Cumberland MOMAR

September 25, 2010

This was the one and only adventure race I will do this year, having skipped the Squamish MOMAR in favour of volunteering. Since I have been almost exclusively been concentrating on running this year with a lot less biking than I used to do (particularly mountain biking) I wasn't sure how things would go on this race. I did manage to get a couple of 3 hour combo run and mountain bike sessions in just to make sure my body remembered what it was like, but it was really a bare minimum of training. My race partner Garth, had been doing a more biking than me, so I hoped that I wouldn't dragging my ass on biking sections too badly.

As race day drew near, the weather forecast was particularly grim. Not only was it calling for steady rain, but also for high winds. Winds can be a huge problem on Comox Lake which can have decent waves even on a relatively calm day. The only apparent saving grace was that the temperature was predicted to be fairly warm with highs of 18-19 degrees. On our drive up the Friday before the race, things were not looking up with rain pounding down and gusty winds. If things stayed that for the race, it would be a soggy one and the already unpleasant kayak would be that much worse with the wind.

Fortunately, we really lucked out and conditions were quite good when we arrived at race central Saturday morning: overcast and mild temperature with only a small amount of wind. We parked our bikes at the transition zone along with our hydra packs, found our rental kayak, picked up our first map, and were soon ready to go. The map showing the kayaking, and mountain biking stages was nearly a formality as nearly all of the this portion of the course was flagged. Only the last checkpoint before the orienteering stage required self navigation and we luckily knew approximately were it was based on last years race.

Stage 1: Kayak

If you have read any of my Cumberland MOMAR race reports before, you know that kayaking is not my favorite thing. Garth finds it equally unpleasant so it is a good thing that we get it over with right away and move onto more enjoyable stages. The winds were calm to start with and we moved fairly well as we made are way west down the lake to the turn around. Once we got around a point, there was a significant headwind, but nothing that caused us too much grief. We were in about 12 place which is on par with our normal performance. Once we turned around and started to head back, we were able to surf some waves which was pretty fun. Surprisingly, we managed to pass and put a couple of boat lengths on race favorite Todd Nowack. Todd is a pretty decent kayaker and despite the large disadvantage of being in a single rather than a double, I expected him to be further ahead.

Unfortunately, while we soon found our way back to the starting area, we were not done yet. We still had 3 legs to go: across the lake and then further east, before turning back to the start area. As we neared the far side of the lake, it started to become unclear where we were to turn. Apparently there were pilings with pink flagging, but we couldn't spot it and others were seeming to have the same problem. There was some confusion on the water with some paddlers starting to move east without going around anything. Not wanting to be passed by a pile of boats, we followed suit. Shortly after making the turn, the wind stared to blow like crazy from the east. Paddling suddenly got very difficult and it was really challenging to keep the cadence up. I also think we were both starting to fatigue at this point. Todd and at least 2 other boats managed to pass us while we wallowed in the water. We finally make our way to the final turn around piling and were headed toward the finish of the stage. The wind was now less punishing and we were able to hold steady for the remainder of the stage. We ended up taking 1:12:28 for the stage, nearly 15 min longer than last year. This was partly due to conditions, but mostly due to the fact that with the marking confusion we actually traveled over a km further than last year.

Stage 2: Mountain Bike # 1

We punched Checkpoint (CP) #1 and then hustled to our bikes. As usual my legs felt like I had strapped 10kg to each one - I expected this though as it is the result of being wedged in the kayak for over an hour. The first part of the bike is just on paved road heading toward the village of Cumberland. This is a good opportunity to get the legs moving again before the real climbing began. We passed a team on the road whom I believe held on to the top placing for a team of 4. We traversed some double track on the for a while before starting our climb up a trailed named "Buggered Pig." We passed a team of two at this point, but soon after were passed by a solo (I think it was Ryan Stuart) although he didn't get all that far ahead. This section of trail is a little challenging when wet as there are a lot of slick roots to pull you around. Still, we fared pretty well getting it done in 23:41 and posting the 3rd fastest time through this section of biking.

Stage 3: Navigation Trek

Time to get off our bikes and onto the running stage. We were supplied another map which had 7 checkpoints we had to collect in whatever order we choose. As navigator, I had to quickly assess the map and figure out an appropriate route. It is always temping to get going right away as other people seem to start running almost as soon as they have the map in their hands. Garth was urging me to get going, but I have found through experience that it is worth the minute or so spent figuring out a decent route rather than running without really knowing where we are going which can cost much more time. At a very minimum, I have to be able to orientate myself to the map or I will have no idea where we are going. I choose to grab the checkpoints to counter-clockwise order starting with a small backtrack to get onto a trail named "Hai Gai" which paralleled a creek. This turned out not to be the best option as the trail is a bit slow to run and there was a better option which had no backtracking, easier running and only a little simple bushwacking. At least I knew the way though and soon we picked up CP #3.

