The man who can run forever

Ihor Verys is always up for a challenge. Tomorrow, that means running 50 kilometres against some of Canada’s best trail athletes on Sumas Mountain.

But despite an increasingly crowded trophy case, the Chilliwack ultra-runner doesn’t know how he’ll fare. After all, 50km will be the shortest trail race Verys has run.

Now 28, Verys moved to Canada from Ukraine eight years ago and started running around the same time, competing in local road races, half-marathons, and marathons. But he only started trail running a few years ago, after the pandemic hit.

“The trail was the only place I could go other than home when everything was closed,” he said.

He was immediately hooked, and soon moved from Manitoba to Chilliwack— in part because he could jog out his front door and straight to some of Canada’s best running trails. Those trails led to some spectacular views. So he kept running. And when Verys starts running, he can keep running for a long time. A very, very long time.

In 2021, Verys signed up for his first “ultra” trail race—a 100km route called Finlayson Arm north of Victoria. He completed the course in 15 hours, winning it and beating his nearest competitor by more than 30 minutes.

And last spring, Verys signed up for a unique race called a “Backyard Ultra.” Runners have an hour to complete a 6.7-kilometre course and refuel—then they line up and do it again. The race is essentially a mercy contest that continues until only one runner is remaining. And last spring, Verys outlasted everyone else, running a total of 261 kilometres over the course of 39 hours/laps.That earned him a ticket to a team championship event in which he completed 67 laps over 67 hours.

Then, in the fall, Verys won the Fat Dog 120—a 193-kilometre (120-mile) race in Southern BC considered one of the most grueling in the world, with more than 8,000 metres of elevation gain.

So Verys can run. But it wasn’t just success and a desire for competition that has kept Verys on the trail. He keeps coming back for the views—and the people.

Verys, who works as an insurance account manager, found himself continually “chasing the views” that mountain hiking and running provide. And he has found a burgeoning community of people just like him willing to offer support, win or lose.

“It’s just so supportive and you always feel loved in it, no matter how fast or slow you go,” Verys told The Current. As a newcomer to the sport in Manitoba, Verys connected with others on Strava, a social media platform where runners, bikers, and other athletes can share their times, routes, and adventures. Those online connections then turned into face-to-face meetings at races and on the trail.

“Whenever anyone is having a bad day or race, people are still super supportive,” he said.

“People who are racing are often volunteers at other events, so you end up seeing the same faces time and time again.”

Verys’s own Instagram account is full of that positivity. While volunteering at this spring’s Backyard Ultra, Verys wrote: “As a member of this community and a top fan of this sport I want to say HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to all the badasses on the course. THANK YOU for inspiring and reminding all of us that no human is limited!”

(Verys watched as two other Fraser Valley runners—Ryan Shephard and Kevin Barata—bested his lap total from the previous year.)

In a post from October, before the team backyard championship event, he hailed the support crew for he and his teammates.

“These three will be responsible for dragging my body back into the corral even if I start whining like a baby and begging them to stop the loopy tortures.”

Sometimes the boredom is the point

Running for 67 hours sounds like it could be boring. And it is, Verys said.

“That’s kind of the point of it: to see how far your body and your mind can go.”

Tomorrow’s Run for Water trail race will be a very different challenge.

The race features three distances—10km, 25km, and 50km. Verys has (obviously) chosen to compete in the longest of the three, which involves two loops of the very mountainous 25km course. Racers will have to gain 3,000 metres—the equivalent of running nearly to the very top of Mt. Baker.

For Verys, the challenge will come both from the climbing and the fact that it will be by far the shortest ultra race he has entered. Verys, who describes himself on Instagram as a “mountain jogger,” will have to pick up the pace a bit.

“I don’t think that speed is my strength,” he said. “I have decent speed over a longer distance, where I can just fade less than others and I can focus. I have that strength so I feel like that’s why longer distances are appealing to me.”

On Saturday, he won’t just have to outlast his fellow runners to win—he’ll have to outpace them. The Fraser Valley is full of elite ultra runners who can look at a 50-kilometre race and think “well, at least it’s a short race.”

But Verys knows that he’ll find friends on the course and the finish line, no matter what happens.

“This is part of the challenge of putting yourself out of the comfort zone and trying to be fast,” he said. “It’s something I’m excited to explore.”