Raid the North
Post Race Interview with Brent Chan - Rookie Racer in the 36 hour Format, and with team Jam Cabins:
Doug Doyle / 23.08.2005
This was Brent’s first multi-day race and also the first time to have raced with the members of Jam Cabins, who have been racing in the Raid the North series since 2003.
SM.ca: What has been your racing background before the Raid the North, Nelson?
Brent: My race background in adventure racing consists of a handful of Mind over Mountain sprint races that are run on Vancouver Island by Bryan Tasaka. I competed in the team of 2 and solo categories. I had heard Bryan puts on a good race (and an even better party) and they were local so it seemed like a good place to start.
SM.ca: What was the motivating factor for you to attempt the RtN 36hr?
Brent: Because I volunteered at the Raid the North and other races, I saw a lot of the same people in the last few years and they kept asking when I was going to start racing. When I first started volunteering I thought there was no way I'd ever do a race of any sort. I thought they were all crazy. But after a little while I started to wonder if I could actually do it so I started with the sprint racing. Making the jump to 36 hour races took longer and the biggest challenge was I needed to find a team that I could race with. My brother Pat offered but it never seemed to work out so when the opportunity came with Jam Cabins I jumped at the chance.
SM.ca: You've volunteered at many of the RtN races, NA Eco Qualifier - can you describe what its like to be racing as opposed to volunteering - you now can appreciate what the racers are going through and your perspective as a racer makes you aware of what the volunteers are going through as they wait for teams to pass through their station.
Brent: In a way I think racing is easier. Certainly easier than support crew. When you are racing you can focus on one thing, what you have to do to keep moving forward through that discipline (trekking, biking or paddling) or what you need to transition to the next section. As a racer you sometimes forget how much work the volunteers have to do to get to their checkpoints and that they rarely get any more sleep or creature comforts than the racers do during the race. In Nelson I was surprised at how many of the racers remembered me from volunteering and encouraging that I was giving racing a shot. It's nice to know that even though they are passing through the checkpoints exhausted and at all hours of the day the racers really appreciate the efforts of the volunteers and their crew during the races.
SM.ca: How did you meet your other team mates with Jam Cabins?
Brent: I met Jam Cabins when I was volunteering at RtN Hope in 2003. They were a rookie mostly family team and I could see they were a little new to the process so I tried to help them out a bit. I actually lent them some gear they had forgotten and helped them with their knots with their rope test. They didn't make it all the way through the course that year but you could see they were hooked. I ran into them again at Vernon in 2004 and maintained contact in the off season so when I heard one of their teammates couldn't make the Nelson race I sent an email to see if they might need a racer.
SM.ca: What’s the difference between racing a one-day sprint race and a 36hr race, besides the time and distance?
Brent: I think the word "sprint" describes the difference pretty well. The 4-8 hour races I was doing are basically flat out for the entire time. On the longer races it is a much more controlled pace since you are going for so much longer. The other major difference is in the actually course. With sprint races the mountain biking is often on single or dual track to make it more interesting. On the longer races they can't do too much of that because you have to cover so much distance so there is more logging roads and such. Also, there hasn't been very much off trail bushwacking that I've done in a sprint race, but the RtN races pride themselves on the navigation aspect especially in the trek.
SM.ca: What type of training did you do to prepare for RtN Nelson?
Brent: Well I have a young family so it was hard to find time to train. I worked a lot of it around my daily schedule by commuting to work on my bike and then running on my lunch breaks. I'd also take the dog on hikes in a park near my house that had a substantial climb. On the weekend I'd try to fit in a longer trail run with a local running club and then I had a Sunday afternoon cycling group as well. Paddling was whenever I could find that time and unfortunately suffered from it.
SM.ca: I understand that you shared navigation duties with the team - what was that like considering this is your first 36hr race and your first time navigating a team?
Brent: I was pretty confident with the theoretical part of the navigation given my background in SAR but I was a little hesitant about the night navigation. When I saw the course layout for Nelson I knew that the trekking leg was really going to be important for us as a team given it's length. With Nelson being a mountain race it was a little easier having some good reference points for triangulation and such and the full moon didn't hurt either. I'm sure the team had some doubts given it was their regular navigator who couldn't race and that's understandable. I think it was good that we took a second a couple of times to stop and triangulate so that I could show them that we were exactly where I expected us to be on the map. My teammates were able to see that Mike (Fitzy) and I were up to the task and that raised the comfort level for everyone, myself included, as the race continued.