After a power hike up the steep trail I make a error thinking that I was at a different intersection that I was. I soon figured it out though and it should not have been a big deal since there should have been two comparable routes to the next checkpoint, but we were unable to find the trail as it was marked on the map so had to bushwack a bit to get us back on track. It only cost a couple of minutes, but was still a bit frustrating. Just before arriving at CP #4 a racer came running back toward us asking if we had seen a passport (used to record the punches for each checkpoint). Without the passport, your race is pretty much over as you have no way to prove you went anywhere so hopefully he was able to find it. After that checkpoint, the rest of the checkpoints came pretty easily. We started to see a trickle of racers coming the opposite direction although I heard later that most choose the same way as we did. In retrospect, I think a clockwise direction would have been slightly faster as it included more runnable uphill than the direction we took. We made our way back to the transition point in 1:11:54 and we told we were in 2nd place. "Really? - it was a bit of a nice surprise for sure" The only bad news was that we were already 15 min behind Todd!

Stage 4: Mountain Bike # 2

The start of this long biking stage was a grind up the steep road we had just ran down. We saw some other racers coming in, but no one was closer than a few minutes. This would give us a bit of a buffer and we hoped to be be able to hold everyone off for the stage. Then it was onto to some single track before getting to CP #11. Then more single track to CP #12 where friends Adam and Kate were volunteering. By then Todd had gained a few more minutes on us. Unless he made a large navigational error (which was highly unlikely) we were not going to reel him in. No matter though, if we could hold onto a 2nd place finish we would be doing well. The route popped us out onto a logging road which climbed up to the high point on the course. Based on what things looked like on the map, I was thinking it would take perhaps 10 min, but it probably went on 10 min longer than expected. It wasn't too steep, but was all up hill and took some effort. We moved well though and I we both were feeling as good or better than could be expected at this point in the race.

We eventually made it to CP #13 and Garth proceeded to have a bit of a panic attack as he frantically tried to find the passport in his deep pockets. Thankfully, he finally managed to dig it out and the crisis was averted. Then we tacked a new trail named "Thirsty Beaver." It was evident that a lot of work has gone into this trail with tons of boardwalks and logs. Since it was wet, we really had to be careful not to bail, but overall it wasn't as slippery as it could have been. It wasn't particularly flowy with lots of corners, humps and mud to navigate. It was actually a fair amount of work to ride as I don't think my butt touch my seat for the whole ride. I took a minor bail off a boardwalk, but we rode cleanly for the most part. After the Beaver we grabbed CP # 14 then then had a bit of road to do before being through back onto another new trail named "Blue Collar". This trail was faster and flowed well and was really a blast. We crossed through the checkpoint with Adam and Kate again (this time punching CP #15) and headed down the second part of "Blue Collar."

Then onto the road again before hitting the final stretch of single track on the "Crafty Butcher." We had seen no one since leaving the trekking stage, but finally Jeremy Grasby (winner of last year's Cumberland race) caught up to us as we punched CP #16. Jeremy has amazing mountain biking skills particularly when you consider he rides a single speed - how he is able to crank up such steep terrain is quite amazing. We managed to hold him off until getting into town , but I took us a block too far and lost a few seconds while Jeremy went directly to the transition area to the planned urban navigation. I was thinking that our choice to run flat pedals would soon pay off as Jeremy would either have change into running shoes or clomp around in his biking shoes. Either way would lose him a bit of time as long as I could find the checkpoints quickly. As soon as we got to the transition, however, we found that the urban section had been dropped due to racers taking longer than expected so back onto our bikes we went. It took us 1:18:40 for this section of the bike, only 5 other teams did it quicker. Considering I don't think I made it onto my mountain bike more than 10 times this year, I was pretty pleased. I actually seem to feel better, more confident, and more skillful in a race environment than I do when just out riding.

Stage 5: Mountain Bike #3

There was only one more checkpoint to pickup which we were to self navigate too. As previously mentioned we had a bit of a leg up on racers who hadn't done the course last year as the CP was in a similar location. Jeremy had the same route choice as we did and we hit the CP at the same time. We then followed him back to the main road where he made up a bit of time on use by taking a sightly quicker turnoff. The pavement is where the single speed becomes a liability, however, as we popped our chains onto the big ring and powered our way back to him, pulling about even just as we got to the final transition. We finished this bike in 15:45, tied exactly with Jeremy for the fastest time.

