Racers line up for the 50-mile race on July 8 just outside of Green Mountain RV Park for Sinister 7. (Nick Allen photo)
Nicholas L. M. Allen
Jul 12, 2023
The race’s name is inspired by the treacherous Seven Sisters Mountain that looms over much of the course.
On July 8 and 9, the Sinister 7 Ultra race took over the Crowsnest Pass with hundreds of runners lining up for the challenge.
Sinister 7 Ultra featured 100-mile, 50-mile and 50-kilometre courses taking runners through rugged and remote terrain in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. With over 6,600m of elevation gain across the 100-mile course, many runners found themselves tapping out due to the challenging terrain.
The 100-mile course was open to solo runners or teams of up to seven. Racers had 30 hours to complete the gruelling event, with the course split into seven stages, each featuring a geographic and historic highlight of the area. The race’s name is inspired by the treacherous Seven Sisters Mountain that looms over much of the course.
In the 100-mile race, the top three times were Scott Cooper with a time of 19:16:44.2, Alex Petrosky at 20:52:00.3 and Reinier Paauwe coming in at 23:08:18.0. The team 100-mile race had a top three of ‘Nissen Patent Law 10% Recruiting Soul Crushers’ running a time of 14:47:54.6, ‘No Country for Old Men’ crossing the finish in 14:48:44.6 and ‘Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton’ with a time of 14:51:36.0
For the 50 mile race the top three were Tristan Chart at 8:57:47.2, Tyler Williams shortly after with a time of 9:00:53.0 and Conor Furey crossing the finish at 9:27:04.7. For the 50-kilometre race, the top three times were Brandon Miller with 4:15:15.2, Blake Bevans with 5:03:45.9 and Emilie Mann in 5:22:22.8.
All finishers, affectionately known as “Sinners”, received a medal for their efforts. Solo finishers who crossed the line under the cut-off of 30 hours get a belt buckle and a custom labelled bottle of wine as well.
More information is available on their website, sinistersports.ca.