Straight from the trails and into the classroom, second-year MRP student David Hedges balances training for professional ultra-marathons with full-time graduate school duties. Hedges, native of Chicago, recently won the 125 km (~78 mile) Ultra-Trail Harricana (UTHC) in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada with a time of 14:40:44, beating the rest of the competition by almost two hours.
The UTHC is part of an international ultra-trail running race series that brings strong competition and media attention. The course is point-to-point, tracing a scenic (125km, 4500m+ vertical) line across an ancient mountain range in Quebec’s Charlevoix region. Hedges noted that the high difficulty of the trail, which is cut for skiing, was compounded by an afternoon start that meant runners ran most of the course in the dead of night, guided by only their headlight.
Hedges spent this past summer living in Northern Vermont and working at the municipal planning department of the Town of Bolton. During his time in Vermont, he trained on the Long Trail, Mt. Mansfield, and ski slopes of Stowe to acclimate himself with the rugged terrain of New England. After months of grueling training, that consisted of running dozens of miles per day, Hedges ran the entire race in first place.
“[The] UTHC is a really special event in a beautiful region and I’m very grateful to have had such a good trip out there, execute well at the race, and meet lots of cool folks. This win builds on the success I’ve had over the last few years at less high-profile mountain and ultra-trail races. [The win at the UTHC] should set me up nicely to compete at other big international races which I’m very excited about.”
photo / Carl Vignola