Canadian National Adventure Racing Championships
Day 1 Summary
Doug Doyle / 28.05.2006
Racers rose early against the backdrop of a rising sun to ensure they joined the motorized convoy south out of Timmins to the start line at the Mattagami First Nations’ Reserve. The darkening clouds on the northern horizon and falling barometer meant rain was imminent. The weather forecast predicted temperatures in the mid twenties with a 30% chance of rain but the rain turned into a reality when the skies opened and drenched the competitor’s just minutes prior to the race start which was delayed from 9:00am to 10:15am. While the rain may have dampened the racers clothing, their spirit’s remained steadfast as they focussed on the first stage of the NARC journey and mountain biking to CP2/TA1.
Today’s stage race covered 84 kilometres with the top teams wanting to lay down the gauntlet as a challenge to their competitors and grab bragging rights to the claim of the fastest sprint team for the NARC.
The sprint team is comprised of a coed team of three and solely race one day, whereas the multi-day teams are comprised of four racers, coed. The multi-day teams have the option of racing three members of the team and take into consideration the strengths of each team member in concert with the disciplines of the stage one event, this becomes a tactical decision. Today’s event featured two mountain bike sections for a combined 66km, a paddle of 10km and a short trek of 8km so the strong bike members would likely comprise the multi-day teams sprint race.
The pace at the start was blisteringly fast between the start, CP1 and CP2/TA1 as the lead teams jumped to the forefront: By this time, the rain had ended and the clouds began to clear.
The pace continued into the paddling section past the pictographs at Wizard Lake at CP 3 to the rapids of the Makami River through to CP4/TA2 where the lead continued to be held by Supplierpipeline.com.
From CP4 the teams changed out of their paddling gear and into their trekking shoes to ascend Bald Rock (CP5) were they would see over top the boreal forest to CP6 some 7km’s in the distance. This would be the last time they could see the fire tower until they were literally minutes from the CP.
Bob Miller, Course Designer predicted the trek would take the lead teams two and a half hours and his estimation was spot on. Supplierpipeline.com arrived at CP6 at 3:02pm followed six minutes later by Simon River Sports. I watched as other teams negotiated their way to the top of Fire Tower Peak and greeted Adidas Canada who seemed quite happy to be out of the thick bush and swarms of blackflies. Leanna from Adidas Canada commented her only respite from the heat and blackflies was to take brief refuge in a lake near the base of Fire Tower Peak as these bugs were relentless in their quest for blood.
Day’s Inn had a longer trek than most teams having lost their canoe just before CP4 when the flipped and the canoe broached against a rock and couldn’t be retrieved against the strength of the Makami River: they ran along the river bank for a half hour, then swam across the cold, fast moving river to complete their journey to CP4/TA2.
Teams finished their trek into CP7/TA3 and transitioned to mountain biking to ride the remainder of today’s stage race back to the Mattagami First Nations Reserve.
A complete listing of the teams and times into checkpoints is detailed on the leaderboard.
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