Stage 6: Orienteering and Finish

Due to time issues, they had knocked the farthest off CP from the orienteering which I wasn't too upset about since my legs were kind of fried by this time. A clockwise direction seems to make the most sense for this course so we were soon off. I fumbled just a little getting the first CP, but the next came easily. I overshot the 3rd, however, and we had to bushwack back to pick it up loosing precious minutes. Jeremy had done better on this one and I though that he may have had us at that point, but the damage was done and the only thing to do was move on. A couple of the CP were off the trail a bit which took just a bit of scrambling around to find, but were not too bad. To get one on the beach we had to jump down part of the cliff, but it was a good move and then we rushed to find the last one, clearing it pretty quickly before sprinting for the line. It wasn't a clean stage taking us 31:19 (compared to the fastest time of 25:30), but it was good enough to keep us in 2nd place which ties use for our best ever finish and is the highest we have placed at the Cumberland venue which tends to be a competitive one. Our finishing time was 4:53:47 - a mere 32 minutes behind Todd! Jeremy came in about 5 min behind us followed by Ryan Stuart, Norm Thibault, and Roger MacLeod. Marshall House and Brady Fleguel held onto 3rd place in the team of two men after putting in a amazing paddle in their 2 person surf ski (they were nearly 10 min ahead of us). Despite a few navigational errors, it was a good race for us and I was quite pleased at how my body held up even with my poor preparation.

Congrats to all who raced, including Brent Chan and Sarah Newman who pulled of a respectable 6:41:48 and Sonja and Louise Proulx who despite having a major rudder issue and navigation woes still manged to finish under the cutoff. Thanks to Bryan Tasaka who put on yet another great race. There are rumours that a new venue to replace Squamish is coming for 2011 so that should be exciting.

Results

Lands End 10k

September 12, 2010

Basically I could sum up this race with with a simple "It sucked." I didn't have big expectations for this race as it was just a day after returning from a 2 week trip in Hawaii (which was fantastic by the way) so I knew that it wouldn't be a PB day. Still, I thought I could get a respectable performance in, something around the 34 min range seemed reasonable given that my fitness should still be around 33 min. It was not to be.

Conditions were wet, but luckily not too cold. Things started out OK with an opening km of 3:11 which didn't feel too hard. Jim Finlayson, Mark Cryderman, and Craig Odermatt all took off pretty much from the line leaving me running on my own for the entirety of the race. Apparently the course has been about 150m short for years (which might explain why this was the first race where I broke 35 min). This year they decided to extend it to the full 10k, but didn't adjust the km markers to match. This meant that kilometers 1-4 was short while 4-5 was very long (it's an out and back course so the reverse applies). I knew this going in, but still used the markers and a general guide thinking that each of them would only be a couple of seconds off at the most.

The next 3 km would go by at about 3:20 pace which seemed pretty reasonable. Then I hit the "long" kilometre to the turn around and was a shocked by the 3:50 split. Yes, it was somewhat uphill, but that only account for a bit of the 30 second difference. In total lost 50 seconds on this "kilometre" the way out and back - it seemed like much more than 150m extra, but it may have just been my slow running. Things slowly started to unravel on the way back with all my splits over 3:30. It is slightly uphill, but I was struggling. Effort wise, I felt like I was running 3:20's, but reality told me otherwise. I kept Craig in sight, but he was gradually pulling away from me as I suffered to the finish. The one redeeming thing was that there was no one close enough to catch me as Micheal Lord was still about 2 min back.

Looking better than I felt (near the 4km mark). Photo credit: Andrew Pape-Salmon

I mustered a weak kick into the line finishing the miserable day off with a 34:54. This is the slowest I have run since 2007 and very disappointing. I didn't expect a couple weeks off my training schedule to help my performance, but didn't expect such a disaster. Hopefully, a few weeks of solid training will get me back into form and I can have a decent 8k at the Victoria Marathon. Having two bad races back to back is mentally a challenge though as it calls into question what is going wrong. Is it only a lack of proper training or is it something else? It doesn't help that I have been battling a case of plantar fasciitis for the last month or so. I'm getting it treated and taking appropriate action so far it has not greatly impacted my training. However, it is a nuisance and is painful when I push it too far. I've never had a problem with PF before so I'm hopeful that it will not become chronic.

