A father from Kelowna has returned home to his family with some chafing, a full heart and a new toy snake for his eldest daughter after winning a prestigious stage race in the mountains of Peru.
On June 5, Nick Sunderland, a husband and dad to two young girls, crossed the finish line in Pilcopata, Peru, as the winner of the 230km Beyond the Ultimate Jungle Ultra. The five day self-supported race took competitors from high in the Andes Mountains to the depths of the Amazon Rainforest.
Sunderland said the win came as a surprise.
His goal was simply to work hard, make the most of the experience, and be role model for his daughters.
"My motivation was just wanting to make the best use of the time and energy sacrifices of my wife and those helping back home to make it worth it," said Sunderland, who was one of only a few Canadians in the race. In the race's 15 year history, he is the first Canadian man to top the podium.
"I thought, I need to make the most of this. I didn't have a phone, I couldn't talk to family. Just put your head down and do it."
While he said his training before the race was not perfect, Sunderland trained when he could. He regularly runs with Kelowna's Okanagan Trail Running club on Knox Mountain, runs to work, swims, curls, and rock climbs at Gneiss before work. He fills his weekends with family-focused adventures and training on the trails around Kelowna.
Each stage of the race spanned between 25 and 65 km, through dense, hilly, rocky and untravelled, barely passable terrain. In multiple instances, the path of least resistance through the thick forest was to trek through knee deep creeks for kilometres at a time.
Throughout the week-long race, competitors battled razor sharp plants, high altitude, suffocating heat and humidity, dense undergrowth, and the jungle's relentlessly hungry insects all while wearing backpacks filled with gear and food.
The racers had to carry all of their belongings, from emergency supplies to food, clothing, and sleeping gear in their packs. Sunderland said that his pack weighed more than 20lbs when his water bottles were full. Deciding how much food to carry while wanting to keep a light pack was a challenge. Like most competitors, Sunderland said he finished the five day event calorically depleted.
The Beyond Ultimate Race series attracts motivated people from around the world who love adventure and want to conquer both physical and mental challenges.
On a seven-hour mini bus trip up the Andes to the start line, the diverse group of athletes got to know each other.
Early on June 1, couples, grandparents and friends on the adventure of a lifetime, accomplished and sponsored athletes, military personnel and a special forces officer, stood together at a research station located at 3,000m above sea level and waited for the race to start.
On the first day of the race, Sunderland took a wrong turn early on and lost time to his competitors.
"They said you can't trust your GPS in the forest," joked Sunderland. "I was mad at myself, but it made me more careful about following the right route."
He finished the first day strong, rehydrated a package of food for dinner, set up his hammock and tried to recover before the next day.
"The turn around from day-to-day was hard," he said. "Everyone just has an overlay of heat and exhaustion."
Each evening at the rustic campsites in the middle of the jungle, the racers supported each other, were treated bug bites and injuries, and shared words of encouragement.
"In this community, the country you're from doesn't matter. Everyone is just running together and helping each other out," said Sunderland, reflecting on the camaraderie and connections formed in the jungle. "The people I met were amazing."
The second stage was without incident. Sunderland said that while his phone was off for the entire race, he knew his friends and family were watching his GPS tracker, and wanted to make everyone proud.
On the third day – the first true jungle day of the event – Sunderland passed the race leader. He knew he was still hours behind in the cumulative race results, but was committed to giving his best.
A few hours later when he reached the finish line in first and began his evening routine, Sunderland said he was surprised that no one came through for more than an hour and a half. Unbeknownst to Sunderland at the time, the race leader was feeling unwell and had stopped on the course several times.
"I finished and was like, where is everyone?"
Sunderland was in first place overall starting the fourth day, another hot and technical jungle stage. Again, he finished more than an hour ahead of second place.
Since childhood, Sunderland has always spent his as much time as possible in the outdoors.
"We weren't very urban kids," he said, explaining his parent's love of outdoor adventures.
Family backpacking and camping trips in his childhood turned to trail running and climbing trips as he aged. In university, day trips in the mountains around Vancouver quickly grew into epic mountaineering adventures across B.C. and around the world. As an adult, Sunderland has competed in numerous marathons, trail ultra marathon distance races, stage races, expeditions and adventure races.
"I'm not necessarily the best at any one thing, but I am experienced," he said.
Sunderland started the fifth day in first place but knowing there was still 65km of jungle terrain ahead of him, he kept his focus inwards.
"You're not really thinking am I winning or not. You're just trying to survive."
On the fifth and final day, the race started early in the morning before the sun came up. As a dad who tries to fit his training in around his children's sleep schedule, Sunderland said the early start and five days of sleep deprivation were not anything new.
Sunderland said that exiting the jungle and running to the finish line in the town of Pilcopata is something that he will never forget. He said the entire village came out to cheer on the racers and put on a festival to celebrate the event. Local children ran beside him and cheered him in through town, to the finish line.
After the finish came celebrations, an awards ceremony and local festivities.
Sunderland acknowledged that while he was tired and depleted, some runners had spent nearly double the time that he had out in the jungle, battling the course, narrowly missing time cutoffs to continue.
"Regardless of if you're winning or coming in last, when you know you're capable of something, it is hard."
As soon as he could, Sunderland called his family back in Kelowna. His wife was happy and relieved and his youngest daughter didn't really understand what had happened but was happy to see her dad's face. After a brief congratulations, his eldest asked if he had been able to find her a new stuffed snake toy – to match her pair at home – as he had promised.
Unfortunately, in the week of acclimatization in Peru before the race, Sunderland had been unsuccessful in his quest for a stuffed snake. With only days remaining of his trip, the pressure was on. Thankfully, in an airport on the way home, he found the perfect toy.
Sunderland said that while the physical pain of events like these is difficult to overcome, the most challenging part of the entire race was being away from his family.
A few days after his win, Sunderland returned to normal life. Hours after landing in Kelowna, he took his daughter, who is now one snake toy richer, to baseball practice.
Sunderland's parents, who modelled an active and well-rounded lifestyle to him growing up, have already shared his success with their friends at pickleball.
For more information on the race and to view photos of the adventure, visit @beyondtheultimate on Instagram.
