Built by the miles.
Refined by the Mountains.

The Oldman Backyard Ultra runs in southern Alberta with the Rockies in clear view. I won it outright. The backyard format is patient racing: the goal isn't to run fast, it's to still be moving when nobody else is. I ran conservatively in the early yards, managed my nutrition well, and outlasted the field.

Back-to-back wins at Across the Years in the 48-hour. Winning the male category again also pushed my cumulative lifetime mileage at the race over 1,000 miles, earning the Across the Years 1,000-Mile Finisher's Jacket. Aravaipa Running has given these out for years to recognize runners who've put in significant total distance across multiple editions. Getting to both win the race and hit the 1,000-mile mark in the same weekend was a good way to end the year.

MoMoRoGo is a timed 24-hour event on the Moose Mountain Road loop in Kananaskis Country. Each lap is approximately 14.5 miles. I completed 11 laps for 100 miles and set the course record. Running at altitude in K-Country in April means variable conditions, with exposed ridgeline sections where weather can change fast. I managed pacing well and ran the full 24 hours. This is home terrain for me and it showed.

The 48-hour race at Across the Years runs on the same 1.05-mile loop at Camelback Ranch, with runners accumulating as much distance as possible in two days. I won the male category outright. After the early exit in 2021, this one needed to go well and it did. I had my pacing and sleep windows dialled in, stayed consistent overnight, and came out ahead of a solid international field. First place at a race where I'd had two rough editions in a row.

Dave Proctor set out to run all 7,159 km of Canada in a single continuous effort, targeting Al Howie's 30-year-old transcontinental speed record. I joined the crew in Thunder Bay at the Terry Fox Memorial and ran alongside him for nine days through Ontario and into the Prairies, covering roughly 75 km per day. Dave ran 105 km every single day without rest. He finished in Victoria on July 21 in 67 days and 10 hours, breaking the record by nearly five days. Running with someone at that level of consistency for nine straight days gives you a different understanding of what disciplined pacing actually looks like at scale.

The Columbia Plateau Trail is a 205 km former railway corridor in eastern Washington State. Despite multiple attempts by others, nobody had completed the full distance on foot when I submitted it to the FKT database. The surface is largely loose railway ballast rock with six trestle crossings, several rock tunnels, and limited access points. I ran it on February 15 during a polar vortex alongside pacer Brandon Lott, who joined from Burbank. Conditions included icy headwinds on day two with no face protection, tumbleweed barricades, and boulders blocking the trail. Finish time: 40 hours, 48 minutes. The record has since been broken on a self-supported attempt, but the first completion is on the books.

COVID meant no travel to Tennessee in 2020. Instead, Laz ran a world championship across 21 countries simultaneously, with each country's satellite event running until one national champion remained. Canada had a strong 15-person team. The race came down to Stephanie Simpson and me. She pushed me to 42 yards, 281 km, before I stepped off. She ran one more to win. I finished as the second Canadian, placing second for Canada in the overall world championships. Courtney Dauwalter won the U.S. event at 68 yards, a world record at the time. Karel Sabbe won for Belgium and took the overall world title. This was the best result of my racing career to that point.

Across the Years is a timed multi-day race held at Camelback Ranch in Glendale on a 1.05-mile loop. The 6-day race runs from December 28 through January 3, which means you're running through New Year's Eve. I covered 701 km, 435.87 miles, in six days for second place overall and set the course record for the around-the-clock challenge. That record stood for multiple years. The 6-day format suited me: consistent pace, disciplined sleep windows, and staying calm when other runners start making irrational decisions at 3 a.m. on day four. I came home from Arizona knowing the 6-day race was a format I could compete in seriously.

Dave Proctor created the inaugural Outrun Rare Backyard Ultra in Millarville to raise awareness for rare disease. The backyard format means you run a 6.7 km loop every hour until you're the only one left. I won at 32 yards. The golden ticket that came with the win was an invitation to run at Big's Backyard Ultra in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. At that point, getting a spot at Big's was the goal of every backyard runner in North America. I wasn't going to turn it down.