Congrats to Jim who won in 31:54 (although slow by his standards) and Mesissa Ross who came 6th overall in 37:24. James Lander crushed the half in 1:08:13 setting a new course record and my coach Paul O'Callaghan ran to a strong 2nd place in 1:15:52. Sonja continued her marathon prep with a respectable 1:34:14 on a day where she would run 30km total.

10k Results. Half Marathon Results.

Splits: 3:11, 3:19, 3:22, 3:21, 3:50, (17:04 5k) 3:38, 3:32, 3:33, 3:40, 3:27

Q Track Series 5000m

August 21, 2010

This was the last of the track series races for the season. My training has been pretty steady over the last few months and after a respectable 3000m in July, I had hoped to perform well. The goal was to run a sub 15:30 on a perfect day and I would have been satisfied with anything under 15:47 (my current PB).

After cheering on two open races in the 5000m (congrats to Richard Bellizz and Lucy Smith for taking the wins) it was our turn. There was a lot of talent on the line and I knew it would be a fast one. There would undoubtedly guys running under 15min so I had to make sure that I ran my own race against the clock rather that getting caught up in a pace that was too fast. To reach my 15:30 goal, I would have to run 74.5s laps (3:06 kms). I knew this would be tough, especially since the wind was pretty gusty.

Once the race started, the field quickly sorted itself out. Trevor O'Brian was doing the pacing up front, with Jim Finlayson, James Lader, and Ryan McKenzie behind. Next came Shawn Nelson, Sean Chester, Nick Walker, Craig Odermatt, myself, Walter Cantwell, Simon Dejong, and Kevin Searle. The first lap wasn't too fast (75 sec), but then the group in front of me started to pull away and I was left out in the wind. I decided it might be prudent to pull myself back to Craig so I could take advantage of his draft and pacing so I pull myself back up. Unfortunately, when I looked at my watch for the next lap and saw 70 sec I knew that pace was just too fast for me and if I tried to maintain it I would pay for it in a big way later in the race. I eased off and slipped back in into the 75 sec range for the next 5 laps or so. Because of the fast second lap, the first km went by in 3:03, a little ahead of my target.

I tried to settle in to a nice rhythm in the for the middle of the race, but it was more of a strain than it should have been. I was now quite a ways back from Craig and far enough ahead of those behind that I couldn't hear them. With about 4 or 5 laps to go I saw that Nick must have been having a bad day as well since he started to falter and fell behind Craig. If I would have been on form on the day, I should have been able to gain ground on him, but around the same time I really started to suffer. Someone shouted that there was a train wreak happening up front and that I should gun it. Too bad that I was in the same wreak, only I was the caboose! My splits dropped to 77 sec, then to 79 and finally to 80 sec. I lost pretty much all of my time in the last 5 laps, the opposite of the way I wanted to finish. I did manage an OK last 200m closing it in 37 sec, but it was of little help to my overall time which came in at 15:54.

My time was just 7 sec slower than my Bazan Bay 5k time and my second best 5k time ever so and all told not that bad considering how I felt. It was disappointing though as I know I should have been able to perform at a higher level. James ended up out kicking Jim for the win in 14:45 nearly lapping me in the process. Shawn also ran well finishing in 15:07 for 3rd place.

While it was not my day, best just to move on and get ready for the next race. Right now, I have to decide what to concentrate on in the upcoming months. Should I stay focused on the shorter distances on the road, go longer, or go back to the trails.

Results

A big thanks to Chris Kelsell on a successful track series - I hope he brings in back next year.

Q Track Series 3000m

July 17, 2010

This was to be just the 2nd track race I have participated in since taking up running back in 2004 (I raced a bit on the track in high school, but was never very serious about it). A couple of years ago, I raced in a 5000m in windy conditions and had a mediocre performance struggling to maintain form in the last couple of laps. I had never raced 3000m before so I didn't know exactly how it would go. I resolved to try my best to run a smart race and split my laps evenly so as to avoid falling apart on the last lap or two. My 'A' goal was get under 9min, but I knew that pretty much everything would have to go right for me for that to happen.

I was placed in the elite race with quite a few other very solid runners. Simon DeJong, Nixon Kiprotich, Willy Langat, Keith Mills, Shawn Nelson, and Nick Walker were all in attendance. I fully expected to be closer to the back of the pack than to the front when we got to the finish line. Before we began, I got to watch a kids 800m, an open Mile, an Elite Mile, and a open 3000m while I did my warm up on the infield. While track may be more tedious than a road race for the racers themselves, they are certainly more entertaining for spectators and it was great to be able to cheer on everyone.

