In the Dark: Canada’s Underground Race
Imagine yourself surrounded by damp, cold walls lined with icicles and wrapped in an all-encompassing darkness.
For the team at Sinister Sports, it’s the perfect venue for a race.
This year marks the first anniversary since the concept of ‘The Dark: 24 Hours Underground’ was dreamed up by Sinister Sports—a trail running race event group based out of Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. With five trail races held annually, The Dark is the group’s first event that trades the mountainous trails of The Pass for a chilly underground course in the Bellevue Underground Mine.
Inside the Mine
The Bellevue Coal Mine operated from 1903 to 1961, when it was forced to shut down due to a decreased demand for coal. Originally extending for 240 kilometres, today just 300 metres of the mine remains accessible to the public during events like The Dark or mine tours. The rest of the mine remains unmaintained and unexplored due to a lack of resources and the dangers that come with old mine workings. The structures within unmaintained areas can easily cave-in, water can cause erosion and dangerous gasses often linger according to the Bellevue Underground Mine.
The staff at the Bellevue Mine work diligently to keep the accessible part of the mine safe for runners and tours guests by regularly monitoring air flow and quality.
A Rare Race
Held at the end of the trail running season in November, racers can enter either a six-hour, 12-hour or 24-hour category. As a time-based race, runners attempt to complete as many laps of the 500 metre loop course as they can before their allotted time runs out. The mine shaft is a flat course, with only a one per cent grade, and stretches for 250 metres, meaning runners must double-back to compete one full 500 metre lap.
“If I’m gonna run around a 500-metre track, I might as well do it in a mine,” said Alex Ostaszewski, a Calgary based ultra-runner. Ostaszewski finished sixth overall and third in the female 24-hour category in 2023. As a seasoned ultra-runner, competing in races over 100 kilometres in distance, Ostaszewski, among many other racers, found that The Dark presented unique challenges.
While the mine is strung with several lights so that runners don’t have to bring their own headlamps, blinding each other as they pass, the conditions still leave them, well—in the dark. “We’re used to doing 24 or 48 hours with no sleep and just running, but being in the dark the entire time kind of messed up our systems,” said Ostaszewski.
Many other runners echoed this sentiment, feeling exhausted only half-way into the total 24 hours. There is no sun to come out and indicate the time of day or bring life to sleepy runners. Lap after lap, only the dim light and the rocky walls of the mine hold the athletes close until they either quit or push on until the end.
The temperature of the mine, on the other hand, stays consistent for the runners. At an ideal 2 C all year-round, it’s neither too hot nor too cold. Just outside the mine entrance are tents stocked with aid supplies for the racers. Runners can stop and get warm, fuel up or take a nap, but the clock never stops ticking.
The Dark brings together athletes of different speeds and athletic types, yet they all remain united in their draw to new races with a certain factor of oddity. “It’s an interesting crowd … they like to do big and gnarly things, but they want to do something stranger than the last thing they did before,” said Kirsti Dolson, ultrarunner and director of customer experience at Sinister Sports.
As the only underground race in Canada, The Dark truly offers trail runners an obscure racing experience. The idea to develop a race within one of the local mines began entirely as a joke between the team at Sinister Sports until Race Director, Brian Gallant (a.k.a. Mr. Sinister) called up the Bellevue Mine, proposed the idea and was given the go ahead.
“It is truly our sense of humor though . . . that is the identity of Sinister Sports, to just come up with the wackiest idea and throw it against a wall and see if it sticks, and it does,” said Dolson.
A Rich History
The Dark draws attention to the rich mining history that characterizes so much of the area. The Bellevue Mine is one of many scattered throughout Crowsnest Pass. The stories of workers who lost their lives working in the mines so many years ago are brought to the light and honoured by the Bellevue community and the many visitors who venture underground on tours each year.
Sinister Sports is committed to giving back to this rich history and donates a portion of the race proceeds to the Bellevue Mine. What began as a joke has quickly gained traction in the trail running community, drawing 100 racers for only its second year in November 2024.
Believe it or not, these runners willingly descend underground to run laps for hours on end—they chose the dark and down there, it’s you versus the mine.
Are you interested in taking on The Dark? Sign up here.
