ROCKWOOD – While some people have enjoyed the relatively late start to winter, not minding the rain that has melted early snowfalls, Jenn Banfield is not one of them.
“I’m on full-on snow-chasing mode,” Banfield said.
If the local snow fails her, she will head north.
That’s because the Rockwood resident is training for the Canadian Ski Marathon, North America’s oldest cross-country ski event, taking place on Feb. 8 and 9 in the Montebello, Quebec area north of the Ottawa River.
“I’ve been training very consistently since I finished last year,” said Banfield.
She has already completed the full two-day 160-km challenge – twice – earning herself bronze and silver medals. Those medals don’t mean she came in second and third; that’s not how the event works.
“It’s not a race. This is you versus you,” said Banfield.
Founded in 1966, the marathon was meant to be a one-time event to celebrate Canada’s 100th birthday in 1967, but it became an annual event.
The trail varies each year, but includes approximately 80km for each day, broken up into smaller sections – five per day. Each section starts and ends with a checkpoint, where food and drinks and ski waxing services are provided by volunteers.
“Montebello has always been maintained as the mid-point where the event ends on Saturday night and begins on Sunday morning,” states the event website.
Skiers can take part in a half-marathon, or join the trail at particular sections, skiing from one checkpoint to another on a trail that matches their level of stamina and ability.
Bronze, silver and gold are for those who ski the whole thing, completing the “Coureur des Bois,” translated as “runner of the woods.”
“Each of those categories are doing the same distance,” said Banfield, but “you have to do one before you qualify for the next.”
For bronze, which Banfield earned in 2023, skiers must complete the entire 160km course over the two days, making sure to leave the fourth checkpoint each day by a particular cut-off time, then skiing to the end of the fifth section.
Between the two days, skiers can feel free to spend the night in a cozy hotel.
Ditto for silver, which Banfield completed in 2024, but with the added challenge of carrying a five-kilogram pack during the two-day ski journey.
This year, Banfield will be going for gold.
“It means completing the full distance … but sleeping outside, like winter camping,” Banfield said.
Her pack, which needs to be a minimum of 5kg to meet the requirements to earn gold, will contain everything she needs to make it through the full two-day journey, including a sleeping bag for the night she will have to spend under the stars.
To some, it might sound crazy, but Banfield doesn’t mind.
“I love this kind of crazy,” she said.
She has been training the Rockwood Conservation Area, skiing circles around a relatively short trail that loops through the park when there is enough snow to do so.
“The Rockwood Conservation Area is like my best friend,” she said.
Jenn Banfield thinks of the Canadian Ski Marathon, and of cross-country skiing in general, as a great way to enjoy the beauty of a Canadian winter.
Submitted photo
The ski marathon was something Banfield decided to take on post-pandemic, building on a love of outdoor athleticism that was emphasized by the restrictions of the COVID-19 era.
“I found a new appreciation for exercise and fresh air, and how that made me feel like a human again,” Banfield said of the pandemic.
She was also inspired by her father, Michael Schultz, now 73, who skied the marathon back in 1978 when he was just 27 years old.
There is an element of “trying to make him proud as well, for something that I know is really meaningful for him,” she said.
There is no doubt he is proud.
“What an amazing accomplishment,” Schultz wrote in a document emailed to the Advertiser, comparing his own earlier “tour” of the event with his daughter’s Coureur des Bois feats.
“I might have completed about half of the course over the two days in ’78,” he wrote.
“I got a crest – CSM 78 – and I have one old picture someone took of me set to go on day one. Jenn has accomplished bronze and silver – gold is in the headlights.”
Schultz was there to congratulate his daughter in 2023 and skied with her in 2024, not doing the whole route, but timing it right so she “bumped into him” along a section of trail.
“My kids were in the event, too,” Banfield said.
She said part of the appeal of the event is “because you’re not really racing, there’s a whole sense of community.”
There’s a sense of mutual encouragement Banfield said she enjoys as she meets with other participants and gets to hear their “whys” – the things that have motivated them to take part.
Banfield has more than a couple “whys.”
Besides being inspired by her father and a love of the outdoors, she is also inspired by her mother, who Banfield said died in a car accident in her 50s.
“I think of her, and I think, ‘Mom, I’m doing this for you,’” Banfield said.
Losing her mother so young makes Banfield all the more conscious of the things she is still able to do.
“I have no excuses not to get out there and get after it,” said Banfield.
She also thinks the marathon is “just a really cool way to appreciate a Canadian winter.”
It’s within driving distance, offers options for participants of a range of skill levels, and happens in a picturesque part of the country, she explained.
“It’s beautiful, just pure Canadian wilderness, lakes, and rivers,” she said.
Asked about her goals for the event beyond this year, Banfield couldn’t say for sure, but she pointed out that if you complete the gold level multiple times, you can earn gold bars.
“So it’s the same experience, but new hardware,” she said.
She sees herself always taking part in the marathon in some capacity, but “whether or not that’s gold again remains to be seen,” she said.
“I can’t imagine not having this kind of goal in the darkest time of our year.”
