Race Report from the 2016 Adventure Racing World Championships

Here is Jason's race report:

AR World Champs- Shoalhaven, Australia with Nathalie Long, James Galipeau and navigator Todd Nowack. As a Canadian living in Australia he would be a perfect addition for this race.

After a week of screwing around with gear and bins I was happy to get them turning in just before the maps distribution. To limit any influence from Google maps we would get maps while locked in a conference room 3 hours before transferring to the start. We quickly outlined our route on the 2 sets of (38) A4 maps for the race.

The race would start with a Lemans start to the kayak in Jervis Bay with James and Nat in the SCR ski and Todd and I in the sit-on-top kayak. After clearing the initial mayhem we settled in around 25th place. Todd and I were not as fast as the surfski so we set up the tow which worked well as we paddled east towards the distant points. Approaching each of these points was tricky as there were waves breaking on shoals all around them.

We swapped paddling positions after each of the first 4 points trying to find a set-up with equal boat speeds between the two boats but none of them seemed to work well. We seemed to fade a little towards the end and were happy to get to the take out when we did. We were joined by a few surfacing dolphins just as we got there.

Going into this race we knew quick transitions were going to be important so additional focus would be required. It paid off early as we passed Tecnu in transition here.

This trek had a little of everything- Sandy beaches, coasteering and powerline running with awesome views as we traveled to the second paddle leg.

Somewhere along the way I managed to knock my head pretty hard on a low hanging branch as I jumped up on a ledge and momentarily saw a few early stars.

With another fast TA we were off on another relatively short leg as dusk settled in. We finally found a paddler combination which seemed to work well with James and I in the 3 person sit-on-top drafting off Nat and Todd in the surfski.

Next up would be some tough jeep trail riding with steep climbs and long, fast descents over never-ending water bars which were a lot of fun. We spent most of the night riding with Tecnu and caught a glimpse of Bones at the Pointer Gap Lookout.

The 'highlight' of the ride was the mandatory flagged hike-a-bike down from Florence Head which required multiple sketchy climbs and descents carrying our bikes. Despite the tough terrain we made solid progress and avoided the back-ups those deeper in the field would see here.

The second trek was the first real section of the race. We continued south along the coast and had our first swim of the event through a tidal pool. James, Nat and I decided to strip down and put everything in a dry bag for the crossing. Todd thought he could make it and just carried his shoes. Halfway across he realized his mistake and decided he could just throw his shoes to keep them dry. He skipped the first one across. The second one made it cleanly but the socks stuffed in it ejected part way across and I had to jump back in to save them from becoming shark food.

While we were goofing around we could see Tecnu and RADY'S chasing us down in the distance.

Just prior to heading west for the inland controls we stopped to tape some toes and then ran into Legendary Randy and a bunch of kangaroos.

CP17 was our first mistake of the race. We decided to attack it from the road instead of trying to find the jeep trail which went closer to the point. As we descended down a reentrant expecting to find a stream intersection we saw RADY'S in a reentrant heading the direction we expected the point to be in.

With the distraction we failed to keep track of our position on the map and talked ourselves into wandering around looking for it. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and we decided to re-attack from the jeep trail to the north. Once relocated we walked straight to the point. Looking at the GPS track it appears we just didn't walk up the second reentrant far enough.

We arrived at the Clyde River paddle with about 2 hours of flood tide to paddle up river with so we wasted no time getting onto the water despite that fact that we were starting to need some sleep.

We had the Czech team just in front of us and tried to chase them down but sleepmonsters were an issue and we lost focus. We hooked up the tow which helped to keep everyone awake and eventually we made it to the takeout. We changed, built the bikes and then headed off to the tents in the TA for an hour of sleep.

We knew this next leg was going to be tough given it had over 5000' of climbing according to the logistics map. We realized this very quickly as within the first 10k we had two significant bike pushes uphill. Not long after that the rain started and the temps dropped. Compounding this was a missed turn which forced a 3k backtrack. The rain wasn't bad on the long climbs but it made the long descents very cold and I was happy to have rain pants in the bag to put on.

The rain eventually stopped just before sunrise and the heat of the day started to dry out our clothing as we approached the TA. With the next trekking section heading out on the same road we were riding in on we passed Merrell and Columbia as they were heading out just minutes ahead of us.

This next trek was going to be a tough one with a lot of climbing early in the sun. In theory it was just following the trail through the Budawang Range and for the first 15k that was the case as we went up and through the pass below the Castle. There was multiple stream crossings to re-fill water which made the heat a little easier to deal with through the Monolith valley.

It was pretty amazing that I could be so cold just a few hours before in the rain and then wishing for clouds to hide the sun as we climbed up in the heat.

We spent most of the morning and afternoon changing places back and forth with the Czech team. once through the pass the trail become much tougher to follow and it took both Todd and I following along on our maps to stay on the route as we summited Mt. Tarin, Mt. Haighton and Sturgiss Mountain.

Around dusk we made our second mistake. We had just punched CP29 on a small hill. We dropped off the NE side of it by mistake instead of the NW. We hit a creek which we were expecting but there was no trail running along side of it. It took us about 90 minutes to figure out our mistake and correct it.

The remainder of the trek was in a valley and the trail and terrain improved as we went. Unfortunately our feet were starting to feel the distance and by the time we made it into the TA Nat, Todd and I were suffering with each step.

We were (over)due for some sleep when we arrived at the TA. We changed, built our bikes and then took another hour of sleep. For some reason the TA tents had not made it to the TA but it wasn't raining and my bivy sack was sufficiently warm.

We awoke just as the sun came up and set out on the next leg which would be a road bike ride to the caving. We traveled along well and made it to the next TA quicker than expected despite the headwind.

When we arrived at the Caving TA the only thing we could do was change into trekking shoes. We would have 5 hours off the clock to punch controls in 5 of 6 caves. Our hope was that we could get all 5 punched and then bank some sleep off the clock. Unfortunately we made a slight mistake going to one of the caves and the rest of the caving was slower than anticipated and we used all 5 hours to complete the stage.

The caves we went into were legit! I thought it would be a somewhat contrived event but each one had difficult and unique features to get through.

