I’m heading over to the Island on Thursday night for four days of course scouting in preparation for the MOMAR Cumberland. I have a brand new course designed so all I have to do is vet it out and make sure the mapping is accurate. Here’s what I can tell you about this year’s Cumberland course:

1. It will only have one kayak leg
2. It will have a real orienteering stage
3. We may bring out the pool noodles (if we get nice weather)
4. The finish line is going to rock

I’m really looking forward to scouting out some new areas and to get back on the bike after a month off. If you happen to spot me on the trails, please don’t be offended if I ride the other way… I don’t want to give you any hints… ha ha.

I also have a weekend pass to The Big Time Out Music Festival! This is a three day concert in Cumberland featuring some amazing talent. I’ve already seen a bunch of the bands this year because we booked them for the events with the City of Surrey.  The festival headliners are Metric, De La Soul, K’naan, and many more. Hopefully, i’ll see some MOMARIANS there!

AND the final GutBuster Trail Run is this weekend up at Mt. Washington. It’s an ascent up to the top from the lodge and you get to take the lift down. I’m not sure if I can make it up for it but maybe you’ll see me there.

Holy shit. Jen Segger finished Badwater in 9th place overall and was the 5th female! 32:37:57 was her time.  I don’t think I’ve run 32 hours this year!  Way to go, Jen!!! You rock!  You’re an inspiration to everyone and congratulations on ripping it up?

Did you leaving anything in the tank for the MOMAR in 11 days???

My friend and longtime MOMAR racer and volunteer, Michelle Relf, take the MOMAR t-shirt overseas. Here she is with her friend in Ireland posing with the shirt from this year’s MOMAR Squamish.

I can’t remember which race the fuchsia shirt is from (in photo below) but if you remember, then please reply as a comment below.

Both shirts were designed by my little brother, Rod, and he is busy working on the shirt design for the Shawnigan Race. Speaking of my brother, I better give his company, Surface Collective, a big plug. Rod and his business partner Michelle have just filmed an episode on the CBC show Dragon’s Den which will air in October 2008.

Did you know that the MOMAR was one of the first races that used American Apparel (warning: some might consider this site a bit offensive… others (gary) will love it… ) shirts and offered female sizing? We have always believed that a shirt should be wearable and some of the ways we did that was to pay for a high quality shirt, put on a cool graphic (something your parents wouldn’t wear or one that your kids would be jealous of what you are wearing!), and we put the logos on the lower back (small). Personally, I can’t stand shirts with all the gaudy logos that cover the back or the poorly fitting Gilden shirts with their fat collars.

The Vancouver Sun Run has always had the worst shirts. You would think a race that huge would have figured it out by now! I did that run 10 times and each year I would tear it up and make it my new bike rag.

Anyway, enough about shirts! Time to get back to the Tour.

Congratulations to everyone who completed the Test of Metal on Saturday. The MOMAR alumni had a solid showing at this year’s race especially Wendy Simms from Nanaimo who was the fast female overall and 23rd OVERALL. Team Helly Hansen / MOMAR’s Gary Robbins and Todd Nowack entered the race but each had their own DNF stories to tell. I’ve linked to the racers blogs for the inside scoop.

David Kvick 02:50:58.1
Jeff Riemer 02:55:52.1
Wendy Simms 02:56:35.1
Normon Thibault 02:57:39.3 -
Justin Mark 03:01:21.1
Robin Dutton 03:04:43.7
Andrew Clarke 03:07:47.4
John Loewen 03:19:46.7
Stefan Jakobsen 03:29:31.0
Tom Craik 03:35:42.1
Annie Kvick 03:36:02.4
Duncan Coo 03:44:29.4
Andrew Pitre 03:46:55.6
Graeme Fitch 03:47:33.7
Greg Pitre 03:53:49.1
Dave Howells 03:59:41.8
Billy Adams 04:05:18.5
Isabelle Laplante 04:06:56.5
Jean-Francoi Plouffe 04:08:40.3
Jeff Gallimore 04:09:57.3
Dave Norona 04:11:08.1
Nelson Yu 04:18:45.9
Marshall House 04:22:03.6
Bobbie-Jean Taylor 04:22:36.7
Curtis LaBounty 04:22:46.7
Lesley-Ann Marriott 04:32:09.9
Rene Michaely 04:32:17.5
Graham Schulz 04:34:35.9
Malcolm Schulz 04:34:36.8
Heather Macintosh 04:41:15.1
Isabelle Thielen 05:02:04.4
Sarah Newman 05:14:01.8
Bill Lane 05:17:10.1
Dan Kucherka 05:21:05.6
Karen Stark DNF
Doug Demarzo DNF
Todd Nowack DNF
Gary Robbins DNF
Aaron VanderWaal DNF
Ben Sporer DNF

