A
RACER'S STORY:
by Ina Ervin
Wow!
This MOMAR was the first adventure race on the West Coast and true to the Coast
Mountains they gave us a real challenge; only the toughest could survive…and we
did!
Starting in the rain, wind and strong currents we battled
the first kayak leg. Where did all these strong paddlers come from? Not to toot
my own horn :0), but normally, if I sprint out of the start, I am pretty much
on my own for the rest of kayak. Usually a few surf skis up ahead, maybe a half
a dozen doubles around. Not this race! I was surrounded by teams of 2 men (Not
that this is a bad thing!). They were everywhere and this was just the beginning
of the strongest team of 2 mens' race I have ever seen. At any given time the
3rd to 7th place was in a different order. Who was going to pull off that bronze?
It was up for grabs until the final stage.
From the kayak
we ventured onto the first 25 km mountain bike leg of the race. Paved and gravel
roads (more paved for those of us who didn't take our own advice and followed
the top riders on a longer, more scenic journey to CP3). CP3 was at the Thornton
Creek Fish Hatchery and it had our first of three Mystery Challenges. The awesome
volunteers told us we had to guess how many salmon fry were in the two tanks….millions?
The person guessing closest without going over would win a free entry into their
next MOMAR (142,370 was the actual amount). From here we ventured to one of the
coolest mystery events I've ever done. We had to use four pieces of driftwood,
(logs, stumps and big flat pieces were everywhere), and build a bench we could
sit on. The minimum time was five minutes. Being a solo female racer, with no
big mountain man to help me out, I am very proud to say my bench only took 2 min!!!
So I got to rest and wait out my time at the very scenic Mussel Beach Campground
- you could see the Broken Islands!
The next ride took us
to the base of Mt Ozzard where we began the, according to Mr Tasaka, a "fairly
flat" trek up Mt. Ozzard. Bryan must have dropped the GPS in the mud here as I
had to do chin ups through West Coast clay and mud making to make my way up. But
this was one of my favourite parts. I haven't had such an epic, muddy, dirty,
crazy trek since the first Sea2Summit Adventure Race in 1999. It was awesome!
(But not flat. J ) This led us to the "Never Ending Road" to the peak of Mt. Ozzard
- which was 650m high! After a team cheer we ran back down, and down, and down.
And then down a little more, as I believe Bryan really didn't want our quads to
forget the race for at least the next five days.
The trek
ended at the bikes again and the final ride began. Peddling as hard as we could
we all raced back to the boats. Well actually most of us did. I made a big "rookie"
mistake and not only got my map and instructions wet so I couldn't read them,
but as I had come the wrong way the first time, it was not familiar to me to go
the right way on the way back. After begging teams to read their instructions
out loud, by the way, thank you guys, I decided to scout at the top of hills to
guess which bay the kayaks were in… Okay, this must the turn. I road hard down
a paved road, it wound around and I was positive it would bring me right to my
boat. As I reached the water, I could see the boats!!! Only they were two bays
over! Ten minutes of uphill riding later, I got to the correct turn and came to
my boat. Panicking that the two teams of four men I was neck in neck with were
now going to whoop me I jumped into my kayak and went right over the other side
into the freezing water. As the ocean enveloped me, and yes, I let out a wail/girly
scream, a super volunteer tried not to laugh too hard and quickly helped me get
back in.
Although I am proud of myself for persevering when
I went off course, I can't hold a candle to Sasan Safari, who after three flats,
one of which took three tubes to change, and having to beg for tubes off fellow
racers, persevered to finish. Sasan is normally one of the faster solo men and
must have to dig deep to constantly be making up ground only to have all the racers,
such as me, pass once again as he worked on his bike. I can only imagine what
determination this took. I am truly inspired.
The last kayak
leg was supposed to be much shorter (3km), but do to high winds, this felt like
the longer leg. I kept looking to shore and picking rocks to check in with, to
see whether I was actually moving forward. I was, but slowly. As I hit the last
beach I got ready for the regular 500m MOMAR run finish. NOT! Keeping to his word
of having the longest MOMAR ever, the finish run was 6 km!!! Justin & Carey, the
top team of 2 coed team, were already changed and getting in their car as I waddled
past. Not yet knowing the distance I asked, "Is it much farther?" Justin said
only about another hour. "Another hour!" I yelled not believing I could do it,
I ran past my van in the parking lot and it took all my determination not to go
curl up in my sleeping bag with Bella, my dog. But I persevered and did actually
finish. Not only that, but I caught and passed two teams! (Sorry boys, just had
to brag!) I have never felt so proud to finish a MOMAR before. This one truly
was incredible, challenging, epic, long, and absolutely fantastic. I recommend
it to everyone next year. But especially if you are a team of two men, you better
train your butt off, this race brought out the big guns!
Oh
yeah, the after party was memorable to some of us, but most likely un-recallable
to others. I wonder why that might be? True to the Tasaka legend, the boys, missing
Janine incredibly of course, put on a wicked party. The music, the dancing, the
beer, and of course the hot, sweaty, sexy athletes grinding it up on the dance
floor made the night. Thank you Bryan Tasaka. We couldn't do it without you!
Ina
Ervin