SM.ca: What navigation skills did you bring to the team and how did you get them? I know that you are a Search and Rescue Society of BC volunteer and you know how to use a map and compass, but it this different?
Brent: I learned my map and compass skills through the Search and Rescue Society of BC, a group I joined several years ago. Most of my practical skills came through them as well although I have done so short course orienteering. In sprint racing the navigation is basically being able to read a trail map and knowing when to turn. Occasionally you might have to hold a bearing (walk in a straight line) for a kilometer or two but it's not that difficult. Navigation over unfamiliar terrain for hours on end in the dark really tests your navigation skills and your confidence. It's pretty nerve wracking to have your teammates relying on you when a mistake can cost several hours of lost time or even a DNF if you happen to miss a cutoff. Being able to share the duties in my first race was great since I didn't have total responsibility yet was able to get my feet wet
SM.ca: What were your goals going into the race and did they change during?
Brent: My stated goals going in were to finish the entire course as a team. The team goals were to finish and have fun throughout the race. Because I was the rookie to the team, I really wanted to make sure I wasn't the weak link and prove that I could keep up. What I learned by racing however was that each person can have low moments during the race and you just work to help them through because it may be you or someone else who needs the boost later.
SM.ca: What was the most difficult for you in this race?
Brent: There are two ways I could answer this question about what was most difficult. One is the obvious distress that Sarah was in when she had to drop out. I know she's a tremendous teammate and would have continued if she could but I think she made the right choice when her health was in doubt. Physically the first mountain bike stage was the hardest for me. My training hadn't included enough hill climbing on the bike so I suffered there. Then the single track descent was beyond my somewhat limited bike skills so you could say I wasn't a happy camper when I "walked" that portion of the descent.
SM.ca: Sarah, your team mate had some difficulties in the early portion of the course, during the epic uphill trek portion from CP1 to CP2 and CP3. What was going on? How did your team respond to her problems? Did she require medical attention and if so, what was the diagnosis? Is she ok? )
Brent: Sarah had a lot of trouble with her breathing when we reached the upper altitudes of the climb and it was pretty distressing for her. It was almost like an asthma attack although I understand she has no history of it. We worked hard to help her through that portion and continue until we could get down to the next TA where the medical staffs were. Mike and Darrel took turns carrying her pack while I offered support as we traversed the boulder fields near CP2. Sarah tried really hard to tough out the next mountain bike leg but you could see she didn't have any energy. When we got to CP5 and the transition to the paddle she was checked out by the medical staff again who diagnosed her with the first stages of pneumonia. Unfortunately, since we were headed to a cold, wet night of paddling she felt that it was probably not good for her health to continue and the team was supportive of that decision. Fortunately after some rest and a little medical attention Sarah recovered and was able to greet us when we crossed the finish line on Sunday morning.
SM.ca: Who was your support crew - Pat, your brother was supporting and he's had many a multi-day race under his belt - did you feel much pressure with him being in a support role and were there expectations in the older brother/younger brother genre?
Brent: We had three support crew actually. My brother, Pat, Sarah's boyfriend Darren, and a local Nelsonite Bernie (and his entire family actually) a relative of Mike's. They were tremendous, with Pat's race experience combined with Bernie's local knowledge we were a very well cared for crew. Bernie even took pages of notes during the event so he could "do it better next time" when he gets the opportunity to be support for the team. Rather than add pressure having Pat as support, I think it reduced the pressure for me. I was able to lean on his experience and just focus on the racing, knowing that the team was well cared for whenever we hit the TAs.
SM.ca: I heard that there was a few sketchy segments on the course, the first being around Password Peak with rock fall: I heard that teams were quite concerned and radioing to HQ about the numerous rock fall and one team was heard to say that boulders the size of Volkswagens were coming off the mountain - did you feel you were in any danger because of this? Exactly where was this happening? The other portion of the course I heard was somewhat iffy was the second mountain bike descent, in that it was a single track, technical downhill with a steep drop off if you fell to the side. How did your team get down?
