Racing

Another week, and another race report for my loyal readers! This past weekend, I headed off towards Kingston (home of the Tragically Hip, in case you didn't get the title reference), for what I think was my shortest race ever, but a great time nonetheless. I was there to do a video race review for Get Out There Magazine of the Dion Snowshoes Frontenac Park Snowshoe Race. A mouthful, isn't it? I've done plenty of snowshoe races in our area as part of the Mad Trapper Snowshoe series each year, but this was the first time I ventured out of town to try my luck elsewhere. As it turns out, this race was also a qualifier for the Snowshoe Running World Championships for this year! That was part of my motivation to tackle this race. I secretly hoped I'd be in the top 3. Have a look at the pictures I posted on flickr, then click on past the link to read the rest of my thoughts on this well-run family-organized race.

Howdy sports fans! Welcome to 2012 and my first race report of the new year. The race in question was the second of 4 snowshoe races in the Mad Trapper series at the Ark in Denholm Quebec. I've made a decision this year that I'm going to try and shorten my race reports somewhat, since I suspect not everyone is a fan of epically long reports to go through :) Instead, I'll try to add some additional race information that's easier to digest by everyone, including quick course and stat overviews, and video race reviews where I've done them. This was one such race, so I'd invite you all to check out the embedded video review at the end of this post. However, one thing that won't change is my continued visual logs of events in the form of pictures I'll post on Flickr. So, as usual, I invite you to browse the pictures I posted, then catch up with the rest of the report.

Howdy folks! Sorry for the delay in getting this blog post out. Although the race I’m about to write about occurred 2 weeks ago, I’m only now able to get anything written down. Sadly, the motherboard on my main PC died suddenly, and I’ve not been able to get the system set back up yet, so getting the pictures done and writing the post took a backseat. Of course, it’s a little sad to write about this race anyway, as unfortunately, due to a finicky mother nature, we were unable to get the snow we desired to make the race a success. The race in question? The first Mad Trapper snowshoe race of the season. How does one have a snowshoe race with no snow? Well, it basically turns into a trail race, doesn’t it? And that’s exactly how it went down. Have a look at the few pictures that were snapped at the race, then read on to find out how my hard-fought 5th place finish played out.

Greetings all! You'll never guess what this blog post is about. What's that? My Rudy Award? Damn, you folks are good at this guessing game. Of course you are right that much of this post will be about my quest for a Rudy Award. But it will also diverge a little bit to fill you in on another race that I recently took part in. You are unlikely to ever see this one crop up at the Olympics anytime soon, but it is still a feat in human endurance and spirit. Yes, I speak of that most impressive athletic endeavour, the Beer Mile! If you're not sure what that it, please follow the link and read a bit for yourself. It is devilishly simple in concept, but can be hard to execute. And I now speak from experience. Before I delve into that particular report, I'll get into the meat of my Rudy Award, and just touch casually on each of the events that went into making this award a reality for me in 2011. I didn't get there completely alone, so there are people to thank for their support as you can imagine. Before I go on, please have a look at the pictures and video I took of the beer mile as well as the awards ceremony. You'll get a good laugh, and can then read on for the real story.

Welcome back friends! What an exciting tale I have to share with you this time. In this blog post, I'll be taking you step by step through my experience at this years Frontier Adventure Challenge Fall Classic, a 12-hour adventure race which took place in the Muskokas. To be more specific, it took place near Rosseau, at the Muskoka Woods camp. This race was the last race I had on the schedule for what I'll call my 'summer season'. After this one, the plan is to basically take the next month to month and a half pretty easy. Recover and do some light training before gearing up for the winter race season. Because of that, I was heading into this race with pretty high hopes, even though I've been going pretty hard over the last month. My chances were improved by the fact that I was teaming up again with my new friends on Adrenaline Rush; Adam Mallory and Mark Honsberger. Read on for the full story. As per usual, don't forget to check out some pictures that I snapped, as well as the race video I shot for Get Out There magazine.

Nope, in this case my friends, rogaine is actually a backronym which stands for Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance. Quite a mouthful, right? It is also named for the founders of this kind of event, ROd Phillips, GAIl Davis (née Phillips) and NEil Phillips (ROGAINE). Now you might be wondering what a Rogaine actually is, seeing as this is the first time I've ever mentioned it. In fact, it was also the first time I've ever taken part in one. Essentially, it is a sport purely consisting of orienteering (using a map and compass to find checkpoints). It is all done on foot, in teams, in this case a team of 2. You have a given amount of time in which to find as many controls as you can before the cutoff. Each control is worth a set number of points. The team with the highest score wins. Getting all CPs is usually very difficult, and if you cross the line after the cutoff, you lose serious points for every minute. In this sense, the sport is very much in line with what I love about AR, only it is all on foot, and is a matter of pure speed, and route tactics. Read on to learn all about my first experience, and how I did. Along with the customary pictures that I took, I invite you to also watch the video race review that I put together for Get Out There Magazine. Afterwards, read on for my story.

Wow! What a difference a single week can make. One week ago, I had just finished what was arguably my hardest race ever, when I completed a full iron-distance triathlon in under 13 hours in really tough conditions. Well, flash forward to this past weekend, and I once again found myself toeing the line at another race event. What was I up to this time you ask? Well, on the schedule was Logs, Rocks, and Steel, an off-road multisport race consisting of 12km of paddling, 52km of mountain biking, and 17km of trail running. I was covering the event for Get Out There Magazine, and you can check out the video that I made for that. I competed in the race last year as well, but unfortunately, the outcome of that race was less than stellar. I'm happy to say that this year, conditions were much better, and the fact that I put no pressure on myself landed me a good result. Check out all the pics that I took while there, then read the rest of my post.

Greetings friends! Let me get right into this race report. To summarize the events of the Iron-distance race that I just completed, it was the greatest challenge I have taken on when compared to all my races before. Not for the physicality of the race, but for the will needed to complete the event. Indeed, this race had almost nothing to do with the swimming, biking, and running, and everything to do with sheer determination, and the assistance of good friends willing to help me get to the finish line with their own spirits. Yup, it was that kind of a day folks. I've said before that you only get out of a race what you put into it, so I had not been expecting the best race ever, given my lack of preparation, but I got way more than I bargained for with this doozy. Please join me on my journey by reading through the remainder of this blog post. I will indeed try not to pontificate too much, but there is much to say. As usual, don't forget to check out the pictures from the race, then read on for the rest!