The facts:
Stone started with: Body Mass: 72 kg Fat Mass: 12.1 (16.8%) Fat Free Mass: 59.9 kg (83.2%)
Stone finished the race with Body Mass: 69.0 kg Fat Mass: 8.4 kg (12.2%) Fat Free Mass: 60.6 kg (87.8%)
On closer inspection, you can see that Stone has built up a Fat Free Mass build-up of 4.6% (relative 1.7%) after this constant load of a good 11 days without regeneration !
Stone has about 3 liters of headstart as a basic food. and 8 headstart. Bars consumed daily.
Up to minus 40 degrees, strong wind, deep snow, lack of sleep: none of that stopped Manfred “Stone” Steiner from walking 700 kilometers through Canada in 10 days. He started at the “Yukon Arctic Ultra”, the toughest and coldest ultra marathon in the world. “I’ve run a lot of races, but that was definitely my toughest. Now I’ve had the experience, but once is enough, ”says the 48 year old. “There were four categories in the run: over the marathon distance (42.2 km, note), over 100, 300 and 430 miles (700 km, note). 24 participants tried the longest distance, twelve had to give up prematurely, ”says Steiner.
Inhuman conditions
“I had 13 days to cover the 700 kilometers across Canada. My pulka (the sled he pulled) was packed with clothes, food and the tent and weighed almost 30 kilos. Sometimes it was minus 40 degrees, the snow was deep. One could hardly prepare for such conditions.” Right at the beginning of the race, the deputy operations manager of Hörsching Airport even thought about giving up. “It was really hard, and I was about to end it all. Then I thought about what to do with the remaining time, I booked three weeks in Canada. At some point you get over it and then you move on,” says Steiner.
Every runner was equipped with a GPS device. The organizers were able to locate the runners at any time, and the athletes could also use the device to send emergency calls. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be picked up within a few hours. But it can also happen that a snow storm is raging. Then the waiting time can be two days. That’s why every runner had a food ration with them for 48 hours, ”explains the 48-year-old.
“Broke into ice water”
Twelve runners finished, Steiner finished seventh. He was on the road for ten days, 18 hours and 53 minutes. “Time and placement don’t matter. A race like this is all about getting through and surviving. Once I broke into the ice-cold water, the second time I was met by a huge gush of ice water from above, I jumped sideways into the deep snow, but I also didn’t know what was under the snow. Even now, a week after the race, I’m still not quite fit. I don’t sleep regularly, I wake up at night and think I’m still in Canada.”
90 kilometers through South Africa
The highlight this year in South Africa will be the Comrades Marathon. “It’s the oldest ultra marathon in the world and it’s a 90-mile run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.” The start alternates annually between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The towns are at different altitudes, so one year you run downhill, the next year uphill. Last year Steiner already took part: “Only when you have completed both races are you a complete ultra-marathon runner”.
For the sake of form, we can state that this study was not carried out on our behalf. Stone made himself available as a test subject for this study, which was carried out by a renowned German institute.