Brent: Actually we were one of the teams that pulled out or radios at that point. We were passing through the rock fields under Password Peak when we heard a noise that sounded like a helicopter coming towards us. Somehow some rocks got dislodged from the summit and started a rock fall that looked like it was coming straight for us. We were yelling "Rock" and "Run" and it seemed like several tonnes of rock passed within feet of where we had just been standing. When we knew we were safe we were actually more worried for a volunteer who had been closer to the cliff than us so Mike ran back to check on him while I pulled out our radio in case anyone was hurt. Fortunately he was able to take cover and the rocks bypassed him as well. There was so much noise and debris that team Holofibre actually sent someone back up from where they were making their descent on the mountain to check to make sure everyone was ok. I understand some other teams had similar incidents.
I think I mentioned the single track mountain biking leg. It was a pretty severe drop off one side but that was more a question of skill than anything. We chose to walk that section of the descent but certainly if you attempted it and failed the consequences could have been severe. At the time we weren't happy racers about the course design but racing is about testing your limits so I'm sure that lots of racers enjoyed that section.
SM.ca: Any injuries? How are your feet?
Brent: I had some trouble with the dust, especially mountain biking. There hadn't been a lot of rain lately so it was pretty dry. I actually coughed for about 3 hours straight on the climb up to Idaho Peak. The medical team gave me an inhaler to help me out but I ended up losing my voice from the coughing. All in all though I came out of the race relatively unscathed. No problems at all with the feet.
SM.ca: What did you eat?
Brent: What I took with me and what I ate changed as I went along. I originally took a lot of gels, power bars, breakfast bars and things because that's what I ate during the shorter sprint races. What I found was that as the race went on it was really difficult to make myself eat stuff that was unappealing. We planned to eat every hour or so and sometimes I just couldn't stomach (no pun intended) the stuff I had in my pack. We ate pastas and stews in the TAs, sandwiches, cold pizza, bagels with peanut butter, cookies, perogies, cheese strings, pepperoni sticks and the aforementioned "bars" out on the course. We drank cokes and juice in the TAs and 1/4 strength Gatorade in our hydration packs. Not very scientific but it seemed to work.
SM.ca: Did you get any sleep? Did the lead teams sleep? Did you get much rest in TA and did you take many breaks in between CPs?
Brent: Our plan was to race without sleep and I know the lead teams did as well. We had one unplanned nap as we had to wait for canoes to be shuttled back to the beginning of the canoeing leg as there weren't enough boats. Other than that there was no sleeping. Our time in the TAs was pretty efficient, eat, change into the clothes/gear required for the next section and move on although we weren't ever totally frantic about it. We tried to limit our breaks while moving between CPs to only long enough to filter water or take something from our packs to eat although we weren't always successful. I read somewhere that taking 5 minutes every hour for breaks adds up to 2 hours over a 24 hour race.
SM.ca: What was the highlight of the race, the lowest part of the race - for you and for your team?
Brent: The highlight and lowlight for me were both the same things, and that was crossing the finish line. I was ecstatic to finish but it was tempered by the fact that we weren't able to complete the course as a full team.
SM.ca: Was the race well organized?
Brent: Being a volunteer with Frontier adventure racing for so long I'm pretty comfortable with their process and I know how difficult it can be to organize things especially when you're using basically brand new volunteers at each different race location. I think Frontier is learning from each race and doing a better job of separation of duties and management while the race is going on. The only complaint our team had was this was the second year in a row where we've had to wait for canoes at the paddling section because there weren't enough boats. I realize that we were given a time credit but it really halts the momentum for a team and in this case may have contributed to our team being unranked
SM.ca: The after party - tell me all!
Not to knock Frontier, but the after party isn't as good as the legendary events after Bryan Tasaka's Mind over Mountain events. I think the reason is with the 36 hour races most of the racers haven't been off the course that long and they generally haven't slept since Thursday night/Friday morning. Couple that with a need to sometimes travel Sunday night for work on Monday and a lot of people left after the awards were presented. A few of us had some wobbly pops after but the teams I saw were pretty low key. The best after parties I've been to are after the sprint races or after expedition races as people usually don't have to be back to work the next day.
SM.ca: Would you do it again?
Brent: Definitely. I'm not sure if I'll be racing with the Jam Cabins as they have a regular roster but I'm looking forward to doing another 36 hour race at some point. After all I'm still trying to get a family team together since I have two brother's who both race. I would like to thank Sarah, Mike, Darrel, and Jim from the Jam Cabins for letting me race with them and also our support crew at Nelson for making my first 36 hour race so great. And of course a big thanks to