Once again, the Emperor’s Challenge route has shifted, meaning that Kris Swanson has not only won the Emperor’s Challenge, but has set the pace for this version of the race.
While his time this year—at 1:32:11—was not as fast as last year’s 1:31:00, it’s the best pace on this new variation of the Emperor’s Challenge route, which was run for the first—and quite possibly last—time this year.
This new variation foregoes one of the ridges that has been part of the Babcock route since it started, instead going through a gully and past a new lake.
But, with Conuma soon to move into full production, there is a chance that this will be the last time the race is on Babcock Mountain.
Swanson says if it is the last time the race is on Babcock, he will have finished with a bang. “I had the biggest bloody crash this year,” he says. “It’s the section that always give me trouble. It’s the last downhill before you get back to the road. As you’re going down to connect to the Forest Service Road, there’s this part that I find really technical. I’ve stumbled before, but this year, I caught my foot and stumbled. I was so mad. I had even slowed down to take care through that section. I tried to catch myself, but I totally shoulder checked the earth.”
Despite the crash, Swanson was back on his feet in seconds. “And literally five seconds later I was out of that area and back on the road.”
Ten days after the race, he’s still recovering from the crash, though it didn’t affect his performance at the time. “Adrenaline’s a hell of a drug,” he says. “As soon as I hit the finish line, my hip imploded. I couldn’t walk.”
And, while he is now in the Masters category, he says he’s managing to keep his pace up as he is getting older. “I’ve been very consistent the last few years. I’m not getting faster, but I’m not getting slower.”
He says that the changes to the route were very much for the better. “On a windy day like it was, running along the ridge could be very hard on a person. This new route was out of the wind and nice and spongy to run on. “
As usual, this is our annual Emperor’s Challenge results issue. Much of the rest of the issue is taken up with the results, as well as photos from the event. You’ll note that I didn’t take any of the photos, as I as off on a family holiday. Instead, photos from the race (on the cover and on the previous page were taken by Meagan Cutler.
Above photo: Kris Swanson on his way to his twenty fourth Emperor’s Challenge win. Meagan Cutler photo.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
