The Atmosphere Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR), Cumberland edition, was recently voted ‘Best Adventure Race in Western Canada’ by Get Out There Magazine for the fourth consecutive year.

Every year, Get Out There Magazine, a Canadian-based endurance sports and outdoor recreation publication, asks its readers to vote for the people, places and events that are the best at making active living in Canada so great. In addition to ‘Best Adventure Race’, MOMAR was also voted as having the “Best Post-race Party’ and ‘Best Race T-shirt, again for the fourth year in a row, and won  ‘Best Race Kit’ for the first time.

MOMAR Director, Bryan Tasaka is thrilled about this honour. “This is really a tribute to all the hard work that gets put into these races,” says Tasaka. “MOMAR staff, volunteers and sponsors are incredibly dedicated, having a genuine passion for creating top-notch events with a fun, relaxed vibe. We are honoured with these awards, and are beyond grateful for those who took the time to vote.”

Mind Over Mountain is proud to be sponsoring Team MOMAR Atmosphere at this year’s Raid the North Extreme. Team Captain, Todd Nowack, will lead an experienced and competitive team consisting of Pete Cameron, Leanne Mueller, and James Galipeau.

Over 6 days, four-person co-ed teams will navigate a 500km+ expedition over an unmarked route by paddling, trekking, trail running, mountain biking, and using fixed ropes through the wild and historic West Kootenays of British Columbia.

50 teams from around the world will take part in the 8th edition of Raid the North Extreme including some of the best in the sport.

For more information on the race, visit www.raidthenorthextreme.com.

Trekking in Cumberland. Photo by Dave Silver Photography

The Atmosphere Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing Series becomes only the third Canadian race series to join the US based Checkpoint Tracker Adventure Racing Series.

The winners of the 2010 Get Out There Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards have been announced and the Atmosphere Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing Series wins in three categories.  For the third year in a row, the MOMAR was voted Best Adventure Race, Best Post Race Party, and Best Event T-Shirt in Western Canada. 

Here are two photos from the MOMAR After-Party with a packed dance floor and great live music.  Interesting fact:  Over 95% of participants and volunteers stay for the banquet/awards/party and with guests, there are close to 500 people that fill the party hall.  I’ve been told that some teams race just so they can come to the MOMAR After-Party. 

Here are our award winning shirts.  The blue one was designed by my brother Rod Tasaka who owns and operates Surface Collective — a MOMAR sponsor. The owl shirt was designed by Paula Solanoy who does our poster designs.  The MOMAR has been producing quality shirts with a female cut since 2002.  The back of our shirts are not covered in “logo soup” and only have the Atmosphere and Make-A-Wish logos in a small area on the bottom of the shirt. We focus on a cool graphic design that makes the shirt wearable.  Numerous people have told me that the MOMAR shirt is the only race shirt they keep and wear. Good and sustainable, right!?

The MOMAR would like to thank its staff, sponsors, volunteers, suppliers, and participants for helping us put on a top notch race experience for everyone involved.  We would also like to thank everyone who took the time and voted for us.  And thanks to Marissa and her team at Get Out There Magazine for the award and recognition.

LIST OF 2011 AWARD WINNERS

Another batch of the Dirty Girlz have signed up for the Cumberland MOMAR so if you see them coming on the bike, you better step aside. These girls can ride and they know how to have fun. 

The Dirty Girlz is a Victoria based mountain biking club that organizes group rides, training clinics, and other social events.  If you need biking skills, biking friends, and biking motivation, then be sure to check them out at http://www.dirtygirlzbikeclub.ca/home

I wish I had the time to go through the MOMAR’s massive image bank and put together a comprehensive photo gallery of all the great team costumes that have graced our start.  Time… not enough of it.

From a vast array of superheros, bravehearts, brokeback cowboys, spacemen, and french divas (photo), I always think I’ve seen it all and then another batch of teams show up in the craziest batch of outfits.

This year, the team with the most spirit wins free entry to their next MOMAR so it’s well worth the effort of putting together something good.

How do we judge the winner, you ask?  The outfit is key but a good outfit with no personality probably won’t make you a champ.  Always being in character goes a long way!

What are YOU going to be wearing in Cumberland? Bring it.

When participants arrive at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland for the MOMAR’s Friday Night Registration, they will each get an Atmosphere Gift Bag loaded with surprises.  One of the featured products is a fruition™ bar which comes from our sponsor PROBAR.

The website describes the cherry fruition™ akin to “biting into a handful of late summer cherries, freshly picked from the tree… well, almost that good. Loaded with antioxidants, fiber, and 2 servings of fruit, this bar is a medley of flavor and nutrition.” YUM!

