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.
Todd Nowack did his first adventure race back in 2005 which saw him on a winning coed team that won entry into the Canadian Adventure Racing Championships. At that moment, he was hooked! That first race was the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) and since then, Todd has competed in 12 MOMARs, several sprint and 36 hour adventure races, and then moving into expedition races. An orienteering addiction has fuelled his navigation abilities and this has naturally made him the primary navigator. While being almost undefeated in Sprint races in the Northwest, the longer expedition races have eluded him. The Canadian Championships didn't happen due to team commitments and Explore Sweden in 2009 also slipped through the cracks. Other races ended with unranked results due to various difficulties such as a torn up inflatable craft that led to suffering hypothermia in RTNX Prince Rupert 2007, and teammates having to be rescued after 20 foot swells pummeled racers and shattered kayaks in the now infamous Baja Travesia 2007. Joining a solid team of experienced expedition racers, Todd is looking not only for some redemption, but to place well in RTNX West Kootneys.
Race Highlights:
- 7 time 1st overall MOMAR titles; 3 time 1st in category MOMAR wins
- 2 time 1st overall Fall BEAST titles
- 2nd overall - Team of 2 coed Olympic Peninsula 24 hour AR
- Raid the North Extreme Prince Rupert 2007 - 1st team in the second stage after having to drop out in the 1st stage due to hypothermia
- Baja Travesia 2007 – 2nd team to finish but DQ'd due to kayak incident
Pete got his start in the sport as the Event Manager for Eastern Canada's first adventure race in 1998, Raid the North. Having watched passion and emotion come to the surface on the faces of racers crossing the finish line, he knew he was experiencing something special. Since then, he's been fortunate enough to marry Leanne Mueller, someone who loves adventure racing as much as he. Together, their participation has evolved from striving to overcome the rigors of a challenging racecourse to trying to compete at the top end of the field. Pete races to explore natural environments with a team of like-minded adventurers, going to backcountry places where most folks never set foot. Typically the team navigator, he loves the route finding strategy aspect of the sport; trying to find the fastest way of getting through an unpredictable wilderness setting. After 13 years of competing in dozens of adventure sport events and organizing 30 more while working for Frontier Adventure Racing , his hunger for the sport continues.
Race Highlights:
- 2010 Adventure Racing World Championships, Spain (18th place)
- Capturing the highly coveted 'Bob the Beaver' trophy for 1st place at the inaugural 2010 Wilderness Traverse AR
- Racing in dozens of events amongst the wilds of Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Labrador, USA, Australia, and Spain
- Finding ways of finishing racecourses (thanks mostly to stronger, much more awake, and fitter teammates) despite nighttime hallucinations, running out of food, shockingly sore feet, getting hopelessly lost, brutally hot / cold weather, swarms of mosquitos and blackflies, too many soft tissue injuries to remember…why do we do this again?
Leanne's start into the world of adventure racing began in 1999 when a friend convinced her to do a race "that is kinda like a fast camping trip" and included an old cotton t-shirt, running shorts, and a brutally insufficient bike. Over a decade later, she has raced all across Canada, the US, in Ecuador, and at the 2009 AR World Championships. While she has raced as the only female on many coed teams, she also created an all-women team, the Salomon Bobkittens, that rivals the top of most race's fields. Leanne loves how adventure racing has taken her to very special, backcountry locales and has been instrumental in creating many indelible memories. Now with her first child Mari in tow, she's slowly becoming an expert at dealing with sleep deprivation on an entirely different level.
Race Highlights:
- 2010 Huairasinchi (Ecuador) - The adventures of "Las Quatros Chicas" at 10,000 ft. +
- After getting dummied on the first 60km paddle, Team Salomon Bobkittens moved up the field over 4 days, finishing 2nd overall at the 20009 Michigan Expedition Race
- Racing on two of Canada's coasts - Haida Gwaii during RtNX'07 and Quebec's Lower North Shore during Coast Raid '08
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James Galipeau is originally from Southwestern Ontario and now lives in Chelsea, Quebec where he works as a research associate for The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He's been a member of the Running Free adventure racing team since 2007 and has been adventure racing since 2004. He generally acts as the team's work horse and handyman. Outside of AR, James has competed in other events such as The TransRockies Challenge, Hot August Nights 24-Hr MTB Race, The Canadian Ski Marathon, Ultimate XC, The Pittsfield Snowshoe Marathon, and the Mad Trapper Snowshoe Race Series. He has completed many expedition adventure races, including Quest for a Cure ('05, '06), Raid The North Extreme '07, Odyssey Endorphin Fix ('08, '09), Untamed New England (08, '09, '10), Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race '10, and the 2010 Adventure Racing World Championships in Spain. This year he will be competing in the Frontier Adventure Race Series, the 4-day APEX race in Switzerland, Ultimate XC, RTNX, Wilderness Traverse, and the 2011 Adventure Racing World Championships in Tasmania.
Race Highlights:
- 18th overall - 2010 Adventure Racing World Championships - Spain
- 6th overall - 2010 Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race - Tierra del Fuego, Chile
- 1st overall - 2010 Frontier Adventure Challenge Series Championship - Muskoka, Ontario
- 2nd overall - Wilderness Traverse - Muskoka, Ontario
- 1st overall - 2009 Frontier Adventure Challenge Series Championships - Muskoka, Ontario
- 1st overall - Angry Seagull Adventure Race - 24-Hr AR - Beaver Valley, Ontario
- 2nd overall -2008 Untamed New England - Vermont
- 3rd overall - Odyssey Endorphin Fix - West Virginia
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