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Perseverance pays off for Don Schwartz

Whistler athlete hangs in to win infamous Death Race Challenge in third attempt
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If you've read any of the previous stories in Pique about Don Schwartz's experiences at the Death Race Challenge in Vermont, you know it's no picnic. Participants are often made to do a full day of back-breaking busy work before the race even starts, purely to frustrate them and narrow down the field, while the race itself is completely unfair — you might do the full distance in one stage, only to have the organizers decide it took too long and make it easier for the next racer .

At least with this year's event, Schwartz knew going in that the race was going to be unfair. And with a theme of gambling (his first year it was religion, the second year betrayal) he suspected it would be less fair than ever before.

And so he persevered through 60 hours of hell, and managed his goal — placing first overall in a race that few people (about 20 per cent this year) even finish.

He doesn't have all the numbers, but he guesses that he ran or hiked about 95km, mostly off-road, climbed over 8,000 vertical metres of Vermont mountains with a 30-pound pack and (for the first part of the race) a 30-pound rock strapped to his chest, and swam close to five kilometres in cold water, without a wetsuit, that he said was about the current temperature of Alta Lake. He crawled through mud, split dozens of rounds of wood, did 500 burpees in the hot sun before the race even started, lugged gravel up and down a mountain, built a rock staircase up the side of another mountain and, at the end of more than two-days of labour, did a full CrossFit-style workout with 13 challenging exercises.

Schwartz finished in a three-way tie with PJ Rakoski and Ken Lubin. They had raced together before and last year all three quit in protest when they weren't declared the winners after the longest event in the race's history — despite the fact that they had four hours on the next racer. The three reunited to win their category in the Spartan Ultra Beast at the end of last summer and agreed that if the Death Race was close this year then they would cross the line together.

In the end, only 41 of 200 starters, and just four women, completed the course.

Schwartz said he was sorely tested, but trained properly for the event. For example, one of the make-work exercises at the beginning of the event involved backpacking loads of gravel up the side of a mountain — something he trained for while walking up Blackcomb Mountain with a 50 pound weight vest and additional weights in his pack. Another exercise had competitors hopping up the side of a mountain, roughly the distance to the top of the Magic Chair, with their feet zap-strapped together — something he prepared for by doing box jumps and double-under skipping at CrossFit.

There was even a three-mile swim (two miles if you got lucky on the roulette wheel), which Schwartz's wife, a swimming instructor, had fortunately prepared him for. A lot of other competitors bowed out in that stage with hypothermia.

But most of all, Schwartz had experience doing the race and knew that A) almost everything he would be told by organizers was a lie, and B) that nothing about the race would be fair. He brought the right gear, down to the right kind of splitting axe, and did the least amount of work he could before the race got underway.

"They told us we had to register between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Friday, but I knew that whoever showed up would end up doing a bunch of menial farm tasks for three hours, so I registered at five minutes to nine," said Schwartz with a laugh. "A lot of guys showed up three hours earlier and they put them right to work."

Even worse, the previous day the competitors were told that you had to show up for a five-hour work session on the farm to get a poker chip you needed to win the race, but Schwartz knew better and skipped the event.

"I know their little games by now," said Schwartz. "Again, a bunch of people showed up, and were put to work moving railway ties and stacking logs. They got halfway through the race and were told that the casino went bankrupt and those chips were useless. Five hours of work the day before the race, all for nothing."

The mental game is a huge part of the challenge. This year's mind game involved short, scheduled rests — gaps between events just long enough for athletes to stiffen up and feel tired enough they were less likely to start up again. That also suited Schwartz, who actually felt good after taking a few power naps along the way.

The racers also weren't told when the make-work projects were done and the race was officially starting, and Schwartz did jump the gun this year by almost half a day.

They started the make-work labour/weeding out process at 9 a.m. on Friday, and weren't officially racing until 8 p.m. on Saturday — 35 hours into the challenge.

The list of challenges was staggering, starting with a 35km run/walk/bushwack fully loaded down with a rock weighing at least 35 pounds strapped to his chest. Next up was a cold swim in the reservoir, leading to a log-splitting challenge and another 10-mile trek over the mountain.

The next phase involved hopping up a small mountain, feet bound together, and memorizing the contents of a paper tacked to a tree at the top.

Schwartz briefly pulled into first, but waited for PJ Rakoski to complete his extra lap before they set out again together. They worked together over the next few stages, including another uphill climb to memorize the details of a stove, before they caught Lubin on what would be the last 10 mile (16km) run.

The fourth place competitor was catching up to them at this point, and was about 10 minutes back when they reached the turnaround point, so they pushed it as hard as they could on their tired legs and blistered feat to the next fitness challenge — a series of 13 challenges beginning with 1,000 burpies.

Schwartz said he's raced his last Death Race, but appreciated the experience.

"Every year the races test you and teach you what your abilities are, and this year I was finding out what my pain tolerance was while running on blistered feet, and how fast you can sprint the last six miles to the end when your legs are done and you think someone is catching up to you," he said.

"One way I've explained it to people that have done the Tough Mudder is that the Death Race feels like like doing 30 laps of a Tough Mudder course," he said. "Yes, it's impossible, but it's also a lot of fun after you reach the finish... Winning took all the pain away."