Racers who did the May MOMAR in Squamish will remember recieving the original PROBAR which I personally love and so does my 3 year old kid.  And for those of you that are fast enough to take the top position in your category, you will each receive a BOX of PROBAR in addition to a new pair of Ryders sunglasses!

We are very excited to announce that the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing Series was named Western Canada’s “Best Adventure Race,” “Best Post-Race Party,” and “Best Event T-Shirt” for the second year in a row!  Thank you to all the Get Out There readers who voted for us. I share this recognition with all my staff, volunteers, and racers who made the MOMAR part of their lives in 2009!

Be sure to check out the Jan/Feb issue of Get Out There Magazine on news stands today or view the online version.

After working long hours over the past few months on the City of Surrey’s Canada Day and Fusion Festival, I scheduled a nice five day long weekend to the Comox Valley to work on the course design for the final MOMAR of the season.

Joining me once again, were my friends from Victoria: Kris, Michelle, and Kari. These guys are always keen on packing as much adventure activities into a weekend as possible and that’s exactly what we did.

The team… Kris Clarke, me (Bryan Tasaka), Kari Frazer, and Michelle Relf

We stayed at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland which is owned by MOMAR regular Jeremy Grasby.

We arrived in Cumberland on Friday night and went for dinner at The Great Escape. The service is excellent and the food is amazing.

Saturday morning. Liz Tribe joined us for our first ride of the trip. Liz has been awesome at helping me with the course design and time trialing the various route options. She has a killer trek planned!

Michelle and Kari flowing through the trails in the Comox Valley.  We rode for 2.5 hours in the 30 degree heat. It was so hot but fun the whole way.

Immediately following the ride, we did a quick change of clothes, grabbed lunch to go and drove to the Nymph Falls Orienteering Meet. Sarah Seads was helping the Victoria Orienteers organize the race and gave out some race tips.

Here’s MOMAR’s Orienteering Stage Director, Carl Coger.  Carl spent Monday working on the course design for the “O” stage in the Cumberland MOMAR. Be ready!

There were three course options and we decided to do the 4km route. I went solo and Kris, Kari, and Michelle did it as a team.  We had to collect 16 checkpoints and we were given the maps about 30 minutes prior to the start of the race. I had a route all planned out but just before the start, I was told that you had to get the CPs in order. Off I went looking for CP #1. I thought I would find it easy but NOOOOOOOO… I spent the next 15 minutes trying to find it. I finally figured it out and then I couldn’t find #2! NOOOOO…. I slowed it down and by then I was used to the scale and the rest of the CPs were easy.  Still, it made for a LONG day of running/walking/bushwhacking. No results to comment on (and no desire to either ;0) ).  Kris, Michelle, and Kari didn’t have any issues with any of the CPs and put in a good time.

Here is MOMAR regular and orienteering superstar, Hayden Earle, at the final CP.  Photo by Sarah Seads.

Following the “O” meet we went for a dip in the Puntledge River and a nap on the rocks.

A view of rapids on the Puntledge River.

After 5+hours of adventures, we had a well deserved dinner at the Old House Restaurant in Courtenay. We followed up dinner with a trip to the Waverly Hotel where Gary Comeau was playing live. It was a high energy show but we were exhausted and only lasted one set and one beer.

It’s the Japanese in me taking photos of the food with my BB.

Sunday morning and a nice ride scouting some different areas for potential inclusion into the MOMAR. I wonder if any of the locals can figure out where I took this photo?

Sunday evening we booked boats from Comox Valley Kayaks and headed out in the estuary for a paddle out to an beautiful sandy beach on the Comox spit (not sure what the actual name is).

The paddle was incredibly scenic with many wildlife sightings.

Relaxing on the beach on the ‘comox spit.’

Monday morning… Lox and Bagels for breakfast at Tarbell’s. Great food and service right beside Dodge City Cycles and below the Riding Fool Hostel.

Our third and final ride of the weekend was supposed to be a fun and short ride on trails that I wasn’t planning on using for the MOMAR.  Two hours later, I’m now considerng a complete revision to the bike stage…

What a weekend! Four days of fun in the Comox Valley and I’m really looking forward to the MOMAR on Sept 26th. That race will mark the end of our 10th season and we are planning on celebrating in a big way! I look forward to seeing you all there!

The latest and greatest Coast Mountain Sports store is opening its doors on June 4, 2009 at the corner of Yates Ave. and Broad St. in Victoria, BC.

