Imagine you’re running across a frozen lake in central Quebec on a dark evening in February, in snowshoes. You can barely hear your breath above the howling of the wind, and the only things visible are a few metres of snowy trail illuminated by your headlamp, and the star-filled sky. It feels like you’ve been running for hours, when suddenly, lights appear in the distance and shouts of encouragement reach your ears. A feeling of exhilaration propels you to the finish line, where you fall, exhausted, into the arms of a smiling volunteer.
This is CRYO Races, which take place every winter on Quebec’s Lac St-Jean, each distance finishing in Chambord. Aaron Plue of Montreal was one of the first CRYO Races participants, back in 2018, and has twice returned to repeat the experience. “There is something about this race, and this community, that keeps me coming back,” he says.
The Starlit (32 km) begins just before sunset on a groomed trail on the frozen lake, with a maximum of 40 experienced marathoners and ultrarunners. Racers wear running snowshoes and ski goggles and can take advantage of aid stations every six to eight kilometres. For those who prefer a slightly less extreme challenge, there’s a new 20-km race for 2025 that takes place during daylight hours. Or the Express, a 12-km nighttime race limited to 100 runners.
Plue, an experienced ultrarunner who has also raced the 57-km OCC at the UTMB World Series Finals, the Bromont Ultra and other marathons and ultras, lights up when describing CRYO Races. “Mentally, it’s very challenging,” he explains. “You pound away in the snow and the dark, sometimes with other runners to talk to, and sometimes you’re alone. Physically, too—to run 32 km in snowshoes is very tough.” (One year, Plue decided to run in shoes, and didn’t finish.)
“It’s also challenging logistically,” he adds. “You have to manage your nutrition, your gear, your headlight, trying not to overheat early, which means you’ll be cold later—all of this adds an element of challenge
that you don’t find in many other races.”
Of course, runners are famous for embracing challenges—for some, the more difficult the race is, the more they enjoy it. But when asked what he loves most about CRYO Races, it’s not the running itself, as much as the community of racers, volunteers and beneficiaries associated with the event, that kept him coming back. CRYO Races is a fundraiser for On the Tip of the Toes Foundation, a charity based in Chicoutimi, Que., that organizes outdoor adventure experiences for young people living with cancer. (Race participants are required to fundraise.) “The young people battling cancer, who are being supported by the race—they open the event with speeches about what it means to them, and they’re there at the finish line,” Plue says. “The runners get out there on the ice together with the attitude, ‘let’s get this done.’ And then there are all the supporters and volunteers, who are so into the race! It’s just really special.”
“I love this race,” Plue goes on. “It’s tough. But there is the cause, and the amazing people—the other runners, the volunteers, the organizers and the young people who have seen the benefits of the foundation first-hand. And that is what makes this race incredible.”
The next CRYO Races will take place Feb. 22, 2025. For more information or to register, go to cryoraces.com.
This story is presented by CRYO Races.