It was soon our turn and the 7 of us lined up and were off. I expected the pace to be a little faster than it was as I was only slightly behind the leaders after the 1st lap (which I completed in 1:13). Shawn, Nick, Willy, and Nixon were in front of me with Keith and Simon were just behind. After the first lap Keith pulled in front of me and knowing that we are similar speeds, I resolved to sit behind for a little while and let him do the pace making. However, after the second 400m passed at a slightly slower 1:14 (which put me behind my 1:12 goal), I knew that I had to speed up or I would definitely not get close to my goal time. I pulled past Keith and picked up the pace just a bit. I went though 1km in about 3:03, a little slower than I was planning, but not bad either.

The first lap (I'm hidden behind Willy in forth place). Photo Credit: Sonja Yli-Kahila

I was feeling relatively comfortable at this point and felt I would be able to put in a solid effort throughout the race. The next 3 laps passed in 1:12, 1:14, and 1:13 respectively so I was maintaining the pace pretty well. Midway through the race, I was surprised to find Nixon coming back to me. Earlier in the year he posted some good times on some of the Island Race Series races, including a 49:02 at Merville 15k which was over 2 min ahead of me. I understand that he has been injured for a while, however, and not able to train or race at his peak which is really too bad.

Midway though the race. Photo Credit: Sonja Yli-Kahila

With 1km to go, it started to get tougher to maintain the pace as the lactic built up in the legs and the cardio system started to reach its limits. With a concentrated effort, however, I was able to sustain my pace and hit the final two full laps at 1:13, and 1:14. With about a lap to go, I found myself running right in the middle of the group with Shawn, Nick, and Willy running about 80m ahead of me and no one right on my heels. Unfortunately, the leaders were too far ahead to try and catch, but I decided that I felt good enough for a finishing kick anyhow and started to go with 200m left. I pushed hard, right up to my limit, but also trying to keep some semblance of decent form. I closed the final 200m in 34 sec which I was fairly happy with.

My official finishing time was 9:06.7 good for 4th place out of the 7. Willy managed to out kick Shawn who had led for most of the race for the win in 8:48.8. While I was a few seconds off of my goal, overall I was pretty happy with my inaugural 3000m outing as I raced smart. In retrospect, I may have been able to shave a couple seconds off if I had kicked a little earlier since I seemed to have a bit of reserve in the tank, but it would not have made a huge difference. I definitely think that with just a little more training in the bank and a good day I could get under 9 min. Thanks to Chris Kelsall for putting this track series together, its great to have some different options for racing this year.

Results

Mount Doug Gutbuster Long Course

July 11, 2010

First of all I'd like to hand out a belated congrats to Gary Robbins, who placed an impressive 6th overall in the Western States 100 a couple of weeks back. Western states is the oldest and probably the most prestigious 100 Mile ultra in the world so placing this high puts Gary among some of the best ultra runners in the world. Some 50k and 50 Mile ultras are definitely in my future, but I've yet to convince myself that I want to do a 100 Miler. It just seems really really far - do I really want to run 4 back to back trail marathons? I will never say never though and the challenge does appeal to me.

The Mount Doug Gutbuster was just the 2nd and final Gutbuster that I was able to do this year with the other 3 coming on weekends where I was away or had other races. I didn't worry too much about this race, just resolving just to do what I could. My training has been progressing steadily so I'm feeling pretty confident about my fitness level. I knew Shawn Nelson was yet again racing so an overall victory would be a bit of a long shot even if there we no other top notch guys out, but I hoped to be a little closer to him than I was at Westwood.

Just before the race was about to begin we were informed that there would be a short delay as someone had been sabotaging the course markings. Nick Walker had to run out ahead to re-flag it so he needed a head start. This is not the first time this race has been sabotaged and it is really a shame that some individuals want to hinder other people's enjoyment of this public park. If they have a legitimate concern about the race they should deal with it though proper channels rather than resorting to vandalism. Nick did a good job of resetting the course though and I found it well marked. However, there were a number of racers who took wrong turns although it is unclear if this was due to a lack of flagging or not.


The day was quite hot so I made sure that I was well hydrated before the race began and stripped down to shorts and cap only. There are several exposed sections on the course and it can cook you pretty good when you are fully exerting yourself. Within about 5 min, Shawn and I pulled ourselves a little ahead from the rest of the field. We pushed up the first extended Irvine climb at a steady race pace. Overall, I felt pretty good although my legs felt a touch heavy. I was starting to feel it near the top of the climb and I let Shawn lead for the last 100 meters or so. I dumped a cup of water at the aid station at the top and headed down after Shawn. This decent is quite technical with a lot of loose rock and gravel, but I've done it many times before and knew exactly what to expect. I may no longer be able to match Shawn's overall speed, but I can still descend on the technical terrain a little faster and I was nipping at his heels the whole way down.

