Photos:
Racers line up for the start of the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (photo by
Andre du Toit)
Final
Results
Over
180 excited racers lined up on the shores of Comox Lake for the start of the Mind
Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) season finale. The sky was blue, the water
was clear as glass, the trails were ready to ride. The 90 volunteers were set
to cheer on whoever crossed their path. The foghorn blew, signaling the start
of the MOMAR and a sea of adventure racers sprinted frantically down the cobble
beach for an intense 500 metre LeMans run. This is how the 10th Mind Over Mountain
Adventure Race began and just like all the others, it would prove to be a weekend
filled with elated racers, inspired volunteers, and many great memories.
Photos:
The Dirt Divas strategize; Racers warm up; The Mudd Hunneys are all smiles (photos
by Andre du Toit)
On a foggy Friday night, racers began
arriving in the Village of Cumberland - a historic coal mining town in the Comox
Valley - for mandatory racer check-in. An event in itself, the Riding Fool Hostel
played host to an evening of racers mingling while drinking their free pint of
Piper's Pale Ale beer (or six if you work at the Urban Lemming bike shop… ). Hopefully
there was enough beer to settle the nerves of the many first time adventure racers
and ensure a good night's rest after a long afternoon of travel.
In
the week leading up to the race, the weather conditions were poor and on the day
before the race, fog blanketed Comox Lake and Cumberland until mid-afternoon.
Needless to say, we expected an ugly weather day on Saturday; however, the MOMAR
race karma came through AGAIN and blessed us with the only sunny day of the week.
Thank you weather gods!
Photos:
The race started with a short run along the shore of Comox Lake (photos by Andre
du Toit)
Following the beach run, racers launched their
kayaks into Comox Lake for a 8 km paddle to the other side of the lake. First
to hit the beach was Dave Bergman and Justin Mark of Team Puke, followed closely
by soloist, Dave Kvick from North Vancouver, and Team Alpha Adventures. Once on
the beach, racers met the first Mystery Event.
Photos:
Racers make the transition to the kayak (photo by Bryan Tasaka)
Photos:
Team Puke arrive at the beach; Team Frontrunners works through the mystery event;
Christian Piller heads off on the trek (photos by Andre du Toit)
This
Mystery Event was a simple map and compass PAPER exercise where racers had to
figure out the bearing and distance from one point to the next. Time penalties
were two minutes for every incorrect answer and even with a three degree and a
30 metre leeway, many racers made costly mistakes. "One of the things that defines
the sport of adventure racing is a racer's ability to know how to use a compass
properly and how to calculate real world distance from a map," says race director,
Bryan Tasaka. "This relatively simple paper exercise tests just those skills and
it separates the men from the boys."
Photos:
Star volunteer Wanda Miller; Sherpa's Shawn O'Toole; Swamp run; Dan Clements owner
of the Urban Lemming Bike Shop (photos by Andre du Toit (1,3) & Bryan Tasaka
(2,4))
Next up was the trekking stage. For the first
time in MOMAR history, this stage was completely unflagged and racers had to navigate
to four Check Points (CP) using any route they wished. Route choice and one's
ability to carefully read and follow the map were crucial. The spot where many
racers went wrong was at the 7 Way Junction - and like the name indicates, seven
trails converge on this one location. Racers were coming and going from every
direction and this proved to be costly for those who were not careful. The quickest
time for this stage was Dave Kvick at 1:12:19 with the slowest team logging over
four hours.
Photos:
Kayaking; Team Next Left Vancouver stops for a photo; Team Stinky sets off on
the bike (photos by Andre du Toit (1,3) & Taryn Langford (2))
Back
to the kayaks. Kvick was the first one back to the boats and he paddled hard across
the lake with Lunny and Team Frontrunners I, Wendy Simms and Normon Thibault,
5 minutes behind. Also, the Team of Two - Male Category was shaping up to be quite
the race with Team Puke, Matchstick Men (John Roberts & Paul Elphick), and Gab
Reids (Phil Shrum and David Frisch) all within seconds of each other following
the short 1.5km kayak stage.
