He’s conquered trails all across North America but this summer Squamish’s Jason Loutitt set his sights on France.
The winner of the inaugural Squamish 50 trail race kicked off his journey across the pond with the D-Day Ultra trail race in Normandy on June 12 and 13.
The 100-mile race sees runners travel along the historical places where the June 6, 1944 landings on D-Day occurred. A non-competitive race, the event saw seven ultra runners run alongside seven members of the military, and Loutitt was the lone Canadian ultra runner.
He said it was a thrill to represent his country at the event.
“It was an honor to represent Canada,” he said. “The run finished with running alongside 3,000 school children in Caen. Words can’t express what running through all the memorial sites, on all the beaches and then with the children meant to me.”
Just a few days later, Loutitt raced in the Le Barjo 24 km trail race, but a pressing bladder issue almost slowed his start.
“We managed to pull up to the start line just as everyone was lined up and looking our way, but I still had to go to the toilet,” he said. “A jump into the bushes 100 metres down the hill from the start resulted in the most hilarious look on a policeman’s face I’ve ever seen – never mind the 200-plus runners at the start line.”
Loutitt finished first at the race with a time of 1:53:57, edging out the second place runner by one second.
Next up was the World Skryunning Championships in Chamonix on June 31, where Loutitt finished 114th, but he bounced back on July 6 with a first place finish at the Trail du Mascaret. Loutitt finished the 32 km race in 2:36:11, beating out the second place runner by over three minutes.
Loutitt snagged another first place showing at the De La Mere Denis 26 km run on July 14, again beating the second place competitor by three minutes. His success didn’t end in August, with a third place showing at the La Tranlutine on Aug. 2 and a first place run at the Defers Sentiers Oceans Six Hour Race on Aug. 3.
He’s now back in the Sea to Sky Corridor, but the itch of racing is sure to return soon enough for Loutitt. Stay tuned to The Squamish Chief for more details on his next adventures or visit his website www.runningthroughmountains.com for more.
