Moose Jaw’s Andrea Amiot conquered the gruelling 150K Black Spur Ultra Marathon trail race in Kimberley, B.C., last weekend. 

Racers at the Black Spur were able to sign up for the 54K three-leg race. Amiot decided to challenge herself with the six-leg 108K race. 

She said she decided to take on the 108K race to challenge herself and finishing the race was an achievement in itself. 

“There are some other local people here that I know that have done the 54K distance and I thought well, sign up for the 108K and see if you can do it. In this race, there were 22 women that signed up and only nine finished and there were 57 men and only 27 finished. That’s pretty standard for 100 km races,” she said. 

Amiot said each leg was 16 to 19 km and it was a very technical course as you were literally running up and down a mountain. 

She said after the first 54 km she started to have thoughts about quitting. 

“I did finish the first half pretty good, but I felt like I was done. I had many thoughts of ‘Why am I doing this again’. At that time, my friend Stella and daughter who were crewing me at the bottom said to me you’re in first place and fourth or fifth overall,” Amiot explained. 

Along with the physical aspect of the race, she said it was also mentally challenging. 

“Your mind is super powerful. Every time I came back after a leg, which I really liked, I felt like it was a reset. I just always came in positive, like OK this is what I need so I can go out and do the next leg,” Amiot said. 

After crossing the finish line and learning that she had finished first among the women, it took her a while to take it all in. 

“I don’t even know if I processed it all. I just stood there and then we went back to our condo and I called my dad and my sister. The only thing I wanted to do was have a bath or a shower because I was filthy and sore,” Amiot commented. 

This was the longest race that Amiot had ever competed in. She started running marathons around 2005-2006. This past year she’s already run two 50K trail races. 

Next on her list is a three-day stage race in March in Utah. 

Also competing from Moose Jaw in the 108K Black Spur Ultra Marathon was Erin Kell. 

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