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day races respectively. AdventureRacers Travis and Mark Macy flewin from the US for the long footrace, and one of Canada’s top triathleteand endurance racers, RickHellard, arrived having preparedfor many months.Of last years winners, only YellowkniferEwan Affleck raced again, todefend his ‘K-Rock Ultra’ title, andto try and win another diamond.However, he was up against topmarathon racers like Michel Kapraland Derryk Spafford and admittedhe was intimidated by their times.Kapral is even in the GuinnessBook of Records for running amarathon while juggling (its calledjoggling) ... in a time of 2:50:09!This year’s race headquarters wason the ice of Great Slave Lake in‘Matrix Camp’. This tented camp(sponsored by helicopter and logisticscompany Matrix) had a rowof ‘Weatherhaven’ tents normallyused for exploration in the barrenlands to the north and was a pleasantsurprise for the racers who hadchosen to camp there in the leadup to the race. “I never expectedfloorboards, warm stoves, beds andmicrowave ovens,” said John Millsof the UK. Registration and briefingsin the nearby marquee was notquite so luxurious as it was around–10C in the tent (possibly the coldestever race registration) and thescary safety talk from Arctic Responseleft no one in any doubtabout the potential dangers ahead,and led to some last minute gearshopping in town.Joining the Ultra racers were theone-day participants for the ‘ColdFoot Classic’. The 9am mass startwas a bustle of skis, sleds andsnowshoes combined with a minuseighteen degree Celsius startingtemperature, no one wanted tohang around for long. Overnightsnowfall was more of a concernthan the temperature and it was stillsnowing as racers set off across thelake. At 45.5km, day one is thelongest distance for the ultra racersand pushing through fresh snowon foot or ski was slowing progress.All the foot racers were soonon snowshoes and as the soft snowconditions persisted they were touse them for most of race. The natureof the snow even took Smith bysurprise. “This kind of soft ‘sugarsnow, is not normal here”, he said.“In fact I don’t think I’ve ever experiencedit around Yellowknife.”Readjustments to kit and sleds weresoon taking place. Within the firstkilometer Ric Hellard was struggling.“I pulled out my snow shoesthen my sled tipped over and a fewthings fell out. A few minutes later,another piece fell out and I had togo back and get it. This happeneda few more times, before I was ableto finally slow down my hasty repackingso that everything stayedput ... and then my right snowshoefell off.” Travis Macy spent daystrying to adjust his sled harnessand suffered bad blisters in newsnow shoes, and Irish racer PhillipMcMullan was one of the firstto withdraw, quickly recognizingthat, “running with a sled is not forme!”He was the only ‘Diamond Ultra’racer to pull out on the first day,along with a couple of the threedayracers. The rest made it tocamp one on Prelude Lake, gettingused to the long flat stages acrosslakes, broken by slight inclineson the forested portages betweenthem. Camp one offered tepees forthe night, in which some stovesworked better than others. The 6-day racers unpacked their sleds tospread sleeping bags and mats onthe snow, as they would each night.The 3-day racers had travelled morelightly as their kit boxes are movedfrom camp to camp for them, andthe one-day racers were picked upby car to be taken back to town.By morning two ultra racers wereAdventure World Magazine June 2008 24