Valemount’s spectacular alpine and energetic volunteer base help make inaugural ultramarathon a success

Jasper’s Dawn Glover became the third woman ever to cross the finish line in the inaugural Alpenglow 100.

The ultramarathon race brought 450 athletes from as far away as Luxembourg and Fukuoka City, Japan, to the Village of Valemount July 5-7. 

Staged by lower mainland-based race organizers Coast Mountain Trail Running, those involved with the Alpenglow 100 hope this is just the beginning.

“We’re hoping to be here for the next 10-plus years,” said organizer Gary Robbins. 

Robbins, co-founder of the Coast Mountain Trail Running series—known as B.C.’s wildest trail running events—had been looking for a place to hold a “true mountain race,” featuring ridgelines and alpine terrain over 2,000 metres. He said the Alpenglow course—marked over two local mountains, and incorporating many of the trails in the Valemount mountain bike park—delivered in spades.

“The landscape is phenomenal, second to none; the people are even better than that,” said Robbins.

The race offered trail runners three distance options, with the 35 km course going over Mount McKirdy at 2,100 metres; the 60 km course going over McKirdy and to the 2.300 metre peak of Swift Mountain; and the full 100 km option going over McKirdy, up Swift, and returning back over McKirdy a second time.

Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson called the Alpenglow 100 “an instant phenomenon.”

Longtime Jasperite Dave MacDowell helped facilitate the race, acting as something of a community concierge, connecting organizers with local stakeholders and helping plan the course route. MacDowell said he and his partner, ultramarathoner Tracy Garneau (who finished fourth in the women’s 100k over the weekend), have been dreaming about hosting a race in Valemount since they moved to the community.

When they hosted Robbins and other friends from the ultra community, MacDowell said the seed was planted.

“After years of dreaming, months of planning, weeks of trail building, days of course marking and hours of anticipation it happened. I couldn’t be happier and more grateful for this amazing community,” MacDowell said.

Alpenglow is the phenomenon of refracted sunlight hitting mountain slopes just after sunset, or just before sunrise, making them glow while the rest of the landscape is dark. 

Because of the 9:30 p.m. start time for the 100k runners, athletes were treated to a deeply colourful sunset as they began their race. They witnessed the alpenglow phenomenon on either side of their overnight run.

Glover’s time of 16 hours, 35 minutes won her a spot on the women’s 100 km podium. Fellow Jasperites Steve Lahaie and Alison Mason both attempted the 100 km race, while Danielle Vien, Valerie Bartziokas, Jill Morgan, Caroline Roy and Katy Poirier took on the 35 km course. 

Rachel Hayes Fraser // info@thejasperlocal.com