The Squamish 50, famous for its 11,000 feet of climbing and descent through scenic trails with beautiful mountain views, doubled as the 2024 Canadian Trail Running Championships on Saturday and Sunday. Both the 50-mile race and the 50K saw blistering performances–both the men and the women set new 50K course records. Other top finishers clocked some of the fastest times in the race’s history.
With a first-place finish in the women’s 50K, Langley, B.C.’s Jade Belzberg clocked 5:16:07 to take down the previous course record of 5:20:39, which had stood since 2014. “I’m thrilled to have finally had the chance to run a Canadian trail race, and it felt amazing to do so at the Canadian champs, of all things!”
In the 50-mile race, Vancouver’s Marcus Ribi (the third-place finisher from 2021) crossed the line more than 15 minutes ahead of the next-fastest finisher, and ran the second-fastest time in course history, 7:17:54, to easily take a spot on the Canadian trail running team headed to the 2025 World Championships. “Squamish was always going to be the big goal race of the year for me, and I knew it’d be a fast one with the two worlds spots up for grabs,” he said. “I’m super happy with the result and looking forward to being able to represent Canada in Spain next year.”
In the women’s 50-mile category, Edmonton’s Priscilla Forgie, winner of the 2022 event, returned for another win with the third-fastest time ever–8:27:46. “It was so wonderful to return to Squamish,” she said. “The trails, the people and the atmosphere are always incredible.” Forgie will also be heading to Spain for the World Championships.
Some particularly ambitious ultrarunners participated in the 50-50 event–meaning they ran the 50-mile race on Saturday and doubled back for 50K race on Sunday. 2024 Quebec Mega Trail 100-mile winner Jean-François Cauchon of Quebec finished his 50-mile and 50K legs in 8:21:38 and 5:37:57, respectively, taking the 50/50 win.
The 50-50 second-place finisher was Squamish’s own Alexandre Ricard, who won the 50K race; he clocked 5:33:16 to demolish the previous 50K course record of 4:45:11 by more than 12 minutes, after racing the 50-mile the previous day.
