Boreal Boys finish 2nd, but earns the glory on 100 on 100 Relay

“100 on 100” is a 100 mile relay race in Vermont on route 100. That’s the explanation to the name. It goes through the most scenic areas of Vermont, and it is not without reason the race is called “The heart of Vermont”.

The race has its own unique configuration, where each team has to predict their race time, which determines their respective start times. The slower teams start at 6 am, and the faster teams take off in the last start at 10 am. The race consists of 18 legs and most teams have six runners running 3 legs each. The objective is to get teams to finish around the same time.

We decided to go as an ultra team with 3 runners running 6 legs each. (which adds up to some 33 miles each). And not only do you have to contend with the double distance, your recovery is also cut in half. Despite our small team, we predicted our pace to 6 min per mile and hence started with the last group at 10 am. 

Michel started the first short leg strong. After 14 minutes he came out of the woods but to our surprise, not alone. 

We were planning on setting a new course record, and be the fastest team today. But hey, we are three strong even runners, and we could not imagine another team would compete with us. And any team could have a fast runner on the first short leg. But what team would be able to put up 6 fast runners?

Nicolas took over on the second leg which is a brutal steep downhill section. He was equally surprised to actually be outrun with a minute on that leg. So he handed over to me about 60 sec behind. I think I might have lost a bit more on the third leg to Team OSX, but not much. But I certainly did not gain anything. 

The following legs we kept the minute gap and definitely made them nervous…we heard later that word was quickly spreading that the “Boreal Boys” were coming!. Soon enough, we were a force to be reckoned with, nobody expected an ultra team to be that competitive and fast. 

Leg 8 is an uphill/downhill leg but it was also Nicolas’ 3rd leg of the day. But only the second leg for the OSX runner. Nicolas started suffering a bit in the uphill and we could no longer keep up with team OSX. They took off on us and disappeared in the horizon. 

Regardless, we kept running strong and we soon started to catch up with other teams that had started earlier. It was stimulating to see more runners and teams. We were only in second place, but people were impressed by our performance and talking about the “boys”, as our name is Boreal Boys.

We passed the first Boreal team fairly early but caught up with the Boreal Pirates and Boreal Rabbits almost at the same time around leg 14. At that point we were in the middle of the ‘crowd”, but it didn’t last for long. One or two legs later we were ahead of the crowd. (–which also meant we would get in front of the lineup for the BBQ!.) 

It was now dusk and we had to wear our “night gear”. But even when I started the last leg it was only “semi-dark” but it changed pretty fast on that leg. By the time I was heading for the finish line it was pitch black outside. 

Way before I could see anyone in the dark, I could hear Nicolas’s voice in the dark. –“LET’S GO PER”. Then Michel got in front of me and screamed -”FOLLOW ME”. We approached the finish line all three together, and we are extremely happy to hear the speaker announce; -The first ultra team, the “Boreal Boys” is finishing!

We were 25 minute behind 6-man team OSX, but we beat the old course record and did 10 hours and 16 minutes, earning the crowds’ praise.

Doing the race as an ultra team was not only hard on your legs and body, but it also forced our team to constantly be on the go and move from transition area to transition area efficiently, usually moving to the next area 15-20 minutes later. 

Finally, we are very thankful to our support team in the van, Christine and Diane who did an excellent job with driving and supporting us. THANK YOU!!!

/Per
For Team Boreal Boys

Find team statistics here>>>