Race Coverage

Race Coverage

RACE Coverage

Atacama Crossing Home

Multi-Day Magic

Scotty Hawker's running resembles the elevation profile of a mountainous ultra race with its peaks and troughs, but a recent foray into the work of multi-day events helped the Kiwi athlete remember why he loves the ultra running community so much. Samantha Turnbull sits down with Scotty to get all the details, and in insight into the format. 
 
Scotty Hawker is no stranger to prestigious podiums. Among his many achievements, the Christchurch runner, now 37, placed third at France’s UltraTrail du Mont Blanc back in 2019.
 
“That was the biggest one where I felt like I’d cracked it,” he says. “You just hope for those days where the stars align and you feel good.”
 
In 2021 he placed second in the 100km version of the event, the CCC (Cormayeur, Champex, Chamonix) and in 2023 he returned to the hallowed European Alps for another crack at the 171km. Scotty was in 8th place with 10km to go when his body shut down.
 
 
“I heard from the support crew that 5th and 6th place were a couple of minutes ahead and as I caught up to the guy in 7th place I was feeling so good, I made a bit of a surge and dropped him,” he says.
 
“But I think in hindsight, that surge…I got a bit too carried away, and with the heat I found myself feeling pretty dehydrated. I’ve never had a race where I’ve derailed so quickly.”
 
Scotty sat down on the side of the trail to recompose himself as runners passed by. “I drank the rest of my water, had a gel, and just told myself to ‘get moving as best you can,’” he says.
 
“Sometimes the only way out is to drag yourself through.”
 
Scotty willed himself to the UTMB finish line where he placed 15th, saying the result was hard to swallow, but after years of experience he is learning to cope better with the ups and downs of racing, and life, in general.
 
“To be honest my whole career has been up and down, whether it be through injury, or a few years ago I went through a separation with my ex-wife,” he says.
 
“One thing affects the other, and any good result I’ve had usually comes off the back of wanting to throw it all in and things not working out. I think that’s the nature of the sport in a sense, because you can’t expect to run ultra marathons without facing adversity.”
 
Despite his disappointing performance at UTMB, three weeks later he flew to Chile for his first attempt at a multi-day ultra: the 250km six-stage Atacama Crossing hosted by RacingThePlanet.
 
 
“A week after UTMB I switched focus to Atacama and I thought ‘holy heck, what have I gotten myself into, maybe I’ve bitten off a wee bit much’,” he reveals.
 
“Then as it got closer, I wasn’t poppy and fresh like I’d normally be, but I did start to feel kind of reasonable.”
 
RacingThePlanet events require runners to carry their week’s worth of gear throughout the entirety of the race – including sleeping bags, food and clothing – and Scotty admits he probably should’ve practised with his loaded, bigger pack before the actual event.
 
“I did one 20-minute run and got a sore back and then a week later I did a 15km run with it and it flared up again, but I had two weeks until the race so I just crossed my fingers and didn’t run with it again until the race,” he admits.
 
“Luckily I didn’t have too many issues with it in the actual event.”
 
Scotty explains that meeting his fellow racers, many of whom were experienced multi-day runners, also made him realise he was a novice in terms of gear and what he needed to take with him.
 
“There were people tipping their dehydrated meals into snaplock bags to make them lighter…I was mind-blown that people were going to these extremes, and I thought I was a gear nerd before that,” he laughs.
 
Scotty says the next challenge was the landscape of Atacama – a desertn environment unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.
 
“To sum it up in one word it would be ‘brutal’,” he says.
 
“The Atacama desert was sometimes really rocky, then there were canyons, river crossings and sand dunes.
 
“There were the infamous salt flats, which was like running through broken glass, and the broccoli trees which are gnarly bushes that you’re sometimes forced to run on top of…the spines of the trees would go through your shoes and gaiters.”
 
He generally finished each stage before the heat of the day was at its worst, except for the ‘long march’ which was a 70km section in searing conditions.
 
“You felt like your eyeballs were on fire, like someone had a cigarette lighter under your nose,” he says.
 
“I was glad I didn’t experience too much of that.”
 
Scotty went into the Atacama Crossing with curiosity and no plans to push himself, but reveals his competitive nature took over at the start line.
 
“All of a sudden I was 20km in and pushing and digging myself a hole,” he says.
 
“I remember sitting in the camp at the end of Stage One and thinking ‘mate, what have you gotten yourself into here?’”
 
 
Scotty won every stage and says the event was ‘one of those runs where things go from strength to strength.’
 
“I set myself time goals each day, which was probably silly in a way, but it also gave me focus each day and kept me really motivated,” he says.
 
“They did a staggered start on the final stage and 8km in, I started to catch up to the bulk of the people who started earlier and they all began giving me high fives, so I gave it everything and it was a really fun and exciting way to finish it.”
 
But it wasn’t winning the event, or even the surreal location, that made the adventure such a wonderful experience. He explains it was the camaraderie back at camp each night with the other runners from all across the world.
 
“I’ve got goosebumps thinking about it,” he says.
 
“Sharing such a unique, crazy, brutal experience with so many other people is what was so enjoyable and cool. It seemed like everyone at Atacama, no matter what age they were or what country they were from or what culture, everyone had some of the same DNA.
 
“I think that was why every conversation you had, you just connected. We were all there doing the same thing with the same passion and the bond we created was really special.”
 
Scotty now hopes to do the entire RacingThePlanet series taking in events at Mongolia, Namibia and Antarctica. He has also signed up as a personal trainer to provide guidance for other runners entering the series.
 
This year in 2024 Scotty also plans to head back to UTMB to mark 10 years since he first lined up at the illustrious event. He reveals he actually feels more equipped than ever, thanks to the wisdom that comes with experience but also a renewed focus on his mental health.
 
“I’ve dealt with depression and anxiety for quite a long time, but I’ve gained a lot of help over the last couple years which has been a game-changer,” he says.
 
“Obviously youth is something that goes away and I don’t have some of the raw speed I had back then, but I think in the sport of ultra running I have a lot more of the stuff I need to perform and that’s top two inches kind of stuff.
 
“I can more easily take that step back and zoom out instead of dwelling. It’s more like ‘shit happens’ and going back to the drawing board to work out what to do differently next time for a different result.”
 
Scotty says he’s also feeling physically better than ever.
 
“I’m pretty stoked that the body is still letting me compete at the top level,” he says.
 
“You get put in scenarios where you find out what you’re made of and after years and years and thousands of kilometres, I feel like I’m a stronger athlete now than what I was.
 
“I’m also focusing on stuff I probably should’ve been doing the whole time, like strength and mobility.
 
“I’m now running faster than I ever have.”
 
 
ARTICLE BY SAMANTHA TURNBULL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY THIAGO DIZ/RACINGTHEPLANET