The most time-consuming cave had a feature called the Flattener which was about 15m long, 10m wide and just tall enough for one person to squeeze through on their stomach using your toes and fingertips to propel you though. Not a good place for someone with a fear of tight spaces.

Once back to the TA we packed up the bikes and loaded up the packs for the next packrafting leg.

In my mind the next three legs were going to be the toughest of the race.

We left the TA loaded down with the packrafts, paddles, pfd's and our bivy sacks knowing that we would not be able to paddle on the river given the dark zone for paddling at 8pm. Before we could paddle we had to punch CP36 on a slot canyon which led to the Shoalhaven River where the packrafting would occur. We made the decision to drop our non-mandatory gear, hike down to CP36 and punch, hike back up and then take the land route to the put-in. Our thinking was that the slot canyon could be a significant time suck if there was a lot of climbing required with our heavy packs.

When we finally hit the river we saw a few teams camped waiting for the paddle dark zone to lift and river left looked good for some trekking. We were able to cover around 8k before stopping for some sleep.

When we woke we continued along river left for a few more kms until we were cliffed out. We stripped down and swam across to the other side but then were able to continue to trek on river right until the 5am dark zone lift passing Sweco along the way as they slept.

Once we put on the rapids were pretty fun but shallow and we scrapped bottom quite a few times. Near the end Todd and I broached a rock and flipped in which was kind of comical. Sighting in the am looking straight into the rising sun was so difficult. Unfortunately we hung up on another rock and put a hole in the floor of the Gnu which we were able to fix with some Leukotape.

The flat portion of the paddle towards the end went pretty fast given the huge tailwind we were getting and we paddled into the dam TA in the morning sun.

We felt pretty good heading into the TA and just needed to grab more food and h2o.

We portaged down around the dam to the put in and set off with sunny skies. Unfortunately that didn't last too long and soon after we were in a few nasty downpours getting completely soaked. The rapids were marked on the map but it became tough to distinguish which rapids were worthy of mapping and which were not. Fortunately we did portage around the two rapids which presented some unsafe conditions.

At one point we had decided that we had made it past the mandatory portage rapid 50 and had also passed the next CP. After a paddle up river to where we thought it was we discovered (with the help of Merrell) that we were still up river of rapid 50 and needed to continue further down river.

Once past rapid 50 it was obvious that we were now out of the rapids as the water suddenly stopped flowing and our progress slowed. Temperatures continued to drop as we paddled on the river and the sun set. We made slow progress from here on as some struggled with sleep dep. and being cold. I ended up taking the map from Todd as he was very sleepy/low on calories. I was concerned that he wasn't able to pay enough attention and we might end up heading the wrong way.

As we approached the take-out in town the skies opened up again just as we were about to get off the river which made for a very cold exit. Fortunately there was a boathouse with showers at the TA and Nathalie was able to warm up along with the help of a dehydrated meal.

The original plan was to get an hour of sleep but as we were getting into dry clothes the rain stopped so we built our bikes and prepared to head out.

The last bike leg had about the same amount of climbing as the 2nd leg but over twice the distance and the hope was that it would be much more rideable and it proved to be so. Unfortunately we were all struggling with sleepiness so within the first 20k we decided to lay down for a 45 minute sleep which helped a ton and was just enough to get us to the finish.

It was a very cold night but we kept making forward progress and eventually daylight came and with it much warmer temps. There was definitely an eagerness to get to the finish driving the team.

As we approached the final TA we made a slight nav mistake which allowed 2 teams to pass us. When we arrived at the TA there was 3 teams there and Eastwind had just left.

Not exactly the finish we wanted but we certainly weren't going to waste the opportunity to pass some teams. We made our way out onto the beach and could see four teams ahead of us. We ran hard and were quick through the two swims and Todd made some great route choices. We passed all of the teams but Eastwind who despite our efforts still seemed to have a 1k lead on us.

As we approached the last CP we saw Eastwind's cameraman and he asked us if we had seen his team. We couldn't believe we had passed them along the way but didn't stick around to wonder how. 

We continued to run all the way to the finish expecting to see them come around each corner ahead of us but it wasn't to be and we finished a few minutes ahead of them in 21st place.

Race Summary:

Thursday - 12:31pm - Kayak 5:14:00 35.0 km   

Thursday - 5:45pm - Trek 2:03:00 14.0 km  

Thursday – 7:48pm - Kayak 1:44:00 13.0 km

Thursday – 9:32pm - Mtn Bike 9:09:00 95.0 km

 Friday – 6:41am - Trek 9:23:00 38.0 km  

Friday – 4:04pm - Kayak 6:24:00 37.0 km

Friday – 10:28pm – Mtn Bike 9:17:00 + 1 hour sleep  58.0 km   

Saturday – 8:45am - Trek 19:30:00 35.0 km

Sunday – 4:15am - Mtn Bike 5:48:00 + 1 hour sleep  70.0 km

Sunday – 10:02am - Trek (Caving) 5:00:00 5.0 km  

Sunday – 3:02pm - Trek & Packrafting 18:20:00 + 2 hours sleep  48.0 km

Monday – 11:22am - Kayak 11:44:00 56.0 km  

Monday – 11:06pm - Mtn Bike 11:16:00 + 45 min sleep 99.0 km  

Tuesday – 11:27pm - Trek 2:33:00  18.0 km

Tuesday - 2:00pm - Finish

Total: 121 hours 29 minutes (5 nights)
Sleep: 4 hours 45 minutes

Cowboy Tough ARWC Qualifier 2016-3,5 days AR- Jason's report

2016 Cameco Cowboy Tough Adventure Race, Casper, WY

Team Canada AR Race Report

With James on loan to Adventure Medical Kits for this race we recruited Charles Triponez and Matt Hayes to join us for the race. Both would be solid additions to the squad with a ton of racing experience to draw from.

Race check-in began Wednesday at 11:00am with the typical forms to hand in, rappel check, mandatory gear check, map handout and racer weigh in.

 

 

Jason was not happy to find out he was the heavyweight on the team for this race. We spent the remainder of the afternoon going over the maps with optional points to plot and routes to find and then a final pack of the gear bins just before handing them in at 8:30pm.

 

 

1:50:00, 49 km.

The race would start as a group ride along a bike path out of town following an ATV with a rolling road closure at the intersections.

