Running as if lives depend on it

Brian Culbert, investment advisor and first vice president with CIBC Wood Gundy in Toronto, is preparing to run one of the world’s most gruelling ultra-marathon trail races for the second time in two years. His second assault on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, set in the Alps near Chamonix, France, Culbert says, will give him a chance to complete the prestigious and challenging route.

Culbert was disappointed during his initial attempt last year, when high winds, sleet and cold weather forced officials to reroute and shorten the trail at the last minute. A second crack at what is widely regarded as the most difficult foot race in Europe also will give Culbert the opportunity to raise more money for the cause that drives him to the limits of endurance: a global children’s health-care initiative of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children called SickKids International.

Through various extreme biking and running races, Culbert has raised about $250,000 for SickKids International. The specific cause that he supports is a project to train nurses in the African country of Ghana. About 150 Ghanaian students have embarked on a three-year nursing program, and the first 40 graduated in 2012.

SickKids International is supporting children’s health programs in three African countries – Tanzania, Ethiopia and Ghana. Every year, almost 10 million children under the age of five die around the globe, and about half these deaths occur in sub-Saharan African countries.

Training nurses is one of the most effective ways to improve children’s health, because it is difficult to attract doctors without competent nursing support. Two-thirds of child deaths are preventable, according to UNICEF. Most of the children who die each year could be saved by low-tech, cost-effective measures, such as vaccines, antibiotics, nutrient supplementation, and improved family care and breastfeeding practices.

“The magnitude of the problem is so immense that inertia sometimes can take over,” Culbert says. “But I look at it as saving one child at a time. A life can be saved for as little as 2¢, so the money raised has a huge impact.”

Culbert’s philanthropic philosophy is similar to his attitude toward participating in endurance races. During the times when he’s been physically ill and mentally impaired by exhaustion, he reminds himself to just take one step at a time, and this focus on the immediate task has pulled him through. The key, he says, is not to capitulate to anxiety and fear.

“If you just do something, even if it’s just taking one small step at a time,” he says, “you can pull it out of the fire and turn a fearful experience into a positive one. You learn that the boundaries we set for ourselves are arbitrary, and that attitude can be applied to all areas of life. Endurance racing is a great platform to raise money for charity, and there’s an amazing sense of accomplishment.”

In 2009, Culbert and a partner ran approximately 650 kilometres of Ontario’s Bruce Trail in a relay, running for five consecutive days to raise funds for SickKids International. Culbert finds that his fundraising efforts are of great interest to his clients, so he keeps them posted with frequent emails and updates on social media sites that allow his clients to track his location in long-distance races.

Through various races, Culbert also has raised about $350,000 for other charities related to children’s health issues, including Kids Help Phone and the Offord Centre for Child Studies, which specializes in autism. Culbert started fundraising in 2003 as an endurance mountain biker, focusing on challenging 24-hour races; later, he added trail running.

Culbert’s deep connection to SickKids International began when his son, Matthew, was born 12 years ago with a life-threatening skin condition and little chance of survival. The specialized treatment available at the Hospital for Sick Children allowed Matthew to live, but Culbert realized that many children in other parts of the world were not so lucky, and he wanted to help. Matthew now leads an active life, and he and his sister, Emily, 15, along with Culbert’s wife, Denise, accompanied Culbert to France last year to cheer him on when he finished what he calls the “Super Bowl” of trail running.

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc is an arduous, 165-kilometre trail that runs through France, Italy and Switzerland. The path includes 30,000 feet of vertical ascents.

About 2,500 people run the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc race every August, and it must be completed within 46 hours. To prepare, Culbert often runs the 22 kilometres between his office in downtown Toronto and his home in the north end of the city through trails that traverse the woods in Toronto’s Don Valley. He also leads a regular weekly trail-running group and is a cross-country skier.

Culbert is planning a training camp with his coach this spring on the Haig Glacier near Canmore, Alta., where the conditions are similar to those Culbert will face in France. He also is planning a hike along the Inca Trail in Peru to acclimatize to high-altitude hiking, and is sleeping regularly in a hypoxic chamber in his home, a tent that approximates the oxygen-reduced atmospheric conditions of 10,000 feet above sea level.

“Last year [on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc],” Culbert says, “runners experienced the worst conditions in 10 years. It was like a battlefield; there was mud everywhere and you couldn’t stop running or you would freeze to death.

“I want to do the race again,” he continues. “And this time, run the real route.”IE

To view a video with Brian Culbert, click here.