With 8000 square feet of retail space, this new Victoria location will house the prestigious outdoor brands you’ve come to expect from Coast Mountain Sports – names like The North Face, Columbia, Merrell, Marmot, Salomon, Dakine, Black Diamond, Arc’Teryx, Osprey and more. Get ready to explore the new store for a great selection of camping, paddling and electronic gear to technical packs, travel bags, multi-sport footwear and apparel.

Be sure to join us for our Grand Opening events from June 10-15 where you can take 20% off our ticket price on most items in-store. Plus from June 10-12,  if you’re among the first 50 customers in the store, you can receive FREE merchandise (with a $25 minimum purchase).  See in-store for more details and be sure to check out our Grand Opening ad in the June 10, 11 & 12 Victoria Times Columnist.

This is the first Coast Mountain Sports location in Victoria, and it has been built within a beautiful heritage building in this very colourful and historic part of downtown. The renovation construction team took strong consideration to continue to preserve the existing interior brick and ceiling surfaces, keeping the integrity and history of the building intact. The ornate exterior of the building will be cleaned up and improved to fit better into the vibrant Broad Street community.

Coast Mountain Sports is excited to become a part of Victoria’s outdoor adventure community and we look forward to folding ourselves in to the colourful mosaic that makes up this vibrant city.

Wow. That was a long break from Blogging! I was getting lazy and posting updates via Twitter for the past month.  But, I’m back now and a lot has happened since the last update.

The first MOMAR of the season is just a few weeks away and we are all set to go.  We have over 200 racers signed up and ready to rip it out on a newly designed course by Jen Segger.  Over 90 of the 200 are first time MOMAR participants which is a great stat to see as we love having a new batch of weekend warriors give adventure racing a try.

MOMAR sponsored athlete, Gary Robbins, has been running and running and running and running some more.  He’s become the Forest Gump of the North Shore!  Gary was named Ultra Runner of the Year so he gets a BIG CONGRATS.  He’s been blogging his race stories and they are a well worth a read especially while you drink a milkshake and eat a cinnamon bun!

Last weekend was the Suburban Rush and Aimee Dunn and I had a blast in our third year racing together. It was actually my fifth time doing this race and that was enough to get me a nice certificate for participation! They sold out their event with 250 racers and the competition keeps getting better every year.

I also spent time in Squamish scouting out Jen’s course.  The rappel site is so awesome. Freaky as hell. It makes the rappels from the last two years like bumps in the prairies!

The final few weeks will be busy behind the scenes for the organizing team, but we are very excited for the big day and most of all the big PARTY!

More blogs to come!

Bryan Tasaka
Event Director

Photo by Sleepmonsters.com

It is only mid February, but the hardcore are already out racing some big events.

• Gary Robbins put in a solid performance at the Orcas 50km Ultra this past weekend.
• Jen Segger is ski racing down in Colorado competing in a 24 hour ‘rondo’
• Chris Koch and Jim Mandelli are down in South America racing with Team Spirit in the Pategonia Expedition Race. Lina Augaitis is also competing with Team Buff.
• And Dave Norona is ripping it up on the sled in the Chilcotins.

Meanwhile, I spent the day celebrating my 38th by eating about 5000 calories… although I did get a good workout in at the gym (hot tub)…  Living the dream… ;0)

Life outside the MOMAR sure has been hectic.  I have just finished producing the Surrey WinterFest event and that was all consuming. We had over 20,000 people attend and it was big success with lots of fun activities for the whole family as well as a rock concert featuring Eva Avila, Faber Drive, and Thornley.

Now that it’s over, I can refocus on the ’09 MOMAR season and locking in all our sponsors.  Jen Segger has been working on a new course design for the Squamish race and based on preliminary designs, it’s going to be epic!  This Enduro course will feature a BIG surprise section that is going to absolutely rock!

And I’m way ahead of the game for Cumberland.  The course concept is already complete and once the snow clears Liz Tribe will be start the vetting process.  I think there will be a bit more trekking in this one compared to previous years.

Keep checking back for more exciting news in the coming days!

MOMAR’s MC, Dave Norona, just posted a great video on YouTube.  Check it out here.

To coincide with the most popular day set one’s goals for the year, registration for the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing Series will open at 10:00am on January 1st.

If you are reading this blog entry then you probably have the MOMAR on your list of race goals for the year. Great! I promise you will have an amazing experience at Squamish and Cumberland.  For those of you that have never taken part in the MOMAR, we do offer training clinics to teach you how to navigate, rappel, and mountain bike (the schedule will be updated in a few weeks).  And if you need to learn how to paddle or just need an opportunity to train, I suggest the MEC Big Chop Summer Paddle Series that I also organize in Vancouver

Finally, I found this short article that details the S.M.A.R.T. Principle for motivation and goal setting.  Enjoy!