 

Once we hit the road the pace amped up a little but it wasn’t too bad until we started onto the gentle climbs where the initial team selection was made with AMK, Tecnu, Yogaslackers, Swedish Armed Forces, Team North Face and us making the cut. We hammer along and put about 5 minutes into the remaining peleton before reaching the first transition area. This was exactly what we hoped would happen as we had a small cushion for the transition to paddling, avoiding a massive hurricane for the most part.

2:20:00, 28 km.

We put on the North Platte River for what would be over 100 miles of paddling with a few stops mixed in. We were just ahead of Team North Face but they took a better line through the first small ripples and passed us. We ended up following them all the way to the Water Challenge at an abandoned fort, passing Journey Racing along the way.

0:10:00, 1.0 km.

The Water Challenge involved a take-out at a small landing where each team needed to haul 4 buckets of water up to a cistern in the old fort in teams of two being careful not to lose too much water out of the bucket or you’d have to make a second trip.

 

 

 

AMK and Tecnu were both one bucket trip ahead of us at this point.

1:45:00 21.0 km.

Once the challenge was complete it was back into the boats for an uneventful paddle to the town of Douglas.

0:45:00 7.0 km.

In Douglas there was a canoe drop for a short urban o-course with points at a WWII Internment Camp, a stop at the College Inn for a shot of whiskey and in a train car museum.

 

 

We took the opportunity to fill up our bladders for the next long paddle leg just before putting back in.

3:00:00 36 km.

Back on the river the current was still flowing well and we continued to make solid progress in the Mad River 16’ bananas through the afternoon. This section seemed long however as we did not see another team the entire way.

2:00:00 8.0 km.

Midway through this leg there were 5 optional points to pick up just prior to the

reservoir. The 5 points were up on a plateau and split by a large reentrant in the middle. Charles saw his first bald eagle just before the take-out. There were multiple strategies used by teams to get the points with a majority landing at the reentrant and doing two out-and- backs to get them all including us.

5:40:00 35.0 km.

The 5 optional points provided a nice break from paddling but it there was still more to go so we got back into the boats for the remaining portion of leg 3 paddle.

 

Unfortunately it was in the Glendo Reservoir and the current was no longer providing help. In addition, a solid wind had picked

up straight across the water right into our teeth as night fell. We never had water over the bow but I am sure it was very close a few times. A number of teams behind us took shelter as the winds continued to build through the night. We paddled the entire reservoir with the two-person team of Nordic Adventure

hot on our sterns. I’m sure they were happy to have another team near-by in case they had an issue.

Later in the race we heard of another 2-person team that spent over an hour waiting for a rescue after their boat sank.

6:00:00 49.0 km.

At the take-out we portaged the canoes to the TA and transitioned to biking. There were a number of optional bike points to pick up in the challenging Glendo Bike Trail system. There was an impressive amount of work done to make these trails, cut straight into the canyon walls and along the tops of the nearby hills with giant slabs of rock as the trail bed. Most of the trails were rideable but there was still a fair amount of bike pushing required, mostly anytime we went up-hill. Somewhere along the way I dinged my derailleur and it would act up for the remainder of the race. It’s surprising more people didn’t knock them off on rocks completely here.

5:20:00 39.0 km.

We made it back to the TA in time to score 11 minutes of time credit since the paddle 4 dark zone didn’t lift until 5:30am. We filled up bladders and then portaged down to the river on the other side of the reservoir dam.

It wasn’t easy starting back up paddling given the distance we had paddled in the 20 hours before but that quickly changed when we say the first set of rapids coming up.

We made it through with a solid line without scouting but a number of the earlier teams had at least one boat capsize here. There was a number of smaller rapids along this last leg which made this paddle go by relatively quickly.

Just prior to entering the Wendover Canyon there was another set of rapids to negotiate which everyone was keen to clear without swimming. They were set up in an S turn so that there was not one clear side to stay on and required traversing from river right to left in the middle of the S. Fortunately both of our boats negotiated them without an issue.

Once clear of the remaining river obstacles we set our sights on catching Journey Racing who were again ahead of us. We caught them just prior to entering the Guernsey Reservoir with a number of pick-ups originally intended to wake up a few of the sleepy paddlers on the team. For some reason there was a new take-out location and we wasting a little time heading to the mapped version before figuring it out.

I guess the lady jumping up and down and pointing should have been a clue we picked up on sooner.

We packed up our paddle gear and wished it a fond farewell, hoping to never see it again then transitioned to biking.

4:40:00 73.0 km.

The bike leg consisted of a few early controls to reward those not taking the bike Fast Forward option prior to Paddle 4. We rode to those with Journey Racing but they put some tome on us when we stopped at a well for water. The next portion of the leg was on a busy road but we had a great tailwind and it made for some fast traveling. In the distance we could see the mountains we were riding to and as we slowly got closer to them the climbing increased. The last 10k was mostly all uphill granny gear climbing.

6:05:00 21.0 km.

We rolled into the TA looking forward to the first real trekking and it didn’t disappoint.

 

There were no controls mid-route to keep you on track, just solid navigation. Fortunately we had the aid of daylight and a tone of scenery to use for handrails and we could see Laramie Peak in the distance.

 

 

Matt did a great job of locating the South Branch and we made a good call to exit the canyon towards the end before getting boxed in. We cleared the saddle just as the sun set and then descended down to the next TA and our gear bins.

AMK arrived from the Laramie Peak climb as we were transitioning and had taken the lead from Tecnu on the climb up. We finished our TA then tried to get an hour of sleep prior to the KOM climb.

Unfortunately the TA was too noisy and only Matt and Nathalie got any sleep.

4:50:00 20.0 km.

We set off for the climb with a gravel road run to the trailhead. There must have been 150 switchbacks on the climb to the top. Once there we glanced around at the view quickly, punched and then set off on the descent. I think I tripped over every rock in my sleep-deprived state on the way down.

6:35:00 57.0 km.

Back at the TA we transitioned to biking and then attempted another hour of sleep.

With the aid of some earplugs we were all successful in finally sleeping and I felt significantly better once awaking.

The next bike leg had some great downhills with 5-8 km stretches of coasting at 35 kph and we made solid time while heading towards the next o-course.

