Nancy Hillman finished this year’s Peaks to Prairie race feeling stronger and braver than ever. She had recovered from bicycle injury a few years before, and lived through a terrifying several hours during last year’s race. It took guts to get back in the kayak and go for it again this year….

It was a cold, windy day at the Peaks to Prairie race in April 2014. Dan and Nancy Hillman headed to Red Lodge to wish their running partner well. Nancy drove Dan the starting line of the biking portion, and when their partner Jeff came into view, the men traded off the leg monitor. Dan then began his 48 mile ride to Columbus. After seeing him off, Nancy headed to Joliet to get her gear.

 

Once at the starting line for the kayak portion of the race, she ran over to the volunteer crew who told her that her husband was five miles away. The crew brought her kayak down.

Nancy finally spotted Dan as he rode across the bridge and ran to meet him with give him a big hug. Dan took off his leg monitor and gave it to Nancy.

 

She dashed to the river and into her kayak. She was off into the winter runoff of the Yellowstone River.

Around the bend, she saw some high water, but knew some of the shortcuts from paddling the course the year before.

 

She avoided the main channel and chose instead what seemed to be a milder, gentler one.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, her kayak spun through a whirlpool. The eddy threw her into a bank, and she found herself out of control and heading for another channel. As she came through, she saw a large tree jutting in front of her.

 

 

With less than 20 seconds to plan, she knew that there was a chance she might not survive the crash.

 

Her head and the right side of her body hit the tree and as she was knocked unconscious, the kayak flipped. She was still inside. Luckily, the churning water spit her out of the kayak and her life jacket brought her to the surface.

 

When Nancy came back to consciousness she heard a frightening gurgling sound and realized she was still under water. She couldn’t quite get to the top because her kayak’s skirt was still wrapped around her right leg. She could see light and the cold water hit her. She got to the front of the kayak, grabbed a branch of the tree and was able to steady herself enough to unwrap the rope from her leg.

 

The kayak was embedded into a branch of the tree, and she heaved herself on top of the kayak and then on top of a small branch. She held on to the tree. She could see the road and saw her husband drive by but she was too far down the bank for anyone to see. She felt invisible.

 

As hypothermia set in her legs failed to work and she couldn’t walk further. She lay down and went to sleep. After a while she heard a voice say, are you okay? Another kayaker had noticed her and made his way to shore to help. He left immediately to seek the help of a farmer working in his field in the distance.

 

Tim, a sheriff from Stillwater was the first responder. Once Beau, the kayaker, found that Nancy was receiving care, he jumped back into the water and finished the race. Nancy, however was nowhere near able to rejoin the race. Her vision was fuzzy, and she was entering into severe hypothermia.

 

When Nancy woke up in the ER in Columbus she was in a lot of pain. The hospital staff tried desperately to reach her husband, who had left his cell phone in their vehicle as he waited for her at the finish line.  When he realized something must be terribly wrong he went back to his truck and found multiple messages from Beau, the farmer and the hospital staff. He hustled to Columbus as quickly as he could.

 

Nancy recovered from the physical effects of the crash, but the psychological effects were longer lasting. Within the past year Nancy said she had a lot of panic attacks. She cried a lot, but ultimately she knew she wanted to get back to the race the next year. When the sound of water at Lake Elmo made her panic, she forced herself to go to the pool and put her head under water. Step by step, she reintroduced herself to water until she was able to swim a full lap. It was a long process until she could wear goggles and a cap.

 

2015

The 2015 race started off much the same as the 2014 race. Nancy dropped Dan, who this year would do both the run and ride, off in the snow at the starting line. By the time he reached Columbus his cleats had frozen. Again she greeted him at the bridge and headed to river. It felt good. As Nancy paddled past the scene of last year’s accident, she felt it was surreal, and she choked back her tears. “It almost took my life,” she thought, but she told herself not to get emotional because she still had a long way to go. Ultimately, it was Nancy’s love of the water that gave her the strength she needed to finish.

 

As the finish line came into view Nancy saw her husband and knew she was stronger and braver than she had ever been… Nancy brings the same enthusiasm to Billings TrailNet so we are lucky to have her!