This was the big one for me, I have been looking forward to this race since the beginning of the season. Why? Because it is just that much longer than the rest providing more options for an epic race course. It didn’t disappoint to say the least. The race was advertised at approximately 80km compared to the typical 40-50km for the regular sprint races (and a time limit of 14 hours rather than 8). This meant more of trail trekking and a bit less of an all out hammerfest. It’s actually one of the longer adventure races you can do solo in Canada (Race the Rockies at 18 hours I think is the longest).

Once we got our maps we saw the course worked out to be right around the 100km mark – wow! From what we could tell it looked like an amazing course. It broke down like this:

15km Paddle
15km Trekking
65km MTB
5Km Trekking
5km MTB

Another glaring difference between this race and the others I had done this year was that it started at 4am! This was typical of many races back in the day but most sprint style races start at 8 or 9am giving racers the opportunity for a good nights sleep. we received the maps at 8pm and after a short race briefing it was time to plot our course and organize our gear for each leg of the race. I was rooming with fellow Race Day Rush teammate Adrian Makurat so we worked on the maps together collaborating on route choices and double checking things. It’s was nice to be able to do this as without other teammates working on maps alone is never really that easy. Once everything was ready to go it was time to try and get a few hours of sleep before our 2:30am alarm.

Arrrgggggg That was not enough sleep!! I hit the snooze button a few times and rolled out of bed at 2:45am. The first words out of Adrian’s mouth…”who’s idea was this!” So it’s September in “northern” Ontario, that means it was about 4 degrees C and we had to get ready to start paddling. It was going to be a chilly one. I knew I couldn’t have too many layers on or I would over heat. I heard many racers had to stop and remove jackets (that were under race jerseys and PFDs) and that wasn’t something I wanted to do. Off came my fleece a few minutes before the start and I jumped in my boat to try to loosen up a bit before the hectic start.

I was confident I would be one of the frontrunners in the paddle simply because of my boat. Most racers had poly boats, and a few with fiberglass while I was in my 26lb Simon River Sports Swallow. I knew I had the fastest boat, but could I keep with with the teams of 3 paddling canoes? Over 30 boats gathered on the water for the start, headlamps on…ready to go! The start boat was positioned just in front of us….stupid! As the horn sounds to go the boat takes off leaving a nice wake behind it! While we try to push off the start we are all hit with its cross-wake and while my boat is fast it isn’t really stable, especially when you can’t see the waves coming! I managed to stay upright and was in the front of the pack.

The next challenge was navigating in the dark through a maze of islands and across a fairly large open water crossing. Paddling in the dark is an interesting experience. While great under a full moon we were not treated to such a luxury. However, most of the time it is still easier to navigate without any light simply by following the black silhouettes of the the shoreline. Unfortunately not many teams figured this out and beams of light were scattered across the water for most of the paddle. Soon enough I was out of their range and in the lead…great right? Well for the most part yes, but I was the one navigating for pretty much everyone behind me. This meant several stops to check the map and set my bearings while others continued to paddle behind me. A few times I tried to rip the glow stick off my PFD so I could disappear into the darkness and make the others do some work on their own. It’s not that I blame them, I would have done the same thing.

I was out of the water first in 1hr38min and off on the trekking section. I thought this would be my chance to create a gap before the biking leg so I was off and running. A quick run to the CP2 then into the bush, again. I opted for a more northerly route than most to hit some roads giving me more chance to run. Unfortunately for me the roads on the map were a bit older and I got caught up heading in the wrong direction for a bit then ended up picking the wrong trail. It cost me at least 30min and my chance to create any space between me and my competitors was gone. I hit the next CP in about 10th and was not a happy camper. I put me head down and kept moving fast. With half of the trekking still in front of my I wanted to pick up some of the time I had lost.

Most of the bush we were traveling through was old growth forest with limited underbrush so I could move pretty fast and even jog some sections. I neglected my bearing again a bit here and rather than skirting a lake before the next CP I ran bang into the middle of it. Here i bumped into another team and they had planned to swim and hit the lake in the middle on purpose. I didn’t have much of a choice so in I went. Swimming fully clothed with a pack and shoes on isnt easy but can save time. I blew up my hydration bladder to help with some bouyancy, tucked my map bag behind my head hoping to keep it high and dry. I think the swim was about 250m or so and byt then end of it I didn’t feel like i was moving at all! I made it though, hit the next CP and was off to CP5 and the transition to the bike.

