By Physiologist Travis Schiller-Brown
Bert Starke of Calgary AB was the first finisher of the Personal Peak MTU™ Showdown. He completed the 1600 MTU™ required to finish the challenge in just 43 days, completing 1,127.2km, with 47,609m of elevation gain.
Although the majority of Starke’s MTU™ were accumulated during his runs, a still significant portion of his MTU™ (almost 220) were accumulated as part of his daily activity (in the MTU™ showdown participants were able to calculate not only their running distance and elevation, but also any distance and elevation accumulated throughout the rest of their day). As a Paramedic in Calgary, Starke spends a lot of his work day on his feet. His shiftwork schedule, with 2 days and 2 nights working, followed by 4 days off worked well to keep him consistently accumulating MTU™ “I worked out on 7 of my 8 day rotation; one of my day shifts acted as a “rest” day” he said.
Throughout the MTU™ Showdown, Starke, and second place finisher Drew Roberts had been neck and neck, trading the lead back and forth. Both of them were keenly aware of the other’s progress, with Roberts saying “Bert and I connected along the way, I think as we realized it was going to be a back and forth battle. Privately, we were encouraging one another through Strava and Facebook. I think I would have gotten him had it not been for my coach reminding me I was supposed to be taking a down week during the first week of February!”
When it came down to the final days of the race, the two were less than 100 MTU™ apart. Fearing that Roberts might put in a last minute effort to secure the win Starke started early on his final day. “I knew my having only 42 MTU™ to finish Drew wouldn’t have time to do his final 140 MTU™ before I finished mid-afternoon.” With that thought in the back of his mind Starke headed out first thing in the morning to make sure he finished off and submitted results to cement his victory.
Drew Roberts from the United States finished in 46 days, and Kamil Nascak from the Czech Republic finishing third in 48. All three of the top runners completed the GDT route and accumulated more than 25% of their MTU™ from elevation gain – with Starke having the highest at 42.2%.
Other notable finishes include 4th place finisher Jesper Elfving from Denmark being the first to complete the Scenic route in 49 days, and 5th place Erica Broadbent from the United States, the first female finisher, completing the GDT route in 51 days.
The MTU™ Showdown is still ongoing (until June 31, 2021), currently with 127 days remaining to complete the challenge. Registration is still open for any latecomers, but they will have some catching up to do!
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Travis Schiller-Brown
Travis has a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology, and is Personal Peak’s Head Physiologist. He develops training programs and administers testing for every Personal Peak Athlete.
To learn more about Travis, click here
Email:coaching@personalpeak.ca