When ultra runner Evan Birch drove from his home in Calgary down to Montana to pick up his new puppy Nova in 2017, he knew he wanted a dog he could run the trails with. He’d started running 15 years earlier as a way to cope with the stress of his work as an emergency responder and recently, his distances had picked up to between 20k and 40k. At that time, Nova joining him for those types of distances may have seemed overly optimistic, but when she turned one, she started joining him on the trails – and the pair has barely stopped for a breath since.
“I realized how much she loved it, and I realized how much I loved having a training partner that I could literally take with me anytime I wanted to go, without having to make plans,” says Birch, describing Nova as “a little rocket” when she's on the trails.
This winter, seven years after collecting her, Birch and Nova embarked on an extraordinary 100-mile race together in what might just be the first case of a competitive ultra-running dog.
A Hungarian Vizsla, Nova was the runt of her litter, and at 37lbs she’s on the small side. But other than that, she’s true to her breed – she’s energetic and sticks like glue to her human, making her an excellent trail companion. As Birch’s distances started to grow, from 40k to 60k and from 125k to 200 milers, for every training run, Nova was there by his side.
“It was never intentional. But we've just grown together in those distances and it's a different kind of bond. That's the best way I can describe it.”
As the pair put in the miles on the trail over the last year, an idea began to form in Birch’s imagination – was there an ultra marathon that would allow him to run with Nova? And would it be possible?
It certainly sounds crazy, but as we've previously written, ultra running, well, it doesn’t always involve that much running.
“We were going to be doing a lot of power hiking and so the effort level was going to be lower for her, and she was going to be on harness the whole time, which meant that her effort level was going to be considerably lower.”
The question of whether there was a race that would accept dog entries was answered with just a little research – Birch soon learned about the Orcas Island 100 race in Washington. With mild February temperatures, a mossy single-track trail and a looped course that allowed regular check-ins at an aid station to give Nova rest, it seemed like the best possible scenario for what Birch was cooking up.
As for whether running 100 miles together would really work, Birch dug around for existing examples, but no precedent has been set that he can find. There was Dion Leonard, the runner who crossed paths with a stray dog during a desert ultra and ended up going 70 miles together which is recounted in the book Finding Gobi, but that took place over several days and through circumstance, not training. He spoke to the owner of a sled dog company and learned that sled dogs are different because they run full out for a certain period of time, and then rest for an equal period. In the end, he decided that if Nova could train with him for 60k to 100k per week, she might just be able to pull it off.
Birch and Nova signed up for the race and started training, with Birch keeping the hound entirely on leash to prepare her for race conditions, and watching her closely, entirely aware of potential criticism.
“Having a dog, it's a privilege. I'm here to take care of her and protect her, and it wasn't lost on me that I was doing something that we had never done, that nobody's ever done. So of course there is going to be some risk involved with what we were doing, and we just tried to make the best decisions possible for her.”
As it turned out, Nova showed no signs of difficulty as the weekly mileage grew, and Birch and his wife started to concoct a plan for race day: they would stop at the aid station after each 25-mile lap and allow the dog increasing periods of sleep.
When they arrived at the start line, Nova in her harness with Musher’s Wax on her paws and with Birch’s old Suunto Peak watch strapped around her neck, all Birch knew for sure was that she could handle the 14-hour days that had made up their peak training period. After that, all bets were off.
“It was always, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this to the best that we can in the time that we have and not push her beyond what we think she's capable of.”
The unlikely pair completed the first 25-mile lap in six hours, then Nova slept for an hour. Fog and mist characteristic of the Pacific Northwest in winter hampered their pace considerably during the second overnight lap.
“Through the night we could barely see six feet in front of us,” recalls Birch, describing the effect as like driving through a storm with your headlights on.
“And of course dog's eyesight in low visibility is tough, so she's trusting me to get her through this. So we had to slow down.”
After 10 hours to complete the second lap, Nova slept for two hours and Birch decided to join her. When they awoke, she showed no signs of not wanting to continue so the duo hit the trail again and found themselves moving at a pace similar to their first lap.
“I just looked down at her every time like, how are you doing this? You have no idea what distance we're running. But you're still just happy to be there the entire time, with no question, no complaining, no anything. There's very few relationships. I think, that would ever compare to something like that.”
Towards the end of lap three, Birch realized they wouldn’t be able to make up the time they’d lost overnight. True to his word, he didn’t push and they slowed down and enjoyed the hike back to the aid station, timing out after an impressive 75 miles.
Birch says both ultra runners walked away completely injury-free, with Nova showing nothing more than a little normal wear on her paws despite never donning her dog booties. And for Birch, who is also a coach, not finishing was nothing that needed to be healed.
“I think you have to put yourself into discomfort and situations that have the potential of not working out, because how else do you grow?” says Birch, who describes race day as just one percent of the entire process of running an ultra.
“The outcome didn't matter in this. It was literally about the adventure and figuring out what is possible with a human and their dog.”
Now fully recovered and less than two months on, he says his only worry is that he’s created a monster – Nova just wants to run more and more. But while he thinks her age means another 100-mile attempt is out of the question, he hopes to race with her again.
“It creates a different kind of bond because you're moving together through everything. There's no way you can leave each other behind.”
When he gives me a peek, she’s curled up in her basket, barely bothered to open an eye when I call her name. The epitome of chill. As soon as her human says the word “run” however?
“She’s instantly sitting at the door just waiting and knowing that we're going to do something, and that's her job.”
A documentary about Nova’s ultra marathon will be released this spring, You can learn more about it at ultrabirch.com
