't cross the finish line this time."
There were other stories too, as you might expect in a race that ended six days after it started. Like the high and lows of Japan's "Team East Wind," who brought along their own two-person media team and were just a joy throughout but were ultimately dropped a bit from their lofty fifth place finish after the team disclosed they'd split up to hit a checkpoint after one of their own had suffered exhaustion.
For more info on Expedition Canada, organized by Penticton-based Hoodoo Adventures, hit up the website here.
