Momar Race Report

It was a last minute decision to race in the Momar race due to an unexpected change of events and so on Friday evening I found myself at Shawnigan Lake. This is a beautiful area of the island that I have never gotten the opportunity to explore. It was also nice to race amongst fellow adventure racers and friends. The Momar series is nice as it somewhat feels like an extended family, a place you know you will reunite with some great friends and racers.



I decided to race this race with a good kayak friend Marshall. We had never raced together but thought it would be an interesting change from racing with my regular team the Yogaslackers (they were off climbing tall trees in the US for a documentary their friend was creating). A change of pace is always healthy and keeps people on their toes.

The race began with a 10km kayak. Marshall and I raced in the XT Fenn double surf ski and it proved to be a good choice in boats. We killed it. It was definitely a fun experience to lead the pack out on the water especially since I've really started to paddle more and have been in the boat at lot more than in the past. Unfortunately, we were a little unprepared to be so far in front and lost some time and confidence in finding our correct way back to the transition. We managed to hold our lead despite stopping twice.

The bike was next. I won't elaborate too much as it still hurts a little too much to think about our mistake. We basically over shot a turn off and found ourselves about 1.5 hours off course doing a large large hill repeat. I suppose I subconsciously felt like the bike section was too short and decided that adding 1.5 hours would make it much more suitable…haha.. Following this terrible detour and mistake we found ourselves way back in the pack and just had to suck up our loses and keep on trekking until the end. This was mentally a tough spot for me to be in as to be honest, it is a rare occurrence. On the bright side, I'm glad it happened in a smaller race, with an understanding teammate and I was able to learn from it. I was able to eventually get over the mistake and just enjoy the rest of the race while still pushing hard and using it as an awesome training for some of the bigger/longer races to come in the near future.

The river run was a fun little addition to the race. I'm not sure how I felt about swimming with a noodle though…it kept sliding out from underneath me. Onto to the trek we met up with Curtis who also took a bike detour with us and managed to finish off the orienteering section in good spirits.

I learnt a lot from this race and its nice to know I am able to brush off the mistake and move on. It is an adventure race and it happens to everyone,,…I suppose it was our turn this time.

All in all it was a good time as every Momar I've raced in has been. Thank you Bryan/Momar and Helly Hansen.

I am now off to Ontario to be a maid of honour in my sister's wedding. I can't wait to see the fam!

Live, Love, Laugh,….DREAM!