"written
by 'Super' Dave Norona
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Whenever Norm Thibault (Co-owner of Frontrunners
Nanaimo) and I get together, something epic always happens. On this particular
weekend we were to do battle at the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race in Lake
Cowichan on Saturday and then recover in time for the 9:00 am start of the Jericho
Oceanman on Sunday morning. After a short ferry jaunt, I arrived at Frontrunners
to pick up Norm and grab some last minute gear. Before we headed out Norm pulled
a box from his van that contained Peter Reid's new Corma Disc that he would use
in two weeks to dominate Ironman Canada. Norm is not impressed with my idea to
spray paint the side with NORONA WAS HERE!, but he lets me graffiti the box.
At
the Cowichan Lake Education Center (CLEC), we picked up our race packages and
grabbed some grub. Bryan Tasaka and his awesome crew had again organized an incredible
event; the CLEC housed all the athletes and its grassy backyard bordered the lake.
This was the third and final Mind Over Mountain race of the season, and Bryan
had done an amazing job of designing a course that was both beginner friendly
and full of non-stop challenges.
The race began on foot with
a short one kilometer run through the forest. It was then down to our boats for
the first of two paddling sections. I used my Speedster Surf Ski to put some time
on the rest of the field. Picking up checkpoint words along the way I had a five-minute
gap by the other side of the lake. Once ashore I was told that I had to make up
a four-line poem during the run section. Sounds easy, right? Well not when the
first two kilometers climb over 400 metres.
By the top, I had
regained enough composure to start working out my poem, and by kilometre four
I had it in my head, but I would make over ten changes to it by the time I rejoined
my boat at the transition. I jammed across the lake when I heard a yell from the
tree-lined bank. With one glance, I spotted Norm and his white ass mooning me
from a cliff. Back on land at the CLEC I was given a short story to read. I took
the time to read every detail and then made off on my bike. The mountainous bike
course is brutal and at checkpoint ten we were given a written test on our knowledge
of the short story.
I now had an 11-minute lead with only five
orienteering controls until the finish. I would not get caught! Suddenly, as I
made my way to control two, Norm magically appeared. He had used his super star
power to catch me. Shocked but excited, I joined forces with him for the rest
of the controls. Coming up to the finish line we did not know what to do. I accelerated
and so did he. Just before the line he lay down and offered out his hand in the
arm-wrestle position. I dropped and we battled it out. He destroyed me quickly,
but unfortunately for him, a five-minute penalty for missing a bear bell at checkpoint
ten placed him in second.
At the awards everyone was brought
up to read their poem. It was hilarious. As with all of the Mind Over Mountain
races, the party that followed was epic. Norm and I hit the sack at 2 a.m., but
not before catching Bryan showing off his break dancing moves.
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