Time to ride. Cumberland is fortunate
to have some of the best single-track around and we took full advantage of the
vast trail network to design a course that would challenge both the novice and
advanced rider. From the long sections of fast and flowy trails like Bronco's,
to the steep downhill on Bucket of Blood to the many log rides on Buggered Pig,
this course was a blast for many racers. It even included The Wall - a steep hike-a-bike
section that only a course designer could love! Sean Lunny was the fastest through
the 20km bike stage with a time of 2:19:01. Cumberland local, Jeremy Grasby, owner
of the Riding Fool Hostel, had the second quickest stage time (AND he was riding
a one-speed bike, if you can believe it!) - just seconds behind Lunny.
Midway
through the mountain bike stage at CP 13, racers encountered the second Mystery
Event - The Chain Break. Here racers were required to break a section of chain
and then put it back together. Hints were given out prior to the race that this
may be one of the mystery events, so those who practiced this skill took seconds
to do this while others took over 20 minutes!
Photos:
At the Finish - Martin Middleton and Aaron Parrota from Team SOL; Team Puke; Amanda
congratulates her mom Sue Price; Two Tired's Todd Blumel and John Schnieder pose
for the camera after completing their first MOMAR (photos by Andre du Toit (1,3)
& Bryan Tasaka (2,4))
Show me the Lunny! For
the third time, Sean Lunny of Nanaimo (formerly from the Comox Valley) captured
the overall title at the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race. Kvick and Lunny actually
crossed the finish line at the same time but once penalty times from the Mystery
Event #1 were tallied, Lunny prevailed. Annie Kvick was the first solo female
with a time of 4:24:26. Team Frontrunners once again kicked butt and finished
as the top team of two co-ed. Team Trash (Sarah Seeds and Jen Rankel) was the
top team of two, female category and The Gab Reids were the top team of two in
the male division.
In the team of four category, the River
Rats were the top coed team, the Mudd Hunneys were the top all female team, and
the Alpha Adventures was the top all-male team.
Final
Results
Volunteers cheered loudly for
the last team to officially cross the finish line after 7.5 hours of racing, and
then it was off to Mt. Washington Alpine Resort for the banquet dinner, awards
and after-party. Here racers and volunteers swapped stories from the day's race
and had a few good laughs. Awards were given to all first to third place winners
in each category and many amazing draw prizes were won by lucky racers.
Photos:
Coed 4 winners; Who wants the XXL shirt pose-down; Coed 2 winners (photos by Brian
Roberts)
Photos:
Spirit Award Finalists -- Team AWL; Schoolgirls; Alpha Adventures; Lost In Space
(photos by Bryan Tasaka, Andre du Toit (2,3), and Paul Elphick)
Special
awards were also given out including Team in Most Need of a Beer and Team Spirit.
The Team in Most Need of a Beer - sponsored by Vancouver Island Brewery - went
to the Newbies (Tim Logie, Vivian Bishop, Sheila Broghton, and Greg Louis) with
a time of 7:39:21.
We had many teams vie for the highly coveted
Spirit Award that comes with a prize package featuring a weekend vacation for
four to the Tauca Lea Resort and Spa in Ucluelet and a SUV rental from Budget
Car and Truck rental. Team Lost in Space, Lori Lovell and Sue MacDonald, were
the volunteer-voted winners as they came complete with full space outfits, ray
guns, and a robot dog who did tricks at each CP. Honorable mentions go out to
Team A.W.L who gave out customized treats and thank you's to all the volunteers.
Twigs and Berries gave a rousing team cheer at every CP station. And by now, we
don't expect anything less from Greg Pitre, Andrew Pitre, Steve Knoke, and Justin
Lee who all dressed up as schoolgirls and skipped their way through the course.
They shocked many volunteers when they lifted up their skirts to reveal…well,
I'm sure you can just imagine what was under those skirts...
Following
the awards, everyone headed downstairs to Fat Teddy's Bar and Grill for the infamous
MOMAR dance party complete with 80's tunes and some very amusing breakdancing
that lasted well into the night.
What a night. What a party.
What a great way to end the 2003 race season!
