Interview with Ultra Runner Gary Robbins

Gary Robbins is a local ultra runner. He may have helped set you up with a new pair of running kicks at North Shore Athletics. Or, you may have heard about his recent record setting time for completing the West Coast Trail; a blistering time of 10 hours and 8 minutes on what is normally a 5 day hike. But if you haven’t heard his story, you should. Gary has accomplished a mountain of achievements over a few short years since breaking into endurance running in 2004. The most recent of those accomplishments is Conquer the Coasts.

Earlier this year Gary Robbins hatched the idea of setting the speed records for both the West Coast and East Coast Trails. No small feat to say the least, but pushing limits is nothing new to Gary. He has previously completed a 700km expedition race in Utah and has participated in (and won) 100-mile races, as a few examples. He was set in May to tackle the West Coast Trail before the attempt was delayed due to poor trail conditions. Then, on August 4 Gary did it. He ran the entire West Coast Trail in 10h 08m beating the previous record (held by Frank Wolf & Kevin Vallely) by a mere 5 minutes! Gary has an incredible recap of the run (and some great footage) on his blog. Then a mere 3 weeks later Gary was in Newfoundland to attack the East Coast Trail. On August 20th he set out for the record and got it handily with a time of 35 hours 17 minutes. Gary was kind enough to let me ask him a few questions about his recent record-setting journey:

So, Conquer the Coasts: What was it and why did you do it?

It was a personal initiative to try to set a speed record on each of Canada’s coastal trails. Those being the 75km West Coast Trail and the 215km East Coast Trail. For me, I was born and raised in Mount Pearl, Nfld and I have been living out west for the last fourteen years. I’ve always felt that I had two homes so it was a natural decision for me to try to pursue both of these trail records. I have been wanting to link up with a charitable effort for the last few years but never felt that I had a catch worthy of attracting donations. As soon as I dreamed this up I knew it had to be lined up with a greater cause.

Tell us about Right to Play, why did you choose to support this organization?

Right To Play is a Canadian organization that basically helps inspire and improve the lives impoverished youth around the world through sport. I honestly believe that sport can unify the world and that the way forward is through educating and inspiring the next generation. That’s why this charity meant so much to me.

What keeps you going on a grueling run? How do you push past that man in your head telling you to stop and take a break?

That ‘man in the head’ often feels like a little boy crying out for his mama! It wasn’t easy, but from the second I picked up ultra running it was all about learning more about those internal voices and motivations. I welcome those moments and embrace them. I want to go there, to be confronted by the possibility of failure. To persevere through these moments is what life’s all about, learning more about who you are and what you’re truly made of.

You only started running in 2004. How did you get started in endurance running?

I was working as a Dive Master in Central America and had no intent of returning home anytime soon. I had even purchased a one way flight. Long story short was that I messed up one of my ears on a dive and was told I could never dive again. I was crushed, obviously, but I couldn’t help reflecting back to many years prior when I had witnessed Eco-Challenge on TV. That was the epitome of people pushing beyond their own perceived limits. I had always wanted to try something similar but the timing never made sense for me. I decided I was going to move to Whistler with a friend by the name of Mark Fearman and our singular goal was going to be to try to complete an expedition length race similar to EC, since EC had since ceased to exist. This all made forgetting about the dive industry a lot easier.

Over the years of training to complete our first expedition race running was always the most natural discipline for me. After we completed the 800km XPD expedition race in The Whitsunday’s of Australia in August of 2007 I decided I was going to see what I could accomplish on my feet alone.

How did you get so good so fast? Any tips for a newbie endurance runner?

I guess I kinda told myself from the start that I was gonna be good at this stuff no matter what. I refused to believe anything or anyone else, and trust me I faced my doubters and my setbacks. I battled through all of them and kept a singular focus on my end goal. It has been six years now. Step back and think about how long that is. There are few things in this world that you won’t be successful at if you dedicate yourself to it consistently for more than half a decade. I didn’t get fast over night, and no one was able to tell me from the start of this thing that I actually would be decent at it. I believed it, no one else had to.

Tips? You are going to have setbacks, period. Don’t let those stand in your way of your chosen goals within this sport or any other pursuit. No matter how bad some of my races had gone I was always able to step back and take away plenty of positives and chalk them up to lessons learned, in fact I learned the most from my worst races.

Whats on plan for the next few years?

Hmm, I’m scheming some biggies, just gotta figure em all out. For sure I would like to find a 300km trail and attempt it non-stop. I’ve always wanted to try to tackle something like that.

Congrats to Gary on an amazing accomplishment!