• What’s Normal? 29th Mar 2010

  For some of us, it’s a stroll over the fells. For Bruce Duncan, it’s a ten day race through the exquisite but unforgiving landscape of Patagonia.

  We were lucky enough to hook up with Bruce, a full-time adventure athlete last week. Keen to meet this local adventurer, we were bowled over to encounter someone so refreshingly down to earth and ‘normal’.

  Bruce in Sweden, photo courtesy of Bruce Duncan

  Whether it’s the fact that Bruce left a full-time job in the Aberdeen oil industry to train and compete full-time, or the fact that he prefers “normal” food over sports nutrition food (as you’ve got to also enjoy it), he breaks all one’s preconceptions of an athletic hard nut.

  At the same time, he reeks of inspiration. Part of the top UK adventure racing team, Helly Hansen, he’s passionate about running and trekking and kayaking, mountain biking, and rope work.

  The 2010 team, photo courtesy of Bruce Duncan

  In 2009, Bruce and the Helly Hansen team won the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race, a truly epic adventure competition over nine to twelve days that has been dubbed “the last wild race”.

  Drawing on all their psychological and physical resources over hundreds of miles of terrain, athletes from all over the world compete to sea kayak, trek and cycle across the waters and wilds of Patagonia.

  Photo courtesy of Bruce Duncan

  The 2009 race was almost 600 kilometres long and, in the trekking section, saw six of the eleven participating teams drop out. It’s that tough. So hats off to Bruce and his co-adventurers for their incredible victory.

  But as if that wasn’t enough, they returned in February this year and won the Race for a historic second time. Requiring six thousand calories a day each, Bruce and his team members (three men, one woman) stocked up with ten family-sized pizzas, rolls, crisps, chorizo sausage and chocolate.

  The Winning Team 2010, photo courtesy of Bruce Duncan

  Imagine racing for 116 hours, of which you sleep less than fourteen. No wonder the team crashes at the end and has to rest for three to four weeks again they can resume any kind of training.

  After that stint in the Patagonian wilderness, it was great to meet Bruce on home territory in the Lakes. Refreshing too to meet an athlete who, though generously sponsored by big players, is interested in kit that’s functional rather than ‘brand of the moment’.

  So he prefers Paramo kit to the hi-tech stuff because it’s the most waterproof brand on the market. And British. Nice to think too, that he may be sporting a bag from Millican for when he’s out and about in future.

  You probably won’t see Bruce and his ilk at the Olympics – the idea of focusing on one sport and for a race that’s over in minutes or even seconds isn’t likely to appeal to this multi-tasking adventurer. But we’ll certainly be watching out for his exploits, not least in the route he creates for the Adidas Terrex Adventure Race in Keswick in August, our first UK adventure race since 2007.

  Hearing of Bruce’s exploits has motivated us to get back out there on wheels, rather than just fell walking and running. So I’m back training on my cyclocross and Nicky has her Dad’s bike set up for some off-road cycling across the cycle trails of Whinlatter, England’s only true mountain forest.

  Last word, though, to Bruce and his three team mates as they reminisce about this year’s Patagonian race:

  Andrew Wilson: The winds were really tough the whole way. Most of the mountain biking was into the wind. There were times when we were literally blown into the ditches at the side, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

  Nicola MacLeod: The final twenty hours we had to keep moving all the time, otherwise we would have frozen. We couldn’t stop to sleep because we didn’t have enough kit and we couldn’t stop to eat for more than about thirty seconds.

  Mark Humphrey: I think I tore a ligament in my left knee during the first beach run, right at the start. It swelled up like a balloon. Going downhill it was really painful, the guys took my pack for a while, and the teamwork got me through. I had to push through the pain a lot.

  Bruce Duncan: If we hadn’t known about it, we wouldn’t have noticed. He was a bit slower than usual, but he was still bashing through the forest, wading through the streams, so real credit to him to push on. He was clearly hurting and took one for the team.

  Respect.

  By Jorrit
  
  

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