Ico Schutte and his partner Jessi Stensland were recently in Canada for the one-day Atmosphere Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) in Canada. They finished second in the mixed category. Ico tells us about their adventures in his race report.
With a title like that I was sure that something nasty was in store for us. I had a suspicion that we would need to drag mind, body and soul over a mountain at some point during our race on Saturday, 20 September 2014.
And so we did…
But first let me take you back to the good times as we arrive Friday night in the quaint village of Cumberland on Vancouver Island in BC, Canada.
Race registration is happening at the Riding Fool Hostel. Local beer and pretzels provide the perfect carbo-loading for the next day’s race. Athletes are in high spirits and mostly seeming quite excited for the challenges ahead.
MOMAR, as the race is locally known, is a 50km adventure race featuring paddling, mountain bike and trekking stages. As with all adventure racing the route is mostly unmarked, making navigation a vital part of the race. It is not until race morning that athletes receive a map with checkpoints prior to the start and are allocated a precious hour to plot routes before setting off. For this race they’ve informed us there will be five stages in this order: paddle, trek, bike, trek, bike.
Saturday morning arrives and we must get going quickly – its a predawn start to drop off our bikes and the kayak at various locations before jumping on a bus to the start of the race at the Comox Lake. The air temperature is friendly, the air still, and as if choreographed, the clouds part and the sun comes out to wish us goodluck. We set off on a 10km paddle for the first of five legs of the race. It is a fairly straightforward paddle with a predetermined route around the lake.
Entertainment is provided by athletes dressed up in comical outfits – clowns, jail breakers and pirates to name a few – all attempting to win the spirit award. Our rental kayak has a squeaky rudder and strange seating position but an hour and eight minutes late, with cramping bum muscles, and all arrive at T1 in 8th position. Swapping lifejackets for running shoes and hydration packs, we set off on the first trekking leg.
Beautiful trails and lush green forest became the order of the day. In true adventure racing fashion something has to hit the fan and while together on the trail with some other teams a wasps nest is disturbed. We all get a ‘steek’. Friend and fellow competitor Hailey van Dykgets a full 15 of them – wondering if teammate and husband-to-be Eduardo had anything to do with that?
Racing with my teammate, the super strong runner Jessi, I opt to keep us on flatter but maybe longer trails where we can use our speed to our advantage. Running hard, we still keep our heads up and have a blast on the fantastic trails. The final stretch is on paved roads through the charming little town of Cumberland. While enjoying the view, we spot a co-ed team ahead and without words our knees drive a bit higher, the pace noticeably picking up – sprinting. We finally reach our competitors just in time to run side-by-side down the grassy knoll toward a field full of bikes. Super navigation and digging deep pays off – we have passed six teams on the trek and arrive in T2 tied for first!
This brings us to bike leg 1, which also brings us to my original point that we will need to get mind, body and soul over a mountain. This section is a true test of willpower and determination. The start – a long climb on a dirt road. And now – Miner’s Trail – a great trail on the mountain bike IF you are going down. But we are not. We are grinding up a lung-busting leg-pumping, hike-a-bike straight up the mountain. It is brutal. 45minutes later we come to a clearing and a beautiful little lake backdrop as a few helpful volunteers cheerfully direct us to drop our bikes before carrying onto leg 4, another trekking leg.
Supplied with a new map for the trek stage we take a moment to review before setting off by foot. This time we are permitted to collect the checkpoints in any order which gives us very interesting route choices with huge bushwhacking potential. We follow a small trail to the top of a hill for a checkpoint then mull over the current options.
One: Go all the way back down the trail and up the same Miner’s Trail.
Two: Bushwhack on the ridge back to the lake.
Although bushwhacking is more effort and sometimes slower going Jessi makes it clear that she’s not interested in doing the Miner’s Trail climb again and we promptly made our way into the forest following the contour lines on the map as guidance back to the lake. We pause to find our way for a moment, and amidst the quiet the most beautiful unique birdsong is being sung – sending our souls a little serenity in the midst of the madness. We take a moment to soak in the sound before choosing a direction to head once again.
Meeting up with a few other competitors with the same strategy, we swiftly high-step over and around the beautiful old-growth forest features and enjoy being engulfed by all its shades of green. Finally we reach the trail. It seems we didn’t save much time as we met up with teams that took the up and down route but we appreciate having saved our legs by not climbing or descending the steepness as much. Not to worry because there’s still more. The trail continues uphill quite a bit as we make our way back up to the lake to be reunited with our bikes. A few fellow competitors still on leg 2 are pushing bikes – as we had been. One guy is pushing two. Glad to have only our bodies to propel up the climb this time.
Back at the lake we jump on our bikes for the final leg – a long but marked mountainbike leg to the finish. As we ride, it is evident that the organisers took this option to show off the vast number of spectacular trails that Cumberland has to offer. I had passed through Cumberland a couple months earlier with the BC bike race, so I had an idea of what to expect but was still pleasantly surprised by the number, quality and difficulty of the trails. In other adventure races that I have done it seems that organisers simply use the bike leg to make up distance. In stark contrast this was purely designed to give us the ride of a lifetime. On fresher legs and with big smiles we make our way down trails such as Thirsty Beaver boasting a huge number of wooden features. We climb hard and scream down the single tracks passing more teams, the last in the final few kilometers, a co-ed team. Where we stand we are unsure – simply flying to the finish as fast as our mind, body and soul could go. It turns out that last pass was a good move. We made our way in to second crossing the line, ecstatic and all but broken, just over a minute ahead of third, and behind a strong team of local champions Frontrunners Nanaimo.
Our total time: 6 hours and 15 minutes. Mind, body and soul satisfied.
I had so much fun I am tempted to go do another lap on the bike route but my teammate talkssome sense into me and we walk slowly but surely down Main Street to feed the machine with Riders Pizza and local brews.
MOMAR is the race that keeps on giving. The awards ceremony is hosted by Mt. Washington Alpine Resort and we are treated to a fantastic meal and an even better after party including live music and dancing downstairs at Fat Teddy’s.
My body is over the mountain and my mind wants to go back!
For full results and more info see www.mindovermountain.com.