Photos:
Ina Kerckhoff and Aimee Dunn; River Rats (with Thibault); Go-Go Dancer, Wanda
Miller up on the table (photos by Bryan Tasaka)
Photos:
Ina breakin'; Dave Bergman with the Zone girls Brooklyn and Nic; Roddy Tasaka
breakin'; Liz Anderson on the air guitar (photos by Bryan Tasaka)
Photos:
Paul Polizzi, Aimee Dunn and Eric Hung; The Schoolgirls change to Togos for the
afterparty; 3/4 of the Dirt Divas didn't leave the dance floor all night (photos
by Bryan Tasaka)
Final Results
KUDOS!
It
takes so many phenomenal people and companies to put on a race of this magnitude.
A BIG THANK YOU goes out to the following:
*
THE COMOX VALLEY: thanks to the Village of Cumberland for hosting the 3rd Annual
MOMAR. Special thanks goes to Mac Fraser, Town Administrator; Karen Eisner at
the Chamber of Commerce; John at the Cumberland Lake Park Campground
*
RACERS: All 180+! Extra thanks to all the racers that travelled the distance to
be part of the MOMAR!
*
SPONSORS: The Zone @ 91.3, Frontrunners, Adidas, Simon River Sports, Bad Dog Graphics,
Howard Johnson Hotels, Budget Car & Truck Rental, 100.3 the Q!, Flash-5 Energy
Foods, Seaward Kayaks, Urban Lemming Bike Shop, Vancouver Island Newsgroup, 7-Eleven,
Hammer Gel, Vancouver Island Brewery, Old Victoria Water Company, and Madrone
Environmental Services.
*
ADDITIONAL PRIZE SPONSORS: Tauca Lea Resort and Spa, Storm the North Shore, Riding
Fool Hostel, and Comox Valley Kayaks.
*
LANDHOLDERS: · Village of Cumberland · BC Hydro · Hancock Lumber· Courtenay Fish
and Game Club · TimberWest Forest Corp.,
*
SAFETY TEAM: St. John Ambulance Brigade, Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue,
Timonda Emergency Services, and the Cowichan Amateur Radio Society. You guys are
an invaluable asset to ensuring swift response to an injured or lost racer!
*
KAYAK OUTFITTERS: Alberni Outpost, Alpha Adventures, Comox Valley Kayaks, Island
Outdoor Centre, Sealegs Kayaking, Island Canoe and Kayak Centre, Tree Island Kayaking,
Wilderness Kayaks. What a huge service you provide to the racers by bringing boats
down to the race start! And thanks to all that donated such great prize packages!
*
PRE-RACE BIKE INSPECTION TEAM: Reckless Cycles, Urban Lemming, The Realm, Dodge
City Cycles, and Iguana Cycles (extra thanks to Matt and Dan at Dodge City Cycles
for doing the Friday Night inspection too!)
*
FRIDAY NIGHT REGISTRATION: Thanks to Jeremy Grasby and the Riding Fool Hostel
for hosting one of the best Friday night registrations ever! Also to Vancouver
Island Brewery for providing the free beer, and to all the volunteers who did
a great job helping with check in.
*
SATURDAY NIGHT BANQUET: Thanks to Joanne Chalioux at Mt. Washington for coordinating
our banquet. To Rob and the awesome wait staff at Fat Teddy's Bar and Grill for
taking good care of us during the dance party. Jarome and Roddy for doing a wicked
job DJing all night. And BIG thanks goes to Lisa Wolff for organizing the banquet-another
wicked job!!!
*
HEAD VOLUNTEERS: Erin Thompson, Wanda Miller, Bonnie and Paul Ervin - great job
on the transition! Terry Lewis - great job on coordination the trekking stage
and for GPSing all the trails on the Courtenay side. Lisa Wolff, Aimee Dunn, and
Janine Tasaka - you guys are SO invaluable that I cannot tell you how much it
means to me to have you as part of the team. THANK YOU!!!
*
THE ENTIRE VOLUNTEER TEAM: To EVERYONE who lifted a finger to help with this race,
on behalf of the racers and management team we THANK YOU for coming out and helping
make the 2nd Annual MOMAR a HUGE SUCCESS!!!
Thanks
to all! This year was so much fun and I can't wait for next year!!!
Bryan
Tasaka
Race Director