4:00:00 13.0 km.

The next o-course contained an ascent and a rappel which we went to first, then on to the remaining points.
 

photo credit Chris Radcliff

 

It was a cool area for orienteering with some big features to locate controls on (lots of climbing). Around this time we started looking at our schedule and we were about 4 hours

behind. There was still some slack time before the race finish but the urgency needed to stay high to ensure we clear the course.

6:20:00 71.0 km.

Much to our disappointment the Wyoming Winds picked up and we had a tough

sidewind to contend with on the next biking leg along with some considerable granny gear climbing.

 

photo credit Chris Radcliff

 

Halfway through the leg we turned straight into to it which slowed our pace to a crawl (12-15 kph).

Eventually as the sun went down the wind did as well making the last few km to the TA much easier.

1:40:00 10.0 km.

The next o-course was basically a small valley in the middle of a cattle farm. We

picked up 5 easy points here and I’m not really sure what the purpose of this stop was other than a prescribed chance to get off your bike in the middle of a 150 km ride which was appreciated.

6:54:00 70.0 km.

As we left on to Bike 6 we had a great view of an approaching thunderstorm. Our route took us straight into the heart of it but we made it through without incident most-likely due to Nathalie keeping her head ducked down lower than everyone else’s on the team as we rode past.

While under the storm the air was completely still. Once we made it past we were instantly greeted with a cold front and the temps dropped to the mid-40’s. Just after punching the only control on the ride we decided to get 30 minutes of sleep.

Once barely awake again we set out on the long 2000 ft climb up to the Muddy Mtn TA. It was a granny gear climb all the way to the top.

3:00:00 17.0 km.

As we were transitioning to for the last o-course we noticed that Team North Face was still there and sleeping. They heard us arrive and set out just ahead of us.

Unfortunately we struggled with the first point on the ridge and lost and chance of passing them for 5 th place. The remaining controls went smoothly and we headed back to our last TA of the race.

3:16:00 25.0 km.

There were a number of teams in the TA. By this time they were mostly the teams on the bike tour option, those who were skipping all of the o-course controls to stay on schedule to reach the finish before it closed. It was a nice ride down Muddy Mtn to the base of Casper Mtn despite our difficulties in sitting on our bike seats. The road turned to pavement making the climb to the top easier.

Once at the top it was a 3000 ft. descent to the bottom and the finish in Casper where we arrived in 6th place, the last team to clear the course.

 

 

Jason

UltimateXC 60km Trail Race - James' Race Report

I was not approaching this installment of the UltimateXC 60km in the same way that I have prepared for this race in the past. The main reason for this was the fact that I am still recovering from an ankle injury sustained close to a month ago. I had done two adventure races since the injury, but I was able to walk or lightly jog for the trekking sections of both of those races. I knew from having done the race before that this course is an all-out assault on your body – particularly the quads (from the climbing and the descents) and the ankles (from the technical terrain). So I was quite concerned about tackling the trail at full speed. I considered skipping the race altogether but ultimately decided to approach it as a training run. I’d been running with a little bit of pain in the injured ankle, but it seemed to be stable in the technical trails, but I could tell that my fear of rolling the ankle again was making me hesitant at higher speeds. But during our Natural Fitness Labs Tuesday night run the week before the race, I chased a pack of runners at pretty high speed a trail that I knew pretty well, so that gave me a little more confidence that my ankle would hold up. But I still didn’t think I was going to have a very good race since my training specifically for trail running had also suffered over the past month and I was a little on the heavy side for a pure trail running race. Regardless, I was excited to be getting out into the trails once again.

The night before the race was a little more eventful than we would have liked. We stayed with a friend at his friend’s cottage about 30 minutes from the bus pick-up and had a great dinner and relaxed evening, up until just before bedtime when the owner realized that the water pump for the house was not working. After unsuccessful attempts at trying to fix it, we all went to bed without any opportunity to use the washrooms or have access to potable water overnight or in the morning. So Nat and I toughed it out (read: held “it”) through the night and decided we’d have to get up early and try to find somewhere in town to have some oatmeal for breakfast. It was a pretty quick transition at 4:40am as we got changed and hurried out the door to try and find a bathroom and some food. We were delighted to find a Tim Horton’s on our way to the bus pick-up but they only had enough oatmeal for one of us. So for me it was a Tim Horton’s hot breakfast sandwich and bottle of NUUN for breakfast! The rest of the pre-race morning was thankfully uneventful.

We got to the start line and after a few instructions we were off. I am always terrible at pacing in a race and I always go out too hard, so this time I purposely tried to place myself closer to the middle of the “mid-pack”, rather than the usual back of the “front pack”. I tried to just let myself warm up and payed very close attention to the trail so that I wouldn’t roll my ankle while following closely in a pace line. As the trail started to climb I found myself wanting to pass people (as climbing is generally my strength). So I tried to hold back for a bit and then I decided I would just slowly make my way to the front of the small group in front of me, mainly so that I could see the trail better in front of me. As the hills kept coming, I caught up to a few more people and proceeded with the same logic of getting ahead so I could see the trail better. To my surprise and delight, my ankle was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline or something else, but I just decided I would go with it and see what happens.

As we got the first aid station, I figured I was probably somewhere in the 5^th – 10^th place range. As I got there, one of the volunteers asked me if the race had started late. I said “yes, about 15 minutes” and then asked him why he was asking. He said, “you are the first one here”. I was quite surprised and quite skeptical – particularly since I’ve heard this before in races, only to find out that it’s because the leaders were so far ahead that people hadn’t even seen them. There were 4 of us running pretty close together, and 2 of them left the aid station before me.

I eventually caught up to the third place runner and then finally caught up to the leader – someone I know quite well: Benoit Letourneau. I knew Ben has been training hard in preparation for the Harricana 125km race in September, and he was certainly in fine form for this race. I followed Ben for a while and then finally made a move somewhere in the middle section of the race. I was feeling quite good on some flowy singletrack that was slightly downhill, followed by a long gravel road downhill. I had pushed pretty hard and thought that I had built myself a little cushion on Ben and the other runner. But as we started to climb again, I looked back and saw Ben reeling me in. He was looking very strong and steady as he caught up to me and pulled ahead. I tried for a while to keep pace with him, but he was moving very well on the downhills and kept making ground on me until I couldn’t see him anymore.

