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.
Pictures from Race
The weather for this race could hardly have been any more perfect than they were. We’d gotten a nice dump of snow during the week, so we had fresh snow that was only lightly packed by a few people that had prepped and checked the course. The great conditions also lead to an excellent turnout at the Ark for the race. It would appear that the word has finally spread more to the running community that these snowshoe races are excellent winter training. As such, there were a lot of speed demons there to challenge the course. Gone are the days of me hoping for a top 3 finish I think.
No matter, to me, the racing is increasingly just more about the pure enjoyment of it, and the lifestyle that it brings along with it. I couldn’t be happier than being out on a sunny winter’s day running through the woods on some snowshoes. I also wasn’t the only one from my house racing. Deanna, sporting her fancy new purple snowshoes, decided to come on out and race the 5k course. Awesome! She had also convinced a co-worker to come out and give it a whirl. I think they’ll also be giving the night race a try. Why don’t you all join us for this fun? What could be better on a Saturday night?
This was the so-called hilly course, named in honour of the many lung-burning climbs that competitors have to tackle on their way to the finish line. For the 5k course, you do 1 lap of this course, while the 10k competitors have the joy of crossing the line only to have to head back out for another loop. As usual, I lined myself up at the front of the pack with the speedy folks. I was also doing video for my review as we went along, which was a a bit tricky, but nothing I’m not used to. I stayed with the front group for a while, but I fell off a couple short kilometers into the challenge. There was a solid group of 6 guys that went off the front to not be seen again.
For my part, I was in a second group of 3 guys. We seemed to be pretty evenly matched, and I led our trio for the entire first lap, pacing us up the hills and bombing down the other sides. Unfortunately, at the end of lap 1 a little gap opened up after I paused for a drink of water. I fought to stay with the two others, and that was how I spent the rest of my race. Fighting hard, but just our of reach. I thought I’d get ahead of the guy right ahead of me, as on the steep hills, he seemed to be slowing down. However, he was aware of my presence, and seemed to dig deep just to make sure he didn’t lose his spot. Can’t say I blame him. It was a good battle, but in the end, I finished the race in 8th place. Not bad, but not awesome.
Race Stats
The post-race was spectacular as always, with a great spread of food, and lots of good friends to catch up with. Due to the numbers, there were some people there that I hadn’t seen in a while, so it was good to chat with everyone. Deanna was also very happy with her race, apart from some very painful blisters she developed on her heels. We’ll have to work on that to make sure the next race isn’t as painful for her! For the awards this time, Mike took an idea from our Christmas party where we did a gift exchange. Prizes were handed out, wrapped. Once there were no more prizes, winners had the option to steal from someone else. Also, people could either unwrap them or wait to see what was in them. It was pretty fun, although maybe a little long! No one seemed to mind though.
Once all the prizes were handed out and the food was gone, racers all went their separate ways to enjoy the rest of the day, which was stunning. It’s nice to be able to race, relax, and still be back home by around 2pm in the afternoon. We all left with smiles on our faces and looking forward to the next snowshoe race. I’ll be at that one as well, but won’t be doing a race video. Kind of tough to film in the dark after all :-), However, before that race is another snowshoe race I’ll be doing near Kingston, which will be a qualifier for the Snowshoe World championships! Wish me luck!! I will be doing a video from that one, so stay tuned. Till then, keep the waxed side down in the snow folks.
Video Race Review
