The man who won the grueling Mountain Man race showed he still had something left by dropping to the ground to complete 22 pushups after crossing the finish line.
Capt. Eric Henderson, based in Shilo, Man., won for the second year in a row on Thursday in Edmonton. He finished the event in 4:54:35. The annual race pushes soldiers from across Canada to reach their physical and mental limits and contains elements unique to military races, such as competing with a weighted military rucksack and a leg of the race dedicated to portage.
He was the only competitor to finish in less than five hours. Henderson did 22 push-ups as part of a viral campaign to raise awareness for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and veteran suicide prevention.
“Injuries don’t have to be physical, they can be mental,” Henderson said. “I think it’s important to bring awareness to the public so we can fundraise and develop programs.”
The second place finisher, 47-year-old Major Slade Lerch of St. Albert, completed the race 25 minuets behind 25-year-old Henderson with a time of 5:18:53.
Although it is considered a triathlon, the race actually has four legs. The first leg is a 32 km ruck run followed by a 3.2 km portage, a 10 km paddle down the river and is wrapped up with a final 5 km ruck run. Each army-issue ruck is weighted with a minimum of 15 kg weight and competitors are required to carry it with them during every leg of the race.
The air horn blasted at 5 a.m. in Hawrelak Park to signal the beginning of the battle and the competitors hurried off into the trees under the moonlight. The soldiers spent up to 10 hours winding their way up and down the Edmonton river valley, finally coming to a finish in Forest Heights Park.
“As you’re running it, usually in the first leg, you’re wondering ‘Why did I volunteer to do this again, I’ve already done it’ but by the time you’re running that last leg and you’re coming up the hills you’re feeling it and you’re pretty excited,” Henderson said.
For most of the 313 participants, their goal is just to complete the race, but Henderson set his sights higher.
“This year I came in in the spring and set the goal of breaking the five-hour mark, which is a pretty tough challenge,” Henderson said.
This year his goal was a humble one, as last year he shattered the previous record to become the fastest mountain man ever when he clocked in at 4:35:40.
Henderson said he had spring training this year which allowed him only three months to dedicate to preparing for the gruelling mountain man challenge, as opposed to the six months he was able to dedicate last year. Along with time constraints, he said his fitness goals have evolved to include more strength training to make him a well-rounded athlete.
This was Henderson’s third consecutive year competing in the Mountain Man race. In his first competition he finished in second place.
Mom Wendy Henderson, who made the trip from Ontario to cheer him on, said her son looks forward to this annual race that combines all of his physical strengths into one race.
“We live in Petawawa and so we did canoeing and backpacking and all this stuff when they were kids so it combines all of that,” Wendy Henderson said.
Henderson competes in marathons and triathlons during the rest of the year to help train for Mountain Man, which he considers the most difficult of all the races.
Second place finisher Lerch also spent three months training for the race and competed in the Edmonton marathon to prepare for the distance.
“This year I was hoping to get in the top 20,” Lerch said. “This is my fifth top ten finish.”
This was the sixth time Lerch has competed in the race and he first took to the trails in 1994. Aside from the Mountain Man race, Lerch says he isn’t much of a distance runner and spends most of his time chasing after his 10-year-old twins.
“It just goes back to digging in,” Lerch said. “You just have to put the blinders on.”
Henderson thinks that the race is a good challenge for any soldier.
“It teaches them to persevere and it gives the goals in physical fitness, especially endurance, which is an important aspect to being a soldier,” Henderson said. “Physically it’s harder than anything else I’ve done in the military but not mentally. It adds to a mental agility and increases physical fitness.”
Henderson used his win to remind everyone of the difficult challenges soldiers can face after they come home from combat by challenging the public to do 22 pushups and donate $10 to the Wounded Warrior Fund.
Those who would like to donate can head to https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/the-22-push-up-challenge/
