While living in Alberta, Jarmula had heard great things about MOMAR from friends who lived in the Lower Mainland. When he moved to Vancouver for school in 2004 it was more feasible for him to finally take part in the race. “My friends weren't exaggerating,” says Jarmula, “and even though I have moved further away from the lower mainland I still love to make time in my race schedule for at least one MOMAR a year.”

 

Before competing in a MOMAR, Jarmula had completed multiple classic expedition style adventure races such as Raid the North and Raid the North Extreme which are 36 hours to 5 days in length. He had also done several Sea 2 Summits which are similar to MOMAR but a multi-day format.

 

Jarmula was living in Port Moody during his first MOMAR so there was no shortage of local training options. “I spent a lot of time riding at SFU and Eagle Mountain, running at Buntzen Lake and paddling on Indian Arm,” recalls Jarmula. “I pretty much tried to bike and run three to four times a week plus paddle a couple times a week. These are things I would have been doing anyway for fun but with a race on the horizon the training became a little more focused.”

 

Jarmula says he enjoys all the MOMAR disciplines, including the 10km paddle. “My favourites would be the technical orienteering sections and the technical mountain biking,” declares Jarmula. He adds that his least favourite is flatter road running sections simply because it’s his biggest weakness and the section where suffers the most.

 

“When I started doing MOMAR winning first overall seemed very unlikely - the guys at the front seemed like they were a step above,” says Jarmula. It took a few years but Jarmula reached the top spot at MOMAR Squamish in 2009, one of the toughest MOMAR courses to date. Jarmula attributes his win to retirement ultra-athlete Dave Norona, and the increasing amount of navigation in the races. “Winning the Squamish race a few years ago was sweet,” says Jarmula.

 

The MOMAR is an off road multisport sprint adventure race that requires teams to mountain bike, kayak, trail run, trek, and orienteer through a series of checkpoints over scenic and rugged west coast terrain. The MOMAR series has staged 33 races in British Columbia, Canada over 12 race seasons.

 

For anyone interested in experiencing an award winning, world-class adventure race, it’s not too late to sign up for MOMAR Burnaby. MOMAR offers a 50km Enduro Course and 30km Sport Course for those newer to one or all of the MOMAR disciplines.

The final MOMAR event of the year returns to the historic mining town of Cumberland on September 22nd.

 

For more information on the MOMAR series, visit www.mindovermountain.com