The couple met as teammates during a 1995 endurance race. They got along so well they teamed up for life by getting married and raising three children. Each runs a business in the Bigfork area.
Somehow in their busy schedules, they’ve still found time to train for the upcoming 500-mile Primal Quest Montana 2008 race, billed as “the world’s most challenging human endurance competition.” The race starts at Big Sky Resort on June 23.
“I think we could easily do a top 10 finish,” said Darin, 42, a contractor and green builder. “There may be some psychological advantage to just being in your own state and knowing you have the support of residents.”
Neither Kristen nor Darin considers competing together a distraction. They’ve run five endurance races together. Kristen even looks forward to the time on the trail with her busy husband.
“We look at it as a benefit, time away from life,” said Kristen, 39, a Pilates instructor. “We get to see beautiful country and all different sides of people, which can be scary.”
“Actually, it helps our marriage a lot,” Darin said. “It helps us work things out.”
The two will join forces again this month as they team up with fellow Whitefish ultra-runner Andrew Matulionis, 42, and Missouri racer Thomas Etter. Matulionis was competing with Darin and Kristen when they first met, but he hasn’t run an endurance race with the duo for 12 years.
“It will be a good opportunity to have the core group getting back together again,” Matulionis said. “They’re both strong-willed. They’re strong athletes and they tend to look out for each other, which is a good thing.”
The multisport Primal Quest will snake more than 500 miles through the mountains and rivers of southwestern Montana, ascending 100,000 vertical feet over its distance, the equivalent of going up Mount Everest more than three times, while also probably losing an equal amount of elevation. Although the race runs 10 days, the top teams could finish in seven after navigating their route with a map and compass while mountain biking, trail running, riverboarding, kayaking, rock climbing and rappelling. Parts of the course will go through black bear and grizzly bear country. Most racers will sleep little to maximize their trail time.
“It’s totally insane,” Kristen said. “One team said it’s like survival of the fittest. You’re just out there surviving.”
“There’s so much carnage,” Matulionis agreed.
Sometimes the carnage comes when a competitor falls asleep, which can be dangerous when riding a mountain bike. Kristen said her team typically sleeps for only an hour-and-a-half each day.
“The longer I go, the easier it gets,” Kristen said. “The first couple of days kill me. When we did the Australian race, we were hallucinating the same thing - all the trees were puppets.”
“The last few races I did, it came down to which team could sleepwalk the best,” Matulionis said. “People are pushing it more and more.”
The biggest concern along the race course for Darin and Kristen is the riverboarding section. A riverboard resembles a half-sized surfboard or boogie board. Competitors put on wet suits and swim fins to power downstream through river rapids.
“I’m just worried about the cold water temperatures and super flows,” Darin said. “Being in the water for an extended period of time will suck the strength out of you.”
Neither Darin nor Kristen has riverboarded before.
“I hate cold water,” Kristen said.
The idea of traveling 500 miles while climbing and descending doesn’t concern the couple much.
“It’s all just numbers,” Kristen said. “It doesn’t bother me at all.”
Besides, they’ve encountered tough times in other races. In a 1996 endurance race, they climbed about 70,000 feet over the course of the race. And while racing in Australia, they once got lost for 12 hours.
“That can make people want to quit,” Kristen said.
“You have to know your topography,” Matulionis said. “You use the compass as a supplement. It’s so easy to get twisted around, that’s what the compass is great for - it doesn’t lie. But you can’t have tunnel vision on the compass alone.”
Although younger competitors may have some physical or stamina advantage, Kristen, Darin and Matulionis all said they feel that their years of experience are key.
“In a lot of these endurance sports, older people tend to do better because they have the experience of pacing themselves,” Matulionis said. “So much of it is mental and how you move. In ultra-running, some of the top racers are in their 40s and 50s.”
And although professional teams fielded by sponsors such as Nike may have an edge in the amount of time they can train and the gear they’re supplied with, team Big Sky/Flathead Beacon isn’t intimidated.
“We’ve raced with some of them from the beginning,” Darin said. “There were a couple of races, years ago, that we were neck and neck. There are so many factors that go into winning this race that anything can happen. But I do wish we could train as much as they do.”
Reporter Brett French can be reached (406) 657-1387 or at french@billingsgazette.net.
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