Soon enough we were climbing again up to Little Mount Doug. I didn't feel quite as good as I would have liked on this climb and fell a few seconds back. The southern route off this peak is the most technical portion of the whole course and a fall here could be very damaging to your body. I took a few risks that paid off and closed the gap to Shawn again. Unfortunately, as soon as the trail turned upward again, I could no longer match his speed and he bolted ahead and within a couple of minutes he was out of sight.

While the climbs hurt more than I would have liked, I felt pretty strong overall so despite there being no one in sight ahead or behind, I pushed pretty hard. I struggled up the final climb (which only went halfway up to the summit compared to a full climb last year) and was happy to know that there were no more significant uphill segments for the rest of the course. I passed a number of short course racers as I pushed toward the finish. I felt good on the final stretch and crossed the line in 40:44 solidly in 2nd place. I was about 1:30 behind Shawn and 1:15 ahead of the next runner, Nick Sunderland. I was satisfied with my performance although I could have had a bit more power in the legs for the climbs. Once I decide to focus on trails again, I will definitely work on my hill climbing more consistently.

Andrew Pape-Salmon ran an amazing race, placing 4th overall just over 2 min behind me and Care Wakely raced to an amazing 7th overall. In a month Care and Mark Nelson will be racing in the Trans Rockies Run stage race. I expect that they will do well.

Final Results.

VI Spine Relay: North Coast Trail

June 6, 2010

Despite the "Relay" name, this was an event rather than a race. The VI Spine Relay was set up to help promote the concept of building a trail the entire length of Vancouver Island from Victoria to Cape Scott. This is a similar idea to the Trans-Canada trail and is a quite a large undertaking since it involves getting support from regional districts, municipalities, and land owners up and down the island. It is a fantastic idea though and I wanted to do my little bit to support the VI Spine Trail. Additionally, it was a personal opportunity to experience a part of the island that I have never visited and nearly brand new trail (it was opened only 2 years ago in 2008).

Not wanting to miss out on something new, Sonja decided to join in the adventure. The plan was to drive up to the Cape Scott Provincial Park parking lot on Sat (June 5). The trip took about 7 hours aided by the fact that the roads on the northern half of the island are very good and nearly empty. The last hour and a bit were on a gravel surface, however, making things a bit slower. From the parking area we hiked for 4 hours, covering the 15km into Nissen Bight with small packs holding just enough camping gear for one night. At Nissen Bight we met up with the 10 or so other hikers that had also completed this first section of the relay. The next morning, four of us (Sonja and I were joined by the relay organizer Andrew Pape-Salmon and Jenny Taylor) would tackle the 43km North Coast Trail, the remainder of the hikers would return to the parking area with our camping gear. A big thanks goes out to these hikers were had to carry 2 extra tents, 4 sleeping bags, 4 themarests, several day packs and other gear in additional to their own gear.

The start of the trail to Nissen Bight

We departed just after 7am in sunny conditions, estimating a 10 hour run time. We had a time estimate from some Club Fat Ass members who had recently run the trail and Jeff Hunt, who along with Bob Wall, were the first people to run the trail on the day it opened back in 2008. Jeff and Bob ran the trail in the opposite direction as we were going and traversed the full 43km NCT and the 15km Nissen Bight connector in 11 hours. It didn't sound like a particularly blazing time, but as were were to soon find out, this trail was not one that would be run easily.

Ready to go on the NTC! left to right: Jenny Taylor, myself, Sonja Yli-Kahila, Andrew Pape-Salmon

The first kilometer was on beautiful beach, but was officially not part of the NCT. As soon as we filled our water bladders and bottles up we were on the way. We almost immediately got a taste of what we would see for many many hours. The trail was very rough with many roots, little hillocks and twists, and was extremely muddy. It was tough to run for anyone, and it turned out that due to some injuries, Jenny was not able to run very much and was forced to power hike most the the trail. To her credit, she never stopped moving at a consistent rate for the whole day although it did effect our estimated finishing time. It was not a race, however, so the time didn't matter so much except for the fact that a water taxi was meeting us at Shushartie Bay around 6pm. They would wait, but we didn't want to be too far off schedule just in case.

