Racing

219 posts

Into the Darkness for Mad Trapper Race #3

Welcome back to another exciting chapter in the winter racing saga of ActiveSteve! I’m finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as blog posts go. I’ll only be a couple posts behind once I get this one polished off for you all :-). Let me start by saying I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting races. Although this was actually just another snowshoe race, there was a slight twist on the topic this time around. Mike decided to turn off the lights on us, and make this a night race! Any of you who have raced or trained at all in the dead of night will realize that this has the potential of completely changing the way things unravel. Mountain biking is particularly challenging at night for example. With that in mind, I was pretty excited to try this race with a big headlamp strapped on my head. On account of the darkness, and the fact that my primo photographer Deanna was also racing, there aren’t many photos taken by us. However, fellow race-goer Jess Madott did provide some, that I’ve put in a folder on flickr! However, read on for a synopsis of the events that unfolded before, during, and after the race.

Slight Delay to Race 2 of Snowshoe Season

Howdy all. The good news is that this post is about something that happened in 2011! The bad news is that I’m *still* several posts behind, although I vow that I will rectify that :-). Since this race didn’t really have a whole lot of exciting twists and turns, I should be able to fill you all in on the details in relatively short order. As the title of the post suggests, there was a slight delay in this race. While it was scheduled to run on January 8th, mother nature simply didn’t co-operate, so Mike delayed it a full week to January 15th, in the hopes of scoring some more fluffy stuff. Given the conditions of the last race, I don’t think anyone minded waiting for course improvements. To see some pictures that Deanna managed to snap at this race, head over to flickr and check ‘em out. After you’ve seen the pics, read on for the whole sordid tale.

Slushy Start to 2010-11 Showshoe Season

Okay my dear friends, it’s high time I catch up on race reports with you all. Sadly, I’ve just realized that I’m fully 4 posts behind on my race summaries, and that is simply unacceptable. Being that it’s Super Bowl Sunday and all, I’ve decided that I’ll write a post to point out there are lots of other sporting events out there, many of which just don’t get their due :-). Case in point, snowshoe racing. Obviously, winters in the national capital region are long and bring lots of snow. Hibernating or ignoring this fact is one way to deal with it, or conversely, we can embrace this, which is precisely why events like The Mad Trapper exist! This post will fill you all in on the first race in the 4-race series for this year. As usual, you can also head to flickr to see the set of pictures I posted from the race. Read on for the slushy details.

Fall Classic Delivers the Thrills!

Well, hello again all my friends! I’m back with yet another fun race story to share with you all. This is one of my staple races that I like to do every year, the Frontier Adventure racing Fall Classic, a 12-14 hour adventure race. It’s just one of those races that is always a good time, and is a fitting close to my summer racing season, meaning that at the end of the race, I can enjoy a few beers :-). I had registered for this race quite some time ago, but even a week before the race, I was team-less. However, that wouldn’t prove to be any problem. Read on for the whole tale of why, and don’t forget to check out my pictures from the race. You can also check out a whole pile of other pictures here.

Living it Up Through Labour Day

Welcome back to another installment of “What the heck has Steve been up to all summer”. In this post, I’ll cover off the remainder of the summer up to the first weekend after Labour Day. I had another pretty exciting race lined up, although the tale ends up as the dreaded story of the ‘double DNF’. You’ll have to read more of the post to get the full story, but rest assured, it’s another classic ActiveSteve race screw-up :-(. I’ll also fill you in on some Toronto fun at Dream in High Park as well as Buskerfest (pics here), and wrap it up with a little about the week that Deanna spent with me here in Ottawa/Gatineau on vacation (pics here). It was a great way to close out August, and help get over the disastrous result at Logs, Rocks and Steel. Read on my friends, and don’t forget to check out the pictures on facebook as I go through the stories!