Cottage by the Sea’s chief executive Adam Wake returned from a 230km Ice Ultra Marathon across Swedish Lapland last week to raise money to help kids go to the snow. He spoke with Jena Carr about his experience participating in the five-day challenge.
Adam Wake is enjoying the warm Australian sun and a well-deserved physical rest after a five-day ultra marathon in Sweden.
The Queenscliff man stepped off the plane in Gallivare, Sweden, on February 17 to –9 degrees Celsius before travelling two hours further north to the Stora Sjöfallets Mountain Lodge.
Adam embarked on the 230km Ice Ultra Marathon the next day across Swedish Lapland’s snowfields, Arctic tundra and frozen lakes for five days.
“I’ve done a few of these types of things before, but never in that cold environment. It got to a point where you must ask your mind and body to do more than it’s ever done before,” he said.
“There had been 120-mile-an-hour winds blowing through the week before we arrived, which had removed the top two or three metres of snow and exposed more ice.
“It’s called the Ice Ultra, but usually it’s on compacted snow. However, probably 80 or 90 kilometres of the run was on ice, and at one point, I remember my feet coming up past my head before I hit the deck.
“There were other times that if you took a step slightly to one side of the snow-trodden track, trodden down by herds of reindeer, you would disappear up to your waist.
“Then you have to claw yourself back onto the harder snow and it was just a constant battle of every type of snow and ice conceivable.”
Adam said the challenge was tougher than the jungle and desert ultra marathons he had previously completed.
“I loved the mornings. I’d wake up every morning thinking I’m so ready for another run, but I would be exhausted by the end of the day,” he said.
“We were lucky with the conditions in the context of the temperature, but because the snow was different, we had more challenges underfoot.
“It’s very difficult to explain the depth of the challenge. I got it wrong one day when I ended up on top of a mountain called Mount Kabla and had no food or energy left.
“It was -18 degrees Celsius with thirty-mile-an-hour wind in our face. It was like a moonscape with spin drift and snow blowing at you. It honestly looked like something otherworldly.
“The area itself is absolutely stunning. The race director said, ‘When you’re up Mount Kabla, look around because there aren’t many places like that’.
“The nearest people, apart from those organised in the event, were a couple of hundred miles away. It’s a protected wilderness and is limited to people who are allowed to visit the area.
“I just remember turning around depleted energy… but I had to push on and keep going as I still had another five hours to go that day and it’s amazing how your body can bounce back the next day.”
Adam said it was important throughout the challenge to keep moving as “if you stopped, you’d be in trouble”.
“If you’re not running, you’re in a snow drift and trying to drag yourself out. So, its constant physical energy, and I was actually too hot most of the time,” he said.
“We were all packed in like sardines in one closed-for-the-winter-season cafe… and I remember going down the snowy ramp to the toilets, which was way too far away because you’re so sore.
“An incredibly tough woman was coming up the slope, and I asked her how she had gone the previous day. She started to shake and said she had begun questioning everything and her eyes welled up.
“It just shows you how much an event like this can take out of you, but she got up the next day and she completed it. There were a couple of times when I wasn’t sure I could get up and get moving either.”
Adam said his favourite part about the ultra marathon was “talking and having deep conversations with amazing people”.
“What I really enjoyed was meeting all the incredible people participating in the ultra marathon and there are a lot of people that get driven to do these things through their own hardships,” he said.
“One competitor from the UK I met ran a double marathon in his backyard during COVID-19. He calculated the distance around backyard and counted the number of times he had to go around it.
“He put that number of rocks in a huge tub and every time he ran past the tub, he picked up one rock and threw it back into the garden. When the tub was empty, that was 84 kilometres done.
“He also had to take chemotherapy medication every morning because 10 years ago, he was given two years to live.
“The year after his diagnosis, when he was given 24 months, he did six ultra marathons and he’s been doing ultra marathons ever since.”
Adam’s driving force behind the challenge was to raise money for children’s charity Cottage by the Sea to help run a week-long snow camp at Mount Buller.
As the charity’s chief executive, Adam said it was important for kids to challenge themselves and their comfort zones to “get the most out of life”.
“You can do more than you realise, we all can. Every single person can do more than they think they are capable of,” he said.
“We ask the children to push and challenge themselves, and we ask them to do everything they can at the best of their ability.
“I had an immense relief to have finished the ultra marathon. As I headed out there, I was heading into the unknown and didn’t know how I would go, especially given my distaste for the cold.
“The elation of knowing that I couldn’t have pushed any harder was more important to me than any pacing at all, and I actually ended up in ninth place at the end which I was really pleased with.”
Adam’s had raised more than $9400 when we went to print. Visit www.cottagebythesea.com.au/fundraise/adams-arctic-ultramarathon for more information or to donate.
