Gorge Games race Report/ Momar/ Yogaslackers in Vancouver
Yogaslackers made it to the Gorge Games this past weekend to compete in the 24Hour Adventure Race
This is how our week was played out…Sometimes I’m shocked I even make it to the race start let alone the podium…
Wednesday am: July 16th We did not have any kayaks to race with
Wednesday pm: Lina’s friend of a friend of a friend lent the yogaslackers an interesting double kayak (Thank you!) and Tom from a skin boat company lent us 2 single skin boats. At least we had boats
Thursday all day: Team gets themselves to Portland from around the west coast. I had the sweet pleasure to hang out with two awesome Camp Olson friends Kristi and Risa.
Friday: We get the double kayak, four bikes, four people, gear and a trailer on the peace/love car and make it to the race start…phew…Typical adventure race: it always seems that the toughest part is just getting to the start line
Friday-Saturday: 24 hours 4 stages 3 rogaine sections, beautiful views, no sleep and lots of fun.
Kayak: 3.5 hours of doing laps….with our interesting boat compilation our number of laps were greatly reduced. Jason’s boat although great started to gain lots of water as the kayak leg went on. It’s unfortunate that the wind and waves caused the race director to change the original kayak rogaine section. Safety is number one in adventure race, which has the ability to incur great risks. After this painful 3.5 hours it was off onto the bike for a 2 hour bike rogaine
Bike Rogaine: Interesting leg, this section was done in the dark and led to biking hard in order to attempt to make it to the TA and get all the check points in just over 2 hours. We managed to get all but the big point one thanks to Jason’s spur of the moment energy and quick decision making skills. The rest of us were a little nervous about the time cut off. Like Mergeo we thought we had to be there by 11:30pm (fortunately we had some more time without penalties) but Jason had a plan in his head and luckily it worked out for the better for us.
10hr Run Rogaine: I thought we did this leg very well despite not getting all of the check points. About a quarter of the way through the run we ran into Dart-Nuun and it seemed like we were on the same path to get the check points. Later Mergeo and Wedali linked onto the train. At one point Jason made a different decision than Glenn and we separated. From that point onwards for the rest of trek we would seem to run into team Dart-Nuun here and there.
7hr Bike Rogaine to the Finish: feeling good after the run we headed into the last section of the race. Pretty much off the bat it seemed like we took a different route than most teams but it turned out to work out really well for us. After some big climbs and descents, following some energy highs and lows, it seemed like Jason stepped it up and made sure we kept moving at a good pace. Daniel and Jason did an awesome job at picking up the check points at good speed and accuracy. The final stretch were some check points in the city. This was probably one of the most exhilarating parts as the time was quickly running out but we were determined to get all the city points. After climbing too many steep stairs to get the last 80 point check point we were exhausted but had about 4 minutes left to get to the finish line without penalty. We motored it down to the water and managed to cross the line with 2 minutes to go. Phew.
Yogaslackers managed a 3rd place podium finish behind Teams Dart-Nuun and Mergeo both from the northwest regions.
It was a great race with a great team. I’m already looking forward to racing the Coast Raid in Quebec in August.
Thank you to Helly Hansen for providing with some fantastic clothes that kept me cool and comfortable throughout the race. Ibex for supplier our race jerseys, Ergon for some comfortable bike grips, Nuun for keeping us well hydrated, Inov-8 for comfortable packs and awesome trail running shoes and Steed Cycles and Giant for such a fabulous bike (Giant Trance XO)
Sunday: Lots of acroyoga in the park and some quality time with my ladies (Kristi and Risa).
Monday: Sam, Jason and I eventually make our way to Seattle for an acroyoga class, run out of gas, get some intense questions at the border and finally roll into North Van.
Tuesday: Lina’s introduces Sam and Jason to Deep Cove Tuesday Night Races
Kayak, run, swim, run, kayak…..fun stuff. They loved it. Deep cove is such a beautiful place to kayak, its no wonder its my new passion.
Jason and Sam from team yogaslackers are going to hang around and hopefully not cause too much trouble before heading back south on Friday. I will miss them dearly.
While Jason and Sam will head back to the states to continue their adventures I will head to the island to race in the MOMAR # 2 Cowichan Valley. I missed this momar race last summer due an unexpecting but exciting new nephew so am very pumped to check out the terrain. I will be racing under Helly Hansen/Yogaslackers and will team up with Marshall House.
Here is a quick summary of what to expect for the MOMAR
Distance: ~50km
Estimated Completing Time: 4-8 hours
Disciplines: Mountain Biking, Kayaking, Trail Running, Orienteering/Navigation, Water Challenges, Coasteering, Bushwacking, and other great Mystery Challenges...
Live, Love, Laugh,…DREAM!
Lina
No comments:
Post a Comment