MOMAR: Mind Over Mountain, Shawnigan Lake
With both full and short course options right from the start...
Jacqueline Windh / Team CW-X/Injinji / 25.07.2008
The long-running MOMAR series is again showing its popularity with adventure racers - there are more than 200 competitors registered for tomorrow’s event at Shawnigan Lake, southern Vancouver Island.For this second event of the 2008 series, RD Bryan Tasaka has actually put two different courses on the program:
- the full course (open for solo, pairs, and teams of 4) will start at 9am, will be about 45 km in length, and will include an orienteering section, and
- a shorter course of about 30 km is open for pairs
What a great way to open up the sport, allowing people who might be intimidated by the longer course or by the more intensive map and compass work to still give AR a go. As well, there will be time cut-offs on the longer course which, if not met, will reroute competitors on to a shorter course rather than just loading them up with a DQ.
I’ve only raced one MOMAR before - the Ucluelet one two years ago - and I am totally excited about getting out on the course. I’ve been pushing my body hard these last few months, with my new training partner back in Tofino, Jeannie Doig, who will also be racing as a mixed pair with her cycling buddy Daryl Chase as Team Wild Westcoasters.
What a change it’s been for me, having a training partner! Up until this winter, it’s been a challenge to motivate myself for those long runs... She’s a triathlete, and its pushing her comfort zone to get off-road and try out AR. And she’s pushed me hard, too, getting me not on the water but into the water, swimming to train for the Apple Triathlon in Kelowna next month.
I had injured my knee at the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica last January, and the recovery from that was frustratingly slow. But, in the long run, all of the cross-training that I did during the recovery period seems to have paid off - I am feeling strong, and the knee is at about 98% (just remember to stretch!).
I am really happy to be racing in CW-X gear again - compression tights that provide support to joints and muscles. I may try out my new Pro-Shorts for this race - I think they will work better than the full-length tights on the bike - but I may just go for the tights and the knee support. After a hot and sunny week here on the south Island, tomorrow’s forecast is for mixed sun and rain showers, so that final decision will be made pretty much on the start line.
The general course info for this race has just been posted (although we won’t get actually route maps until an hour before the start, tomorrow morning), and it looks great. The route, at 45 km, will be on the longer side for the MOMAR series, but sounds like at least some of it will be some fast biking on gravel roads. As well, there will be some challenging single-track (what Vancouver Island is famous for), not my forte!. And, aside from the kayaking, there are other, unspecified water challenges... hmmm....
RD Bryan Tasaka is, as always, enthusiastic about the event. “This will be our 25th MOMAR since we started the series back in 2000,� he says. “The MOMAR has always been more than must a race. From the Friday night registration social to the now infamous after-party, the MOMAR is a full weekend of adventure and fun.�
Keep an eye out on SleepMonsters for my post-race report (don’t look for it Saturday, I’ll be at the famous party!). There will be some hot competition, especially in the solo male category with 27 racers entered (including SleepMonsters.ca Doug Doyle) and in all of the pairs divisions.
And a big thanks to Inova (www.inova.ca) for sponsoring me by providing me with my CW-X racing gear and Injinji socks. See All Event Posts
