N.S. runner takes home gold in high-endurance competition

A Nova Scotian athlete recently took home gold in a high-endurance competition in New Brunswick.

Runner Lee Murphy from Hubbards took part and won in the Canadian Backyard Ultra World Team Championships – a race that spanned 68 hours, and 456 kilometres of consecutive running for Murphy.

He says the competition was unique as there is no real “finish line.”

“It’s a last man standing event, all the runners run 6.7 kilometres on the hour, every hour, until there’s one person left,” he said.

Murphy said each person could go at different speeds as long as they leave by the top of the hour – or else they’d be disqualified.

“You can choose to run the loop as fast or as slow as they want, runners can run it in 40 minutes and then they have 20 minutes until the top of the hour so they could use that time to change their clothes, eat food, have a quick nap,” he said.

“We developed a strategy where on average I was running around 47 to 49 minute laps, as soon as it got dark I started to utilize about five to seven minutes of sleep time between each lap.”

Murphy said the competition later became a mental challenge as the lack of sleep over continuous hours of running led to sleep deprivation.

“At times there was moments where a few minutes would go by and I would kind of wake up and come back to reality, I kind of felt like a sense I was in a dream state while running. Just keep going and never stop,” he said.

Murphy has been running competitively for a few years now, but he originally started the sport for health.

“I started running I guess as a way to increase my physical and mental fitness, now it’s become an obsession,” said Murphy.

Murphy says the community is one of the things that continues to draw him in.

“I love the fact that you can go out and put your shoes on at any time of the day and get out there and clear your mind if you need to,” he said.

“The people that you meet in the running groups and out in the community are some of the best people.”

With files from CTV's Mike Lamb.