On Saturday, Oct. 2, Darius Sam packed up his car and left the Nicola Valley for what would hopefully be a two-night, 18-hour solo drive to Moab, Utah.

How the drive went for the recently turned 21-year old, the Herald does not know, as Sam has been using the days since to prepare for an attempt at his largest feat of athletic prowess yet.

Starting Oct. 8, Sam will join some of the most elite ultrarunners on the planet in a grueling 240.3-mile single loop run throughout the desert terrain of Moab, Utah, following the Colorado River in an annual race known as the Moab 240. He will be competing against the back-to-back champion, who according to Sam, will be looking for a course record of less than 50 hours.

Regardless, Sam remains confident his training has him ready to compete with the best of the best.

To put the race into perspective – if Sam is simply able to complete the loop, he would be the youngest to ever do so.

Until the last few years, perhaps even leading up to the moment he registered for the race on Jan. 1, 2021, Sam never thought this would be an attainable goal.

“Never in my life did I think I could accomplish something like this,” Sam told the Herald shortly before he left.

The entire journey, with the event running from Oct. 8-12, will be a solo experience for each participant. Sam has been training with 12-lbs in a pack during his runs, mimicking the items that he will have to carry with him during the race, like butane, water, sodium tabs, high-caloric fuel, space blanket, and thermal layers.

In terms of fitness levels, Sam said that he is right where he wanted to be when he set this goal one year ago. A scare came in the form of a foot injury just shortly before leaving for Utah, however, when he was descending from Coquihalla Summit while training and stepped on a rock.

“That’s all my foot connected with, a sharp rock sticking out of the ground, and I actually had a deep bone bruise,” said Sam.

Such a freak accident caused Sam to panic a little, only three weeks out. Luckily he had his coach by his side to calm him down and get him to believe in his recovery, something which after taking a week off of running and instead cycling, he was able to do to the fullest.

“If I didn’t have (my coach), I probably would have tried to power through it and make it worse. So I think having a coach has changed my game completely. I have him to thank, I’m at peak fitness right now.”

The Herald last spoke to Sam two days before he left for Utah. With a journey a year in the making, there seemed to be both a sense of excitement and relief.

“All the work has been done now. It’s been a calendar year in the making. Now it’s time to go have fun, be present in it, and not get too caught up in outside voices and outside gratification. Just what’s going on in your own heart and your own mind.”

Since the first time Sam entered the pages of the paper about eighteen months ago, his mentality has shifted. Though he is still the same charitable young man (raising half a grand for the Nicola Valley Shelter and Support Society in his lead up for this race), he says he feels that he is able to better shut out those outer voices and work on simply listening to his own.

“A message to the kids, if you’re constantly doing something for somebody else’s approval or appraisal, the fire doesn’t burn as hot, or as long. But if it’s something that’s deep rooted inside of you, if it’s a deep passion, if you have a creative passion within your hobby, or sport, it’s everlasting and is a base for longevity. And I’m just ready to display that on the world stage.”