FREETOWN, P.E.I. — “A lot of strategy” and a strong “support crew” are two keys to success in ultra-running events, admits Steven Reeves.
Reeves recently ran the 5.8-kilometre course 28 times to win the Sonofa Gunofa Run in Five Islands, N.S., for the second year in a row. The format featured participants running the course each hour and they had to be in a starting corral in time to start the next loop.
“The faster you run possibly the more tired you will get, but it gives you more time to eat and take care of your problems at the finish line before you have to go again,” said Reeves in explaining his stratgey. “My sweet spot seemed to be around 52, 53 minutes per lap, which gave me seven or eight minutes to get things under control.
“You are allowed to have a support crew, so at the finish line I had three people who were there to help me out – John and Karen Brennan from Summerside and Mark McColgan, who is from Fredericton, N.B. They would have all my food ready for me each lap, go get a coffee or whatever you desired.
“Karen was a real trooper. I had bad feet problems this year and I didn’t have that last year. The blisters were really bad and she was taking care of that for me, wrapping them up and putting tape on them. I’m not so sure my wife (Jessica) would do that. But my wife certainly did help me out of a pinch this year.”
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Reeves travelled to Five Islands with longtime P.E.I. runners Scott Clark and Mike MacKinnon. After arriving he realized he forgot his running shoes at home.
“A guy who was just running the race, Ryan Chisholm was his name, and this is the trail running community for you, he wore size 12 road racing shoes just to the race and he offered to give me his shoes,” said Reeves. “They fit pretty good, but it’s hard to run that far without your own proper footwear.
“So my wife, when she woke up, she saw my shoes in the garage and, not being asked, she jumped in the car with her mother (Vicki Francis) and daughter, Bella, and headed over to Five Islands. They got there about 35 kilometres into the race and I was able to get my own shoes back on.”
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