The Kusam Klimb trail running race took place this past weekend at Sayward, located on the north end of Vancouver Island. The Kusam Klimb is an epic endurance event and includes over 1500 meters of elevation gain over very challenging terrain. This year saw Shane Ruljancich, men’s winner from the past two years, head up again to Sayward to race the event and attempt a 3-peat. The first part of his report is below. For complete results click here.

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With a catch phase of “Are you Tough Enough?” Kusam Klimb markets itself as an epic endurance event. With 1500 meters of elevation gain in 5.5km and some very challenging terrain, it lives up to its billing. It has even been listed by elite trail runner Dale Reicheneder (scroll down about half way) as the toughest race he has ever done. While I don’t consider it to be quite as insane as Dale describes, if you have never done it yourself, mere descriptions don’t convey the length and grade of the ascent. You can also read a longer article by Sarah Seads here.

This was my third trip to Kusam (located near Sayward on the North East coast of Vancouver Island) in as many years and I have been fortunate enough to come cross the finish line first both times. In 2008, I had one of the best races of my career, where everything went right and I ended up setting a new course record of 2:23:04. Since I had such an amazing race last year, I knew bettering my time this year would not be easy. In addition, I found out that Adam Campbell was registered for the race and Jason Terauchi-Loutitt might make a last minute appearance. Even though I had prior knowledge of the course, I knew that would probably have to run the race of my life to have a chance of winning with those two on the starting line.

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