Greetings Fellow Hikers!
I have just been talking to Justin Langevin, aged 32 along with his friend Mike Garneau, aged 37 who set a new record for the fastest completion of the O.T.H trail. They did it in 34 hours and 56 minutes. Their run started at 7.10 am on May 23 which included some light rain. On the same day Barry and I chainsawed off fallen trees from Friday Lake to Fourbass Lake. Earlier Les, Marsha and Mike cleared trail from south of Opimika Narrows to Ottertail Creek. Justin and Mike had to deal with extensive blowdowns for the 12 kilometres north of Ottertail Creek. The Creek was thigh deep at the fording spot. Jason comments included the following. "It was the trail we most feared and respected. The trail is beautiful and well marked. Without thick summer growth it was the best time to do it." Constantly wet feet from rain and Creek crossing resulted in plenty of blisters. The trail measured 145 kilometres with 6200 meters of elevation gain. Two runner friends ran south to meet them and added encouragement for the 24 kilometre stretch from the crevasse to Latchford. Justin has been doing trail runs for five years. They ran the 170 kilometre Grindstone race in Virginia in 27 hours. The O.T.H trail rates as more rugged and remote than other trails. To train they ran with packs and wet feet on forest trails around Rouyn Noranda. I'm sure their record will stand for quite a while. Justin had done the trail from Latchford to the Rabbit Lake road a few years ago and estimated they could do it in 30 hours. The numerous steep hills and blowdowns in the south end tend to slow one down. Hopefully by summer's end we will have chainsawed off all the fallen trees from Latchford to Thorne.
Happy trails, Murray.