Running on the beach (this was a nice section)

Do the the extreme roughness of the trail, it was slow going. It took us more than a hour and a half to traverse the first 5 km until the trail popped out on the beach near the Laura Creek Campsite. Naively thinking that was some of the worst the trail would offer, I thought we would be able to pick up some time on the beach and future trail sections. The relief of getting off the mucky trail soon faded though as we were treated to huge stretches of beach (the longest being over 10km) that was anything but easy. With just a few blissful exceptions which had packed sand, most of the rest of the beach was loose gravel and cobbles some on a steep angle. Not too bad to walk on, but very draining to run. Every step takes probably twice the normal energy as the stones under your feet sink and slide around.

Cable car crossing at Stranby River

The kilometers slowly ticked by on the beach and soon enough I was hoping to get back off the trail. There were a few trail sections, but for the most part these were not any easier to navigate than the first section. We got to pause for a bit while we crossed a creek via cable car. This was a fun change, but pulling yourself across is an arm burner. We passed the half way point at around 6 hours. This was behind our expected time, but we hoped that the trail would improve and we could make up some time. Despite how technical the first half was, the second half was more challenging yet. We were on the beach then off the beach so many times that they all blend together in my memory. I'm still not sure which was more difficult, but I was always wishing for whichever type we would currently not doing (I think I just had a short memory).

Down we go!

The weather was good for the morning and early afternoon, but the sky opened up soon after that and it rained steadily for an hour or more. It could have made things miserable, but fortunately it was pretty warm so it wasn't a big issue and it eventually cleared up. I was feeling good during the day as the pace was quite relaxed for me. I did spend some extra energy trying to see how much mud I could avoid. I manged to avoid getting my shoes fully submerged for over 10 hours, but had to do a heck of a lot of jumping, side stepping, and even clambering up and over trees.

For most of the day we stayed in the general vicinity of each other, but we often leapfrogged each other, with Jenny moving ahead while the rest took photos or took a break. We would then run for a bit and overtake her before stopping to let her catch up. Andrew had the most to carry with a full day pack loaded with a first aid kit, GPS beacon, and other safety gear, but he snowed no sign of difficulty.

Probably the most crazy portion of the trail was a section where the trail went on and off the beach in a rugged area. Some parts were so steep ropes were required to aid in the decent. One section in particular had a 15 meter climb nearly straight up. Once on top, you stood on a less than 1 meter wide flat space looking down on an equally steep decent and just across the way another such climb and decent was visible. It was kind of fun with a hydrapack, but this would have been work with a full backpack!

More beautiful runnable trail!

Sonja had been doing well, but after about 8 or 9 hours, she wasn't taking in enough energy. She started to fall behind and I didn't realize what the problem was until a bit later when she finally caught up, but was only moving at half the speed she should have been. Even though we were all getting sick of eating energy bars, I had her eat some more and soon enough she was moving well again. It was a good lesson about making sure you are well fueled - anyone can bonk if they are not careful.

After a second cable car, we were finally on the last trail section of the trail. The map stated a distance of 8km. Not too bad, I figured, even though we were mostly just hiking we were holding a decent pace. Despite this, the trail dragged on and on and really seemed endless. We crossed 5 or 6 swamps that had boardwalks that were thankfully runnable, but the rest was just and muddy and rough as the worst we had seen. Plus, there was also some climbing thrown in. Even though I honestly think that it was closer to 12km, I badly misjudged the time remaining, saying there was only 3km left and then hiking for another 2 hours!

Typical trail section

Sonja started to feel the effects of being out there for more than 10 hours and may have been getting low on energy again. To help us keep moving faster, I took her pack and wore it on the front of my body. It wasn't too bad although it did put a bit of strain on my back after a few hours. The trail stretched on and on but we eventually descended into Shushartie Bay where thankfully the water taxi was still waiting. Andrew had run ahead and arrived 30min before the rest of us. The last section ended up taking a greuling 3.5 hours and the whole trail a full 14+ hours. It was a long day although I felt fairly decent due to the low intensity, my feet hurt from being on them for so long. I'm just not used to being upright for so long.

The NCT had some beautiful beaches and it was great to experience. I think it is more of a hiking trail though as its technical nature doesn't lead itself well to being a nicely runnable. While the Juan de Fuca trail boasts much more elevation gain and loss than the NCT, it is much more runnable and in my mind much easier because of that. In the future, I would like to try the West Coast Trail to complete the Vancouver Island coast trails to see how it compares to the other two.

Andrew's photos can be viewed here.

