Never again… until next year. If any of you have ever done the Canadian Ski Marathon, you know that this is the unofficial slogan of the event. With 160km of challenging cross-country skiing over 2 days, this is one tough event. This is made even tougher for those of us brave (foolish?) enough to tackle the event as a Gold Coureur des Bois, which means we have to do the entire event wearing a heavy pack containing all we need for the weekend, since we would be sleeping overnight outdoors on a hay bale! For me, this was actually my […]
Race Report
11 posts
Hello all. It should come to no surprise to anyone who knows me that I will often enter and be interested in new and interesting races / challenges to keep me motivated to train and race. Well, recently, there was a new challenge unveiled at a Mad Trapper race (started as a mere suggestion, but ‘snowballed’ into the real deal). The challenge was that on January 26th, a ‘Snowman’ and ‘Snowwoman’ would be crowned. How so? Well, the fastest time combined in the Frost and Fire Winter Triathlon from the morning and the Mad Trapper Night Race in the evening. I do fairly well at the snowshoe races, and I also dabble in multi-sport, and most importantly, I have the energy reserves to race twice in one day :-). I was registered in both, so the stage was set to see if I could become the first winner of this mostly symbolic award. How did I do? Well, read on for both race reports (and videos!) and the conclusion. I didn’t take too many photos (was focused on fliming), but you can see them here and here before reading on.
“I commit, I won’t quit!”. Those words were chanted by the Leadville Race founder, and he made us all recite those very words ourselves. So began the journey to complete the WilmingtonWhiteface 100km Mountain Bike Race. This was the pre-race briefing, and one of the most inspirational ones I’d been to in all my many races. I was in the beautiful Adirondack mountain area, a scant 9 miles from Lake Placid, and 3 miles from Wilmington, NY, the host town of this race. My mere presence at this event was somewhat unexpected, as it was not on my radar at all until I heard about it through Get Out There Magazine. I was there covering the event for them, and also there due to the allure of getting a shot at a slot to race in the the Leadville 100 Race. Yup, the one and same MTB race that has seen Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong, on 2 separate occasions, get beaten by local legend Dave Wiens. Also the same venue where Levi Leipheimer smashed a previous course record held by Dave. That race is only 18 years old, but has quickly become the stuff of legend, and only accessible by winning your way in, or winning a ‘lottery slot’. So there I was, seated in the room with another 300 fellow hungry athletes, looking forward to ripping up the course the next morning. The rest of my tale will take you through the whole race. But first, a word about the area and what Deanna and I got up to on our ‘weekend getaway’. Check out the pictures we took as well as my finalized race review video. Read on friends!
Wow! Another scorching, sunny race day. This was the third race in 3 weeks of back to back racing, so I was rather surprised that my ‘luck’ with the weather held up for yet another event! Where was I this time? Well, not too far from home. About one hour north of Gatineau in a little wilderness area near Denholm. And boy was it gorgeous out there! Definitely a spot I’d keep my eyes open for a little plot of land for a cabin/cottage. I was up there for the 5-8 hour Raid Pulse adventure race, a perennial favourite of mine that I’d once again be covering for Get Out There. As it stood, I was supposed to race this one solo, but two days before the event, I got a call from a friend of mine who was looking for a navigator / team-mate. I saw no reason to decline, so in a last minute twist, I was thrown onto a team. Would be fun to be put into that category and see how we did. Of course, I managed to snap some pics as well as get my video review done while on the race, but read on for a few more insights as to how the race went for us.
The sun was beating down hard on my neck. My leg muscles were just on the edge of starting to cramp after over 7 hours of hard effort. A team up ahead had paused to debate the merits of taking one route over another at an intersection. With my head down and with determination, I blew past them and pedaled hard to the finish. Keeping a very short lead on them, I crossed the line as 4th solo male, and 6th team overall at the spring Frontier Adventure Challenge in Huntsville. In retrospect, had they made the turn, they would have had 1km shorter to travel, and would have beat me, but seeing me blow by made them change their minds and try to chase me down. I got lucky this time! Of course, dear friends, I’ve just revealed the punchline, the finish of the race. This was the first summer race of the season, and it was a great one. Read on for the full story, video, pictures, and all the good stuff!