The second half of the race was challenging for me. The ankle was still feeling pretty good, even after a few close calls on it. I was getting tired and was struggling to keep a good pace. My spirits were lifted when we finally rejoined with the 38km runners again, as I was able to see plenty of people in front of me and I felt stronger as I passed them. The “Vietnam” section (a very rugged and wet section of the course) was easier than in past years due to drier conditions, so that was a mental boost as well. I suspected at this point that Ben was long gone ahead of me and I started to be thinking more about who was chasing me. But when I got to the aid station after the Vietnam, I was informed that Ben was only a few minutes ahead of me. I quickly gulped down a Surge All Natural Energy Shot and headed out.

The last 18km of the race were really tough. I was really starting to feel the lack of trail running training in the past month and I was having trouble eating anything substantial at the aid stations. At this point I struggled but still managed to get down a Pure Strength Protein Bar from StrongBars Nutrition and an Accel Gel from Pacific Health Labs (two of our new sponsors), which helped give me some much needed energy to keep going. I was still feeling pretty rough and was looking over my shoulder more and more, waiting to get caught by someone else as the kilometers dragged on and on. Then I got to a part of the race I had totally forgotten about – a ski hill climb with a sign at the bottom calling it the “Hell Climb”. This is a quad-busting, soul-breaking, monster of a steep hill that lures you into believing you have climbed it, only to make a sharp left turn and reveal that you are only half way to the summit. From the bottom, I didn’t even really want to look up to see how much climbing there was ahead of me. But when I did, I was very surprised to see Ben about half way up the first part of the climb. This brought me some hope that I wasn’t going much slower than him or the other runners behind us. So I put my head down and just tried to climb at a steady pace. After a while I looked back up the hill and realized I was gaining some ground. So I tried to put in a steady pace to fully close the gap before the top of the hill. I managed to pass Ben somewhere near the sharp left turn (I think… my memory from this part is a little fuzzy!) and tried to put a little distance between us on the second half of the climb. I found out afterwards that at the previous aid station Ben had done an in-race test of a meal replacement shake (in preparation for Hurricana) and it did not sit well with him.

Once at the top, I was informed that it was about 8.5km to the finish, mostly downhill. All I can tell you is that it felt like anything but 8.5km or mostly downhill from that point onward. I was sure I would get caught by Ben and/or somebody else at some point before the end of the race and I was sure that I was going slower and slower as the kilometers wore on. The last 8+ kms felt longer than the whole rest of the race. I just kept looking back, expecting to see someone gaining on me at any moment. But when I finally got to a few long open road sections in the last 2 kilometers, I could see that I had a little cushion to work with, so I just put all my focus on getting to the finish line, all the while just wanting the fatigue to be over with. I was very excited to cross the finish line and finally stop running, all the while taking in the spectacle of the winners of the 120km race who had crossed the finish line shortly before me. I quickly exited the finishers area with as many pieces of watermelon that I could fit in one hand (and one in my mouth) and went to celebrate with a few friends/training partners who had finished their races earlier.

After getting some food, taking off my shoes, socks, and 2XU compression calf sleeves, and chilling out fora little bit, the awards ceremony started. Just as I was getting off the podium I heard what sounded like a familiar scream, followed by Dave McMahon telling me “your girlfriend just came in second place!” We weren’t expecting Nathalie to arrive for at least another 20 minutes, so I was ecstatic to hear she’d finished already – and a little disappointed that I wasn’t at the finish line to greet her. I quickly ran to the fence line to congratulate her on her 2^nd place tie in the women’s 60km race. The pictures of her at the finish line I think tell the story for both of us – a little bit of surprise, a ton of excitement, and even more relief to just be finished such a tough race.

It made a HUGE difference out on the course to know that I was well equipped for the race from a nutritional (NUUN Hydration, Pacific Health Labs, StrongBars Nutrition), clothing (2XU compression), gear (Osprey Packs), and training (Natural Fitness Labs) standpoint. Dave McMahon and Lise Meloche (Natural Fitness Labs) have been outstanding coaches and have helped me to get stronger, faster, and technically better every year. My new Osprey Rev 6 pack felt great through the whole race. And while there were plenty of food options at the aid stations, I carried a few specific nutritional items from our sponsors with me for particular moments in the race and they performed great when I really needed them. And as always, I am convinced that racing (and recovering!) in 2XU compression gear makes a big difference in my performance… and it looks great too!

Nat and I will spend the rest of the week recovering from the race and preparing for a weekend mountain bike weekend at the Kingdom Trails in East Burke, VT next weekend. All this is in preparation for our next big adventure race - Cowboy Tough - in Wyoming in a few weeks.        

  

Ultimate XC St Donat 60km trail race- Nat's first podium on an ultra finishing tied for 2nd place in the women's.

I haven’t been doing much ultra runs. Actually I have done 1 pure ultra last year, the Endurance challenge 50km in Utah and that is it.

I have done many ultra distances in Adventure racing but the pace is never the same as in a single discipline race.

I went to the Ultimate XC back in 2011 when it was at Mont Tremblant and was participating at the time in the 3 days event. My 58km run then was very slow (10h38) and I thought I would die for the last 30km which is a considerable amount of time when you think about it.

James and I packed our stuff and went to a friend’s cottage 30 min from the race on the Friday night.

Really nice little place and good company made it for a pleasant and not too stressful evening…except that the water pomp broke and we didn’t have water…or bathroom.

James and I were racing the 60km so we had to wake up pretty early and we made our way towards St Donat, praying to find a Tim Horton open to be able to get breakfast and a bathroom stop.

I was pretty stressed and wasn’t feeling 100% but I had put all the chances on my side to have a good race. I had my 2XU compression shorts and socks, my Altra LonePeak 2.0, my osprey Rev 1.5L, my nuun tablets for hydration and I had my PacificHealthLab gels and strongbar nutrition bars ready to be eaten.

At 6:15am we were in the buses in direction to the start. I was frozen as we couldn’t leave anything in the bus so it was either carrying the sweater the whole way or freezing for 40min…I froze!