As I approached CP5 I noticed one team leaving then bumped into Adrian and another solo just leaving. It was nice to see that I wasn’t too far behind. I got into the transition in 5th, grabbed a boost drink, threw on my cycling gear and started to chase. I wasn’t looking forward to this section since mountain biking hadn’t been my strong suit all year, especially following a run or trekking section. My legs felt pretty good though so I was pushing hard. The ride was along a hydro line for the first 20km which tend to be wet and nasty. With the dry weather we have been having it was actually pretty dry and we could keep a pretty good pace. I passed a few teams early and was hoping to bump into the solos soon, and I did.

A group of 6 of us (3 solos including myself and the lead team at the time) ended up finding a dead end at a swamp. Rather then turn around and try to find the turn we missed we decided to push forward and actually carried our bikes across the swamp and bumped into the trail on the other side. Of course as we were doing this I saw teams at the far end riding on the trail we should have been on. At this point Adrian and I were riding together with the others not far behind. We took turn leap frogging for the next 10km until CP6 when after a quick map check Aridan passed me. We were the first people to arrive, what a good feeling after losing that time on the trek.

We pushed forward to CP7 and I created a bit of a gap as Adrian was starting to cramp and slow a bit. I was on my own on the last 20km to CP8 and the transition for the “advanced section”. Of course when you are in the lead you are usually the one that finds the dead ends or wrong trails allowing others to catch you and benefit from your mistake. It was Adrian and I again after getting back on track pushing on the last section on trail. I arrived slightly (2 minutes I think) ahead of him but was notified he had a 5 minute time credit after waiting for CP staff to arrive on the trek.

The advanced section of the course consisted of 3 orienteering points located within a partially developed trail system owned by the host resort. I am not a big fan….ok actually I hate how orienteering has worked its way into adventure racing. For the record I feel orienteering and navigation are two totally different disciplines for which I feel a separate post (read: rant!) on the the topic coming. We were given a supplemental trail map for the section as well as the race topos with the plotted points. Anyways, I was off with my maps and expecting a rather simple section that I could hammer off without too much trouble. Was I ever wrong!

I bumped into Team Running Free at the first point that was pretty easy to find. So far so good. Then we headed off on some trails to the second point. Team RF is made up of some of the fastest and more experienced racers around. I offered a few choice words (in good fun of course) as they started to run and soon they were gone. While trying to follow the trail on the map and look at my topo I soon lost the trail and was really left without any idea of where I was. I tried to find the trial and the only thing that did was turn me around more! It probably took me move than 30 minutes to find a trail I could place on the map…I was not impressed. This was totally my fault for not paying closer attention and getting caught up trying to keep up with Team RF. my choice now was try to find the second point or go for the 3rd point that I knew would be easier.

I opted for the third point. It turns out I plotted this on what everyone was calling the “cartoon map” incorrectly. Thankfully I bumped into a team and they helped me out a bit to get the 3rd point. I was hoping to head back to find the second point, but again got turned around in the maze of trails….some were on the map, others were not or were only partially developed. This cost me more time after which I decided to call it a day and head to the finish. I was pretty pissed at this point as I knew I had blown my overall lead and probably the solo lead too!

I managed to get out of the section before Adrian but I was pretty sure he would have got all 3 points meaning he would finish ahead of me regardless. This is another reason the “O” sections don’t fit in adventure racing. After 100km and over 11 hours of racing those who cross the line first should be the winners…not so when you need to wait to see who did the advance section and who got so many points. I really think it takes away from the drama and joy of the finish. In the end Adrian did get all three points and I ended up second in the solo category in a time of 12hrs 43min.

Here is the breakdown of my times for the race:

Paddling – 1:35
Trekking – 3:49
Biking – 4:26
Trekking – 2:16
Biking – 0:20
Total – 12hr 31min

All in all I am 99% happy with my race. I had a few errors here and there (before the advanced section) but it’s pretty tough to run a flawless race. My legs felt good and strong, even on the bike – I ended up with the second fastest bike time besides Team RF. My downfall as described above was the damn advanced section. I really didn’t give this section the time or respect it deserved. This is something I will have to work on since these O sections seem pretty normal in races today!

Last, but definitely not least…check out the trailer captured by solo champion Adrian Makurat for Race Day Rush.

So, what now??? I’m not really sure what i have planned for the rest of the season, but not much. A week or two of rest is first on the agenda. With racing done for the season I will be hitting the gym a lot more now working on weights with more of a focus on leg strength. I hope I still have a month or more of decent weather so once I am recharged I can still get out and get some endurance work in before I get stuck inside for the most part.

Photos by William Young