Some of STARR’s Kusam crew and friends.
By Andrea
The Kusam Klimb is a 23-km “up, over and around” trail race that takes place in beautiful Sayward, B.C. every June on the Solstice weekend. The slogan for this race is “Are you tough enough?” …it is not for the faint of heart.
Bill, who built Bill’s Trail, and David
This year there were 530 people who finished the course. This was the 15th Klimb and for almost all of the 10 STARR members it was their first time taking on this grueling adventure! The route starts out from the Community Hall in Sayward and runs for about 2km on the road before you take a turn onto the mountain trail.
This trail is known as "Bill’s Trail”. As a long time resident and businessman Bill West-Sells built the trail in order to access water when he bought the property at the base of the mountain. Bill still lives in Sayward and was present at "checkpoint 1" along the trail. Bill has spent 20 years cutting the trail and improving the conditions for the enjoyment of all of us!
Once you access Bill’s trail the climbing begins….and then it goes on and on and on….a relentless and difficult journey to the top. It is 1,500 meters straight up. The views are stunning and there are several viewpoints to take in as well as a beautiful lake near the peak. We lucked out this year with the weather both on the day and leading up to the race. This resulted in very little snow at the top.
Pauline survived Kusam
After reaching the top, you are rewarded with a stunning view above the clouds…it feels as though you can see forever. Of course what goes up must come down…and the descent starts off quite steep and goes on for about 5km. There are some ropes near the peak to help with the steepness…they were a welcome relief as it gave us the chance to use our arms instead of our leg muscles which felt a bit wobbly with fatigue at this point.
Once you reach the bottom of the mountain you have to complete about 10 km more that takes you down old logging roads over little creeks and through the forest. The last km is back on the road to get back to the community hall and the finish line!
STARR had 10 runners competing with all but one being first timers. Jonathon Dvorak finished in 20th place overall in an impressive time of 2:59:10. Next came Pauline Nielsen in 51st place with a time of 3:29:03…Pauline took a big spill on the trail with the resulting “road rash etc.. that goes along with it and still came in strong! So awesome! Greg Balchin was next to finish with a time of 3:44:05, 77th place!
Steve Eriksen in at 4:39:52 placed 171st and took well over an hour off his previous finish time (this was Steve’s 3rd time)…way to go Steve! Jason Seysener crossed the finish line in 4:39:53 and placed 172nd. The next in was Wayne Spychka, coming in 254th overall with a time of 5:17:42. David White was next in at 5:22:02 which put him in 263rd place.
Andrea White was the next STARR to finish in 374th place with a time of 6:42:44. Kari Toovey and Megen Seysener completed the course together coming across the finish line in 9:20:47 and 9:20:48 finishing strong in 482 and 483rd place.
This was such an adventure for all that took part!!! Special mention to Carol Spychka who kept track of everyone’s finish times and posted for us to see…I look forward to climbing with you next year Carol! All in all this was a great day and great bonding time for STARR runners, we enjoyed the buffet dinner at the hall afterwards and many of us won door prizes! In fact, most if not all of the STARR members that took part have already committed to doing it all again next year!