 A last quick kiss to James and off we went. I tried not to go too fast but was frustrated to see myself walking the up hills very quickly. My calves started cramping and I had no electrolyte tablets with me. I only had a little bit of Nuun in my camel back so I started drinking. It was a lot steeper than expected. For the first 5-6km another girl and I kept on passing each others. Then the downhill arrived and she blew blast me. Then a group of at least ten people and another girl passed me.

I didn't like the first 20km. I found it a little too technical to my liking and I kept on rolling my ankles on loose rocks covered by leaves. It didn't help that my knee was hurting a little bit preventing me from bending it too much.

I, for once, didn't think negatively but tried to think positive. It was a beautiful day and yes people were passing me but I still had lots of people behind and hey I was catching up to those people as soon as it was climbing.

I started setting up small very achievable goals. To the next aid station then as my legs were starting to be a little sore I was dreaming of the Vietnam section that was at 40km in where I'd be in the water.

At the feed station just before the Vietnam (35km) oh surprise I caught up to one of the two girls that had passed me in the first few kms. I was pretty happy and decided to not let her go. She looked like she was in a down moment and we left to the Vietnam a minute apart. Quickly I caught up to her and we did the section together, helping each others.

It is really nice to be able to run with someone who has about your pace but different strength. By the end of Vietnam we passed a bunch of people who were seating there changing their socks and all. We travelled Joelle and I together for the rest of the course. 18km before the end we made a deal. If we were still neck to neck by the time the 2km came we would go to the finish together. We kept on pushing each other's and passed people on the way. In the last climb some girls told us we were 2nd and 3rd which we didn't believe at first. I could remember the first girl that passed me at the start and I knew there was at least another girl ahead but Joelle told me that we had passed the girl from the start a while ago..oh well we were having a great race and we agreed that finishing on the podium or not we would be happy with our race.

We ended up crossing the line together in 8h37 (on my watch-8h39 on the timing machine-we started late) in second position in the women category.

The organization not wanting to have a tied found out a way to look at the hundredth of a second and called me third. We were 18th and 19th overall out of 51 finishers.

I was more than happy.

I was expecting 9 to 10 hours and mid field and was an hour faster and on top of the field. James crushed it and won the race in 6h57. He is my hero!!!

Nothing felt better than seeing friendly faces at the finish (Dave,Augusto, Amanda and of course James).

Dave and Lise brought me a long way and I'm thankful to Natural Fitness Lab for it.

Nat

Finding silver on the Canadian shield at Wilderness Traverse-2nd overall

[My apologies for not getting this race report written up sooner! Amazingly, two weeks have already passed! A few days were just for recovering, then life got in the way. But without further ado, here we go.] A mere three weeks before this race, I was tackling the toughest race I had tried to date, the 4-day Untamed New England. However, being slightly shorter, at 24 hours in length, does NOT make a race easier. In fact, racing with my ‘semi-pro’ competitive team actually made this another really tough race, thanks to the relentless pace, and the taste of podium pushing us hard the whole way.

Two weeks out, we had a good look through the roster, and figured we had a legitimate shot at winning this race, which is one of the toughest fought adventure races in Eastern Canada (if not Canada). It attracts top teams from all around, and this year even had 2 teams from France competing. However, a day later, I noted that a new team had signed up consisting of Benoit Letourneau, Alex Provost, Vincent Meunier, and Liza Pye. Yup, pretty much the dream team, and technically 3 time returning champions.  They usually win by huge margins, so victory was FAR from assured, but we had to go in with a strong positive attitude, which we did.

With the race featuring a remote start early Saturday morning, we all converged on race HQ Friday evening for gear checks and race briefings. Maps were distributed around 8:30pm, and were pre-plotted with CPs and TAs. Harper then got to work on the important job of route determining. With tethered laptop we scoured Google Earth and Bing trying to make sense of the terrain to find the ‘hopefully best’ route. In AR, you are always taking a bit of a gamble when the course is predominantly raw wilderness. As the name implies, this race has that in spades. Race director Bob Miller never holds back, spending the better part of an entire year designing a kick-ass course. The asses being kicked of course are the racers’! Back at our hotel room, we wrapped up map prep and gear sorting and were in bed before midnight to get a solid 4-5 hours of sleep before rolling back to HQ to catch buses and start the race, knowing we wouldn’t be back there until sometime the next day (although we hoped for a quick finish by racing hard).

Stage 1: The Paddle

The first section of the first leg of the race was meant to put water navigation to the test, as it featured a canoe paddle amongst thousands of tiny islands to pick out a ‘needle in a haystack’ with a CP on one of the islands. You could either pick a direct route, or use a ‘handrail’ by sticking closer to the mainland and having visual cues of where to turn. We had chosen the ‘safe’ route as shown above (click to see full size), but unfortunately had our boats improperly balanced. Nat and I were in one boat, and James and Harper in the other. They were the stronger boat, so we had mismatched speeds. We arrived at CP1 to see many other teams had grabbed it and were on their way to the next CP already! Oh well, chasing from the  back is easier, right? The full splits had us as 14th to arrive there!

We also delayed further at CP1 by shuffling the boats, now putting James and I in one boat, and Nat and Harper in the other. We all agreed it was ‘hammer time’, and set our goals on re-capturing the front of the race. With speed balanced out better, and fire in our paddles, we raced off. In short order, we had passed a number of teams, and were continuing to pull ahead. We then got a break further into the paddle when all the lead teams got tripped up in a ‘blind bay’ where the route back out to a river we wanted to follow was not obvious. We saw all the leaders, and even compared notes before we all set off en masse again.

We noted that Benoit (Team O-Store) and his crew opted to take a gamble and try for a portage rather than look for a tributary. However, we saw them just as we were actually starting the completely navigable stream, which in theory should help us. We traded paddle strokes with the other leaders, including the teams that had arrived at CP1 in 1st and 2nd. By the time we hit CP2, we were sitting in 4th overall, and held that placement until the first transition, where we were gearing up for the trek. All told, after the initial delays, we were pretty pumped with our position, especially knowing that our strength is in the trekking leg, which is what we were about to tackle. To buoy us even further, O-Store was still on the water, and we were leaving transition just as they were arriving. Their portage idea had hurt them, but they pushed hard to make up time.

