MOMAR Race Recap 2009!

Hey there folks!
I jus got out of the shower and have a few minutes to spare before I head up to the mountain to celebrate with 360 other MOMAR racers!!

ANOTHER EPIC RACE.
Now that the bar has been set this spring in Squamish (we trekked the Chief!) I was expecting some serious elevation in Cumby and that is exactly what we got.



It was amazing weather - seriously it couldn't have been a nicer day to race a fall adventure race!

I did lots of things right...and a few things wrong (3 to be exact:) but overall I think I raced pretty smart.

Here is the summary:

9am Kayak Start from the Cumberland Campground. First mistake...got my boat from Comox Valley Kayaks and noticed that it wasn't the boat I was planning to race in....my slick Extreme suddenly turned into a slow Soltice...with all the crazyness of the race start I just went with it...I think it was a pretty slow boat...but hey it could have just been me!

4th Female off the water and I was spent. I gaver 100% for the whole paddle which took around 1:15 or 1:20? not sure exactly.

RUN- 10K? we started running right off the water and my legs were like lead. I did not expect this after paddling and it was a new experience out of the boat for me. I thought that maybe it was because my shoes were full of water:) HA! I was actually toast from the paddle.

We ran up the road towards Cumberland for 1km and then headed into the trails to start climbing Stub and Grub. Super steep and super long trek that was to be expected. I passed 1 solo female who had been miles ahead of me in the paddle- she was racing in a solo outrigger canoe!

At the top of the trek I made my second mistake...where the trail met an old logging road there was supposed to be a CP according to the map. There wasn't, and I knew I was not in the right place of course. There were people hovering and running and asking if you have seen the CP. It was either left (down) or right (up) and I didn't want to miss it so I ran up. Wrong way! I figured it out after about 5-10 minutes and managed to pass another solo female in the process. BUT the #1 gal, sweet local Genevieve, had gone the correct way and had 10+ minutes on me.

The rest of the trek was: down the road to Bakers Dozen...DCDH...Bonzai...Mamas...then to No. 6 Mine Park to get on our bikes. FUN cause I love running downhill...fast! Unfortunately this impact flared up my compartment syndrome and my feet went numb! I had a brief moment of foot drop (that's like, paralysis when the pressure builds so much that your nerves get compressed- no bueno) but it resolved itself with some walking thankfully:))

BIKE Leg #1 20K. Onto the bikes and I was cramping like crazy!!! The lovely spastic contractions started about 2 hours into the race and I had been stuffing pretzels flushed with e-load like crazy. I was SO full by the time I got on my bike but the darn cramps would not go away. The started in my lats (new experience:) then my triceps, but those calmed down and then the calves started going...finishing with the feet! As the salt and water made its way through my body the cramps were responding in order of proximity to my heart...crazy!

And so it went: UP the road all the way to Allan Lake...behind the Lake and right on Trent River Main...back in on that XC connector trail...to Steam Donkey...cramps starting to move into my inner thighs...Off Broadway (so FUN!)...back to the bridge and then GETTHIS...back up the road to Bucket of Blood!

Bryan through in the nastyest of nasty hike-a-bike up to Bucket for the first time in a few years. He claimed that people had requested it...that is complete BS Bryan! Anyone who has hiked their bike up that dam trail for 20 minutes knows that it is nasty nasty nasty! BUT as with all things in life it passed and soon I was on my way back down the Bucket trail...linked into Bear Buns...then down the road to Buggered Pig...home on Mama Bears again...

TREK #2 URBAN NAV. Off the bike (but kept the clippity clack bike shoes on) for a short Urban Nav that included 3 CPs in the Village of Cumberland and took about 12 minutes.

I should mention that at this point I was still exactly 12 minutes between Genevieve...in fact for the past 10 CPs when I inquired it was exactly the same. We were racing at exactly the same speed for hours!

BIKE #2 5K. This was the only self nav on the bike (unfortunately) and we grabbed only 1 CP on the dump trail side of Cumby. When I got back to the lake I had gained 4 minutes on Genevieve...with only 8 minutes between us going into the short Nav section above the lake I still had hope:) I never lost hope that I might catch her actually...because as anyone who has done an AR knows first hand, anything can (and usually does) happen.

ORIENTEERING final leg. Not sure how long this took at all cause I was no longer looking at my watch at this point. I drank my last sip of water and then took off into the campground for my first CP...there were about 10 CPs and they were are very easy to locate in that small area...that is EXCEPT the last one for me! I had actually come across Gen with only 2 CPs to go and thought I had a chance of passing her with a quick nav to the final 2...it was not meant to be!

I spent 5 or 10 minutes just a few meteres away from the CP and when I found it I was too late for first place...Gen had crossed the line 8 or 10 minutes ahead of me:))) She did AWESOME in her VERY FIRST Adventure Race!!

I crossed the line to a very amazing and OHSO supportive crowd around 5:35 or so. I thought I would be out there much longer than that based on our maps at the race start. I had no idea how many hours I was into it because I was completely obsessed with closing that 12 minute gap! My race was 12 minutes!

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to make this race possible... the VOLUNTEERS ROCK!
Complete results and pics to come when I get them!
Adios!
SS