Westwood Lake Gutbuster Half

May 30, 2010

I enjoy these sorts of trail races and it was a nice change of pace from all the road races I have been doing this year. I wasn't sure how my legs would feel on this one as did a workout the day before consisting of 6x1km (1min rest) and 4x45sec (1min rest). While I held back a bit knowing that I would be racing in less than 24 hours, it was still not super easy. It would be a good test to see how I fared in a race on somewhat fatigued legs. Even if I suffered on the course, the fact that it wasn't a goal race meant I didn't have a lot on the line.

The course was new this year although it was fairly similar to the the way it was in past years (except 2009 which had quite a different course). I estimate that there was at least 30% new trail that I had never run on before. The main differences were more gentle climbs, more single track, and less road. I quite enjoyed the course as it had a good about of somewhat technical terrain which was 100% runnable.

I knew that I would not walk away with an easy win on this course. The field was strong with Michael Liedtke, Shelby Drope, Nick Walker, Shaun Stephens-Whale, and Shawn Nelson all in attendance. I race against and train with Nick and Shawn so know what they are capable of. I knew for sure that Shawn would be tough to beat unless I was on and he was off. He is a solid climber, good on the technical terrain and downhills, and very strong on the flats. Shaun would also be stiff competition as he climbs like gravity doesn't exist.

The start was pretty fast with Shaun moving at a brisk pace that seemed a little fast to me although the first km or so is flat so it didn't feel too tough. We made our way around Westwood Lake and started the climb. Shaun was still in the lead and Shelby close behind. I didn't want to overtax myself so early in the race so I tucked into behind Shawn who in turn trailed just behind Michael. The trail was a fairly new one and was somewhat technical with a lot of little humps which necessitated paying close attention to your footing. The climb was much more gradual than in years past and I found it quite runnable and enjoyable.

Michael was going just a little slower than I would have on my own and I was very temped to move ahead especially since Shaun and Shelby had moved out of sight, but I continued to hold myself back a bit knowing that there would be plenty of time to expend any extra energy I might have. Finally though, Swawn decided to make a move and I took the opportunity to go with him. We gradually gained on Shelby on the decent from the highest point on the course and by the time we popped out onto the hydro right of way, the 3 of us were all pretty even.

I managed to power past Shelby at the puddle which was good and wet this year, but Shawn was probably 10 seconds ahead at this point. The course descended down and through the creek as it has in previous years. When I got back to the main double track, I was shocked to find that Shawn had gained a massive amount on me and was at least 30 seconds ahead now. This was a bit demoralizing as it seemed as though I was still moving at a respectable pace. I later learned that that the two leaders (and many others) had inadvertently taken the bridge rather than the actual course though the creek. In the end, it didn't really matter that much since I finished well behind the leaders, but at the time it seemed as though I had somehow come to a standstill.

We soon started our 2nd main ascent into the area known as The Abyss. This is a longish gradual climb that makes you work to maintain good speed, but it not too cruel. I moved along pretty well and managed to gain enough time on Shelby until he was no longer in sight behind me. This area was then followed by a good amount of narrow single track interspersed with a couple road sections and clear cuts. I really quite enjoyed the extra single track and didn't miss the large gravel road sections from previous years. We gradually made our way towards Colliery Dam and the course soon intersected with the short course and I soon found myself passing a large number of the short course mid pack runners. After the dam, we had a bit of a grunt of a climb on the paved roads and paths back up and under the highway before moving back onto trails.

At this point there were only few kilometers left in the course. I was feeling the fatigue in my legs now, although my engine still had good power. There was a one more small climb after which there was was about 1km left. I ran steady, but with no one in sight in front or behind me, there was little incentive to kill myself. I did, howver, surged to the finish line and passed a short course racer who thought I was in his race and tried to match me. "I'm in the long course" I shouted as I passed him as only seemed fair to let him know that he was not losing a position. I finished in 1:45:25 in 3rd place about a minute ahead of Nick and Shelby who came in 4th and 5th respectively. Shawn and Shaun obviously hammered the course though, finishing about 6 and 5 minutes ahead of me. I hadn't expected to beat Shawn, but I had hoped to be closer. He is obviously very fit these days and I expect to see him post some impressive times in upcoming races. Overall, I was satisfied with my performance which I would describe as average.

Since the course was enjoyed by myself and everyone else I talked to, I hope they keep it similar in future years. Most people I talked to had solid races including Andrew Pape-Salmon who placed 8th overall, Garth Campbell who performed well in his first trail race of the year, and Sonja who picked up 2nd in her age category. Thanks to Mark Nelson and Nick Walker at Frontrunners Westshore for hosting another successful event! Long Course Results. Short Course Results.