Nick Procaylo, The Province / Vancouver's Chris Mager looks good coming downhill at Cypress Bowl early in the race (top), ...

Nick Procaylo, The Province / (ALEXANDRA) WATSON

Nick Procaylo, The Province / It's a long way from Grenoble, France, (home of late wrestler Andre the Giant) to Cleveland Dam, but 38-year-old Bruno Bagneres made the trip and finished second.

Nick Procaylo, The Province / Winner Derek Reed's shoes, which used to be white.

Nick Procaylo, The Province / . . . but the spring in his step seems to have wound down as he crosses a bridge in the Seymour Demonstration Forest at least 25 kilometres later (above). The treacherous rocks underfoot can claim ankles.

Nick Procaylo, The Province / This is the face of a winner, buried in the hands of a winner, after a 50-km dash over three mountains. Derek Reed of Sudbury, Ont., was the favourite and didn't disappoint.

Nick Procaylo, The Province / Vancouver's Tom Vernon heads uphill on the Grouse Grind.

The things some people will do for a doughnut.

Alexandra Watson and about 180 brave souls were downright knackered Saturday night after rising at 4:30 a.m. and paying $80 to run 50 kilometres along the muddy and snow-caked Baden-Powell Trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove along Vancouver's North Shore.

Why? All for a big, sugar-coated doughnut -- the participation prize at the 12th annual Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run, voted one of the toughest races in North America by Running Wild magazine.

"That's what I was running for -- a big roly-poly doughnut (given to finishers)," said a bruised, mud-coated Watson, a 37-year-old mother of three who was the third woman to finish at Panorama Park.

Deprived of sleep Friday night due to nervous energy, Watson still managed to complete the undulating ultra-marathon course in six hours, 28 minutes -- an astonishing hour faster than expected.

"We were up to our knees in mud and snow at Cypress," said Watson, whose previous longest race was a 10 km. "I was pleasantly surprised that I was in much better shape than I thought I was."

Watson even managed to pass a few competitors on the rooty, rocky trail, but it cost her.

"I had lots of falls -- always when I was passing someone," Watson said.

"And if you fall when you are passing someone you owe them a beer, so I owe a lot of beer." (All accounts were to be settled at Saturday night's awards banquet.)

Energy bars, gels, lots of water and some refreshment station spuds were crucial for Watson's result.

"I ate so much. I couldn't believe the food they had out there," she said. "The one thing that really did it for me was they had some (boiled) potatoes that you rolled in salt. It was easy to digest and you got through the next hump and got the salt you needed."

Watson got another boost from

her daughters Amanda, 5,

Mia, 3, and one-year-old Lily, as well as husband James, who lined the course to offer mom support.

"They were great," Watson said. "But every time I came through my little baby wanted me to take her so that was hard."