Stage 2: Trekking

This section was where we knew we could pull ahead of many of the chasing teams by pulling off a solid trek. On the water, there is not much room to get ahead, as all teams are limited by hull speed on boats, as well as limited route options. With only 1 real portage, it had been just a straight up paddle. However, on the trek, there are many route options, and teams all have very different speeds when traversing real bush. We are fast on our feet, and have a top navigator to guide us. With over 20km of bushwhacking ahead of us, a LOT can happen.

We set to work on this section with a vengeance, with Harper leading the charge on a mission. Our first CP was a nice remote checkpoint where the staff had actually arrived by float plane on the lake! We crashed out of the woods to find out we were now sitting in 2nd place, and had arrived less than 10 minutes behind first place. We also learned that O-Store were now the team we were chasing! Yes, Benoit, the AR trekking legend, was working his magic once again and his team had completely overcome their earlier paddle snafu. As you’ll see, this is the theme that would define the rest of this race. O-Store in 1st, with use chasing hard, and a slightly longer gap behind us for 2 teams battling it out for 3rd.

The terrain had been [relatively] forgiving on the trek. Sure, we hit a number of swamps, but the bush itself was not super thick, which meant we were able to maintain a very good pace. At the end of the trek, Nathalie informed us this was the fastest  she had ever moved through a bushwhack in a race. From CP4 to CP5, we veered NE to look for some features, deviating from the proposed ‘ideal route’ we saw later, which was a more easterly route. It resulted us in hitting a river, and following it for a while before catching on to an ATV trail that we’d revisit on the bike. Harper noted that we hit the river much further west than he’d hoped, but on arriving at CP5, and looking at the stats, I would say that didn’t hurt us, as we were holding steady at 2nd place, under 10 minutes behind O-Store. More notably, for the trek between CP4 and CP5, we were a mere 24 SECONDS slower than O-Store! That is an amazing stat for a race where you are literally crashing through the bush and everyone takes a slightly different route, hitting swamps, deadfall, etc.

The final leg of the trek was a straight bushwhack between CP5 and CP6/TA2. There were no good features or possible trails, so we just got to work on it. With more solid footwork, we emerged at the transition zone to see O-Store still there, with Benoit actually sitting down eating and resting. Imagine their surprise at seeing us so close! We had been only 2 minutes slower than them, and emerged still a mere 10 minutes behind them!  They left in a hurry, but not fast enough, as we had a smell of blood! We pulled off a remarkably fast transition for trek to bike (fastest, at under 11 minutes), and left the peace of the transition zone now a mere 5.5 minutes behind the leaders.

Now, allow me to whine for just a moment about this type of racing. Transition zones, especially between two long legs, are a great chance to fuel up, change, and recharge. However, when you are racing at the level we were here, it is sheer panic and pandemonium. We are going through everything like a well-oiled machine, but you have to forego things like eating and sitting for a moment. O-Store had spent over 16 minutes in this transition, and the slower teams? They spent over 45 minutes there! Obviously, this is what you HAVE to do to be competitive, but inhaling two poptarts in 30 seconds is an impressive feat, but starting the bike with a mouth full of dry pastry and still putting gloves on can be a bit of a mental challenge! I seriously questioned whether I rather this kind of race or the more relaxed pace I had experienced at Untamed New England. Perhaps something in between?

Stage 3: The ‘Hydro Line’ Bike

Man oh man, what can I say about this leg of the race. It was by far the mentally most difficult, and technically pretty challenging as well. We were lucky, as we did 3/4s of this section of the race with daylight, and in dry conditions, but it was still a HELL of a slog! The beginning of this section was easy enough. About 12km of clear road riding.  We formed a paceline, and just hammered. arriving at the next CP still about 9 minutes behind O-Store. Unfortunately, we were aware that the next, and super-long section of biking could be our weakness. As a team, we knew we’d be slower on the technical power line section than O-Store. We were also unsure how far our nearest competitors were, nor how fast they may be. All we could do was push hard, and maintain our pace.

We literally spent much of this leg glancing behind our shoulders, expecting to get passed at any point. Our nerves were also severely tested by a completely unforeseen foe. DEERFLIES! OMG. I have no words for what these bastards did to our spirits. Even Steely Harper completely lost his shit with them. Our speed was simply not fast enough to out-run them, and they kept flying directly into the vents on my helmet, eating chunks of my ‘head buffet’ as I battled the tricky riding, with both hands on the handlebars. All 4 of us were unanimous in our loathing. In a tough race, you do your best not to complain or be negative, but this was simply too much for us, and we basically were all whining like little babies, at times cursing at the top of our lungs at these buggers. Harper said he had NEVER experienced bugs this bad in ANY race he’d done (hint: he’s done LOTS, including in jungle climes).

Ok, rant over. The point is, the riding was tough, our going felt painfully slow, the trail was long, the terrain endlessly undulating, and our nerves shot from the bugs, AND spirits worried that we’d be passed at any moment. The hallelujah moment was at the next CP, where we were STILL in 2nd place, albeit trailing by almost 45 minutes :-(. This wasn’t the end of the bike though, and we were now continuing on in the dark, and the rain, for the final push to the next transition zone.  Without the bugs though, this didn’t seem quite as miserable (yes, even in the rain). It was about another 12km of ATV trail riding.

On the closing kilometers of the bike, we passed by a slightly tired-looking team O-Store, who were starting the next trekking section. We knew the transition wasn’t too far ahead, and this lifted our spirits, knowing they were not super far ahead of us. They were also WALKING which had us surprised. Emerging at the TA, we discovered why. Apparently, Benoit was having some GI issues, and was periodically ill. Small blessing for us I suppose. By executing another blazing transition (over twice as fast as O-Store), we managed to leave that transition about 30 minutes behind O-Store, and not willing to give up the victory just yet.

Stage 4: Final Trek and Bike

Well, this is it! The final push, and location of yet another ‘close call’ for Mr. ‘Zero percent body fat’ Meyer. We left that transition running hard. So hard that we momentarily set off on the wrong trail. D’Oh! We recovered quickly, but were annoyed at this trip-up. Our plan was to run the entire section where possible, in the hopes of closing the gap to O-Store, and ensuring we kept the 3rd place team safely at bay. Unfortunately, they did to us the exact same thing we had done to team O-Store. Namely, we crossed paths with them at nearly exactly the same place O-Store passed us. This meant we only had about 30 minutes on them too! Damn! That meant we had to keep pushing hard, in spite of starting to feel the effects of a long day racing at 100% output.

At this point, it was raining, but nothing too hard yet, so the terrain wasn’t too bad. For this section, we had about a 10-12k trek to pull off before the final bike leg. As part of the trek, we also had the ‘option’ to swim to a couple checkpoints rather than taking a long trek around. Of course, it wasn’t really an ‘option’ for us, as we knew we had to do this to keep the pressure on. Armed with that knowledge, I had put a dry shirt and rain paints and raincoat in a dry bag in my pack with the intention of changing directly after our swim.

We made good time on the lead-up to the swim, and wasted very little time in ‘taking the plunge’. Our progress was only slightly nerve-wracking in the fact that we were tackling this in the depths of the darkness. Although it was supposed to be a full moon, the rain and clouds meant no visibility. Luckily, the volunteers at one CP had lit a fire, so we essentially had a beacon for the first swim.  The distance was likely around 300m. Had we had daylight, I suspect we could have chosen a spot just a bit further that would have made that 200m. Regardless, off we went, swimming out little hearts out.

Unfortunately for me, I started cramping about halfway into the swim. These were leg cramps that I couldn’t get massaged out. I have to be honest, this was a bit frightening, as we had no flotation, and not a lot of chance for any sort of rescue, so I knew I had to suck it up. Luckily, my years of swim lessons (and lifesaving lessons!) kept me relatively calm, and I just focused on using my arms only. It made for slower progress, but I got there. Once at the CP, I hopped out to take a minute to attempt to massage out the cramps, before we hopped back for the next swim.

Harper estimated this swim at 100m, but in reality, it was as long as the first, and I guess 300m.  Looking at the maps, it was painfully clear that we *could* have cut that to between 50 and 100m by going a little way around the point, but in the darkness, we opted to just head straight towards our landmark, which was a stream on the other side. By the time we hit the far shore, I wasn’t the only one getting a big cold, and we took the time to ensure we’d stay warm for the next bit. For me, that meant stripping off a layer on top and bottom, and swapping out for a dry shirt and putting on my rain gear. I instantly felt better. Well, except for my legs, which were left rather sore from the cramping. I wolfed down as much food as I could while everyone else finished getting set. Then off we went, back in pursuit.

This bit wasn’t too bad, and we managed to hit a good stream that took us basically straight to the final trekking CP. Elated with that, we bushwhacked quickly back to the ATV trail which we’d follow back to the road. Guess what we did once there? Yup, RUN. Ugh. I was feeling pretty beat, but didn’t dare say anything, and just joined in. Within a very short time, I was then overheating with the extra layers, AND had to have a nature break, but had nary time to deal with either. Eventually, James helped by carrying my pack while I peeled off my jacket and pants WHILE RUNNING. It was tricky, but allowed us to not lose much time. For the nature break, try as I might, I was unable to do the ‘running pee’, and eventually pulled off, did my business, then had to run twice as fast to catch back up. Double ugh. But, these are the things you HAVE to do to win. We were also paranoid that team Epitact from France would emerge behind us at any time.

This effort did net us the fastest split on the final run from that CP to the transition, and ready to mount up on our bikes for the final push. On arrival at that TA, we learned that O-Store was still exactly 30 minutes ahead of us. D’oh! Apparently they found their mojo again. The final leg was a biking leg, and was supposed to only take about an hour, which meant catching them would likely not be feasible. Despite that, we left quickly, in order to keep a gap on 3rd place. At that point, we had no way of knowing they’d eventually fall over 1.5 hours behind us at that transition! Soggy and tired, we mounted our bikes, and pedaled off into the darkness, aware there was one final ATV section, before grabbing roads to the finish.

This final ATV section is where something interesting happened. THE SKIES OPENED UP! And I mean sheet rain. It was the heaviest rain we’d ever raced through in Ontario, and it lasted. Not just 5 minutes, but for HOURS! Knowing O-Store was probably out of the ATV section by then, we were totally sunk. We had to navigate the final bits of the race in rivers that were forming on the trail. Eventually all we could do was laugh. We knew everyone else was stuck in the same shit, so it would be a great equalizer, and guarantee our placing basically. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold.

Emerging at the 400, all we had to do was jump on the access road to town, and ride the big hill back to the finish area. Our time on this section was the worst of the 4 teams that eventually actually did it (only the top 4 teams did the full course including this ATV section, the rest of the ‘full course’ teams were allowed to go by roads the whole final section. We lost another 15 minutes on O-Store, meaning we finished off 45 minutes behind them at the finish. Despite this, they all told us this was the hardest they had to race to ensure their victory in this race in their last few years, which made me feel pretty good. They were nice enough to still be up to greet us. Apparently they had been quite surprised to see us in the transition zones where they did. We gave them a good run for their money (both figuratively and literally, given the $1500 cash prize on offer!).

When all was said and done, we’d raced nearly 21 hours non-stop at full throttle, and had a great result to show for it. All our gear and nutrition worked perfectly in this race, so big shout out to all our various sponsors and supporters (Xact Nutrition, 2XU, North Face, Nuun, Milk2Go Sport, and Osprey Packs popping into mind right away). 3rd place was another 1.5 hours behind us, and 4th place another 1.5 hours behind them! Amazing race. Undoubtedly, much of this likely had to do with the extreme rain that had taken over the course. As we went to sleep for a couple hours, it was insane how heavy the rain was falling down.]

Once we were back up, we dealt with gear, had a first breakfast, then a BBQ lunch, and finally the awards ceremony, and time to catch up with our fellow competitors. All agreed that this was yet another epic Wilderness Traverse for the books. Bob always puts on a great race, and it seems every year, the weather also plays a starring role. We’re already looking forward to returning next year for another run at Bob the Beaver (the winner’s trophy). But till that time, there’s still lots more racing. For me, next up is the Bruce Peninsula Multisport Race, which I’m really looking forward to. For that one, I’ll also be filming, so keep your eyes open for that report! Till then, hope everyone is having as much fun this summer as I am!

Steve