74-year old ultra runner pulls out of Arrowhead 135, only six miles from finish
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Michael Koppy, the 74-year old ultra runner from the Duluth area who was vying to become the oldest person to ever finish the Arrowhead Ultra 135 on foot, pulled out of the grueling race Wednesday afternoon because of severe back pain, only 6.3 miles from the finish line.
Byron Kuster, a friend of Koppy and his support person during the race, said Koppy called him at about 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, to tell him he couldn’t finish. Racers had until 7 p.m. to complete the course, which stretches along a remote snowmobile trail from International Falls to Tower.
Conditions during the race were mild, with daytime temperatures in the 20s and 30s, falling into the single digits at night. The trail was blanketed with about five inches of soft, mushy snow, making walking and running extremely difficult.
“We ran 90 percent of the race through mashed potatoes, and it was just awful,” Koppy told MPR News a couple hours after the race. “My feet are kind of wiped out. One sock is all bloody and then the other shoe, I had a couple really huge blisters.”
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Koppy arrived at the second checkpoint, roughly halfway through the race, at 8:41 a.m. on Tuesday, nearly 26 hours after he started.
He traveled at a walk-run, pulling a sled loaded down with more than 50 pounds of food, water and survival gear, required to compete in the race.
Kuster said he was “tired, but in good spirits” at the checkpoint. When another racer asked him if he was going to finish, “Koppy responded with a confident, ‘Oh, yeah!’”
Koppy reached mile 87 at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. At that point he had only slept on two occasions, about 20 minutes each time.
Early Wednesday morning Koppy said he felt great, and made good time on the trail that had hardened up overnight. But then a groomer for the snowmobile trail passed by with about ten miles to go, reverting the trail to super soft conditions.
Eventually Koppy’s back just gave out. He took Ibuprofen and warmed himself up with heavy parkas. But it wouldn’t loosen up.
“I couldn’t go 30 feet,” he said. People were “holding on to me, and I would just fall right to the ground as soon as they let go of me. I just could’t support it.”
Koppy, who raised money for the Duluth Area Family YMCA for the race, said it was extremely tough to get so close to the end of the race, but not be able to finish.
“So many people were watching and supporting me, and so I felt pretty disappointed that I couldn’t finish it,” he said.
Still, Koppy said there were moments of joy during the race. Whenever he came upon a long downhill, he would climb in his heavy sled, and ride it down like a bobsled, steering with his heels, even in the dead of night.
His flashlight only shone so far in front of him, so sometimes he wouldn’t see a turn coming until he was right upon it.
“I’m sure I was going 30, 35 miles per hour,” Koppy said. “I bet we had 45 different downhills, and some of them, man, we’re flying, and the trails aren’t super wide, and the trees are going by.”
Koppy said he it’s too soon to know whether he wants to try again next year to become the oldest person to ever finish the race.
Racers in the Arrowhead Ultra 135 have minimal if any outside support along the trail — there are just three checkpoints along the course. They have the option to bike, ski or run.
Race rookie Patrick Ogden from Michigan crossed the finish line first, biking the course in 17 hours, 54 minutes. Race officials shared a quote from Ogden as he reached the finish: “It was a helleva ride.”
On the women’s side, veteran Kate Coward won her second consecutive bike race, finishing in 22 hours, 54 minutes.
“There's something special about being out there,” Coward told MPR News. “I really seek out opportunities to push my mind and my body and do something that you can’t simulate in a lab,” she said.
“It’s hard to explain, but there’s something when you’re out there and you’re cold and you’re tired and it’s dark and you’re alone and there’s no cell service, and there’s no one around. All you have is you and whatever you have on you. It’s very raw and and human.”