Every weather report is calling for sunny skies and mid 20 temperatures for the next three days so you better get out there and take advantage of it.  The MEC Big Chop Summer Paddle Series runs on Thursday night down at Vanier Park and there is no better way to enjoy the sun than on the water.  The Big Chop is a 10 race series that features both a long course (7-10km) and a Little Chop (~4km).

It only costs $8 to register and your entry includes a free smokie, lemonade, and a chance to win a ton of great draw prizes.  All abilities are welcome!  Check it out at www.bigchop.ca.

The above photo is of Rozee Hyder at last year’s GutBuster Trail Running Series on Mt. Tzouhalem in Duncan. Rozee is a regular at the GutBuster and you might get to see her this weekend (Sunday, May 4th) when the race returns to the Cowichan Valley.

If you haven’t heard yet, I sold the GutBuster to Mark and Nick at the Frontrunners Westshore store. It was a sad day for me to have to give it up but living on the Mainland and organizing a race series on the Island was a bit much for me. In October, I landed a dream job with the City of Surrey in their Filming and Special Events Department. Our department is in charge of all the signature events in the City including Canada Day which drew over 90,000 people last year. I really wasn’t looking for a ‘real’ job but I just happened to find it late one night while surfing the web so I decided to apply. Everything happened really quick and a week later I was offered the job.

So, things had to change and thus I had to sell the GutBuster and resign from my big contracts with the BC Bike Race and the Edge to Edge Marathon. BUT lucky for all you adventure racing enthusiasts, I was able to keep the MOMAR going with a full three race series (please note that because of this, I’m sacrificing time with my family, weekends, evenings, and my training (as witnessed by my performance at the Suburban Rush… ;0) ), so please be grateful! ha ha). My true passion really lies with the MOMAR, putting on a quality race and, most of all, a killer after-party so it’s all worth it.

Anyway, this blog post was simply to plug the GutBuster race this Sunday in Duncan! I guess I got on a bit of a roll. Sorry! The Tzouhalem course is legendary and is probably the one that people love to hate. It’s a big climb to the top (500m) but after that’s it (almost) all downhill through the most flowy singletrack trails that I have EVER been on. I wish I could be there to Bust-A-Gut with you but I will be running a million errands and hammering away at my mile long TO DO list in preparation for the MOMAR Squamish! At least this blog post was on the list so I can cross it off and go to bed!

Goodnight and thanks for reading! Cheers, Bryan

class=”centered”Last September, Tim Logie and I flew out to Ontario to take part in the Keen Adventure Sport Games. The weather was crappy, I wasn’t in the best conditioning, and Tim got pneumonia so needless to say, things didn’t go as well as we had hope. It was still a great experience overall and it always great to travel to do a race. The overall winners of the games were Tim’s cousin Bill and his buddy Bradford Brock who were great hosts to us during the entire weekend. With their win came a grand prize that included an all expenses paid trip to Australia for the KEEN Alps to the Ocean Adventure Race.

That race is happening right now and Brad and Bill are racing as Team Keen Canada. After two days, they are sitting in 11th place. There three more days to go in this 400km stage race so plenty of time for this super fit duo from Toronto to move up the rankings.

I would like to extend a big welcome to Keen Footwear who is a sponsor to this year’s MOMAR series. Keen will be the official sponsor of the Trekking Stage and the Team Spirit Award. Keen makes some really innovative and cool looking shoes and your team can all win a pair by showing lots of spirit at the next MOMAR.