On March 15th, Nathalie, Steve and I (James) set off on a road trip to Mont Orford to take on the Trail des Neiges (Snow Trail) race. We had great weather for our travels and arrived in plenty of time to check in to our hotel and head over to the ski hills to get registered and geared up for the race start.
The start was at 7:30pm at the base of the ski hill. The challenge was pretty straightforward, but certainly not easy: Climb up and descend 3 peaks on skis, snowshoes or on foot. When I say climb up, I mean climb straight up the ski hills! I don't think much could have prepared us for the climbing we were about to do, but I am pretty certain that the 90+km Nathalie & I ran in the 2-day Snowgaine the previous weekend was probably not the best way to get ready for this race. Steve was also coming off a great but tough race at the first ever ITU Winter Triathlon in Quebec city the previous weekend. We all chose to do the race on foot, possibly out of the desire to have to carry the least amount of weight up those hills!
The first climb was a bit of a teaser... a relatively steep climb up and a left turn, then downhill for a while to get to the start of the "real" first hill. Looking back at our heart rate monitor data, clearly we all completely redlined up this first teaser hill. Clearly this was going to be a long tough race! Steve led the way for our trio up the first hill, looking strong and steady. I struggled right from the start of the race and just did what I could to keep moving forward at a reasonable pace. Nathalie managed to recover nicely from her redline up the first small hill and then settled in for the rest of the race. Coming down the first hill was a bit of a relief, but still a fair bit of work trying to keep steady and fast under variable and changing footing. Nathalie decided that she would try to take the "easy" way down from the top - getting a running start and then sliding on her butt for about 10m past another competitor. But she was forced to get up and run the rest of the way down ;-)
The second hill had a nice surprise about 2/3 of the way up. There was an "off-trail" section that meandered through some woods before emerging back onto the ski trail. This was not a good place to be without skis or snowshoes... At times we were knee deep in soft snow with our poles buried up their handles. Steve seemed to fare a little better than Nathalie and I in this section. When I emerged at the top of this section, I learned a valuable lesson: look at the elevation chart before the race! I thought we were at the top - turns out we were not all that close at all. So up and up we went, into near zero visibility blizzard-like conditions, as the snow and wind whipped up on the highest climb of the race. At times the only indication of where to go were the barely visible foot/snowshoe/ski tracks in front of you. It was a real relief and motivation to hear the voices and cheers of the volunteers at the top of the ski hill as we approached. But the 3.5km downhill made for some significant work to get back to the bottom of the ski hill. Thankfully there was an aid station at the bottom of the hill where we could grab a drink and some Fruit2 bars to refuel before heading up climb #3.
The third climb seemed to me to be the most tame of the 3 climbs. Perhaps my body was finally warmed up, or perhaps I was just too tired to notice anything anymore, or maybe I was just going so slow that it made things more bearable. Regardless, it was nice to be thinking that the end was getting closer with every step. Once again, it was great to hear the cheers of the volunteers at the top of the hill. As we got closer to the top, I noticed 2 other racers on foot just ahead of me. So I gathered up all the energy I had and hammered up and over the hilltop to try and get a little distance from them on may way down to the finish line. My strategy worked and I managed to keep both racers at bay for the rest of the descent. I crossed the finish line in around 1:44:00 and in 7th place on foot. I was met at the finish line by Steve, who already looked relaxed and refreshed - turns out Steve had a great race, finishing 4th of all runners on foot. Nathalie had a solid performance as well, crossing the finish line in 4th place of the female runners on foot. After a few photos, we headed inside for the post race meal, drinks, and awards ceremony.
This race was a great way for our team to cap off the winter racing season. The Trail des Neiges was a super fun and well-organized race that offered up one last (big!) challenge before we move on to our "spring training" schedule. It's really not like any other race we've done because of the fact that it's just straight up and down the wide open ski hills - no narrow trails where it's difficult to pass, no rocks and roots to slow you down. So, for me at least, it was more of a test of willpower than a test of strategy or technique. And what a great feeling to finally cross the finish line after braving all 3 summits and 1200m of climbing over 13km of race course. Congrats to the Endurance Aventure race organization for putting on another great race! If you want to read Steve's own views from this race, he has (as usual) written up a full race report on his website. You can check it out here.
James
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