The 25th edition of the Schick Xtreme3 Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race took place on July 26th in the Cowichan Valley were the series began nine years ago. It’s pretty cool for me to reminisce about all of the amazing memories that have taken place during each MOMAR weekend. From the adventure filled courses to the incredible racers and volunteers to the epic after-parties, the MOMAR has been an amazing experience and I can tell you a million great stories that are both family friendly to those not so family friendly… Going into race weekend, I didn’t really think much about the fact that this was our 25th race but sitting here now and thinking back on it all I can do nothing but smile, laugh, and sigh (from all the crazy hours). Anyway, I’ll save the trip down memory lane for the day when the MOMAR reaches 100 and your children’s children are doing the race!

Speaking of children being inspired and racing the MOMAR, this race we had 14 year old, Aaron Whalmsley race with his dad Roger in the Short Course. Roger has done numerous MOMARs usually racing with Where’s My Sherpa but at this race he convinced his son to enter as a father and son duo. Their team name was “Generation Gap” but the only gap they had was between them and the 2nd place team.

This MOMAR featured both a short 30km course and the regular 50km course. Each course started with a kayak on Shawnigan Lake (5km/10km) followed by a mountain bike stage (20km/30km) with two water challenges, and finished with a orienteering stage on Cobble Hill Mountain. In the regular course, it was Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR’s Todd Nowack winning his 5th Overall Title. Team PIT came in second followed by solo racer Roger McLeod. Sarah Seads from ELM Health won another solo female title (Sarah, how many is that now?). Jen Segger and Norm Hann were the top coed team of 2 and Team Berg Bikes, Lisa Hughes-Fisher and Nina Brown, were the fastest all female duo. The Mill Bay / Shawnigan Lake based Team Longevity were the top team of four.

The kayak stage saw Team Helly Hansen / Yogaslackers (Marshall House & Lina Augaitis), and Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island (Justin Mark & Jeff Reimer) open up a massive gap between them and the next chase group. Both teams have been paddling a lot and with their speedy boats (double surfski and K2), they rocked the paddle. Lina and Marshall hit the beach first but Jeff and Justin were the first to punch CP 1.

One of the big changes to this year’s course design was in the mountain bike stage. Jason Sandquist took racers out the Burnt Bridge trails which were used in the last two years of the BC Bike Race. The single-track riding in pretty wicked and the loose sand really keeps you on your toes. Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island was first into this stage and were arguably two of the strongest riders in the race. They knew that they needed a big time gap on Nowack heading into the Orienteering stage in order to have a chance at winning their second consecutive title. But multiple flats early in the stage cost them a significant amount of time and Nowack along with Frontrunners‘ owner, Normon Thibault passed them and took them out out contention.

An urgent call on the radio notified us that some idiot had removed the flagging before CP 12 and all the way to the Quarry. Jason was in the River and I was at the Quarry so we both ran and re-flagged it but not before the top 10 teams. Nowack said he didn’t mind this because he had his fancy map holder on his bike and it was easy to navigate through. Thibault stayed with him but lost his lead as a result. However, Team Warmland Dental/SOL and Team Cowichan Bay Kayaks missed a key turn and ended riding down a big hill before realizing their mistake and had to climb back up.

Course highlights were definitely the two water challenges. The first challenge required racers to run upstream to get a CP and then back downstream to get the other CP. The CP downstream required racers to jump into the deep pools of the Koksilah River and swim across the 10m span.

The other water challenge was the Pool Noodle Swim on Quarry Lake. Teams swam a 200m circuit with the pool noodles to collect two checkpoints. This man-made lake has an almost tropical green colour and is nice and warm. Both dips in the water do a great job of keep the racers cool (and clean). The pool noodles worked out much better than last year’s ‘choose your own inflatable’ but we missed seeing the Orca whale, crabs, and ducks…

The Orienteering Stage was last and the Carl Coger designed course gave many of the navigationally challenged racers a tough time. Although some say this year’s O course was easier than last year, it still had a few CPs that were the turning points for some racers. Thibault, entered the O course in first place but one CP gave some serious trouble and cost him a podium finish.

Nowack crossed the finish line in 4:26:37 and teams continued to finish right up until the eight hour cutoff. The finish area had a great vibe with MC Dave Norona and John Crosby entertaining racers all day long. The refreshment table was loaded with food, Edge drink, and there was even a big cooler filled with beer from Lighthouse Brewing Co. A big thanks to the students from the West Coast College of Massage Therepists for coming out and giving the racers a massage when they finished.

Full race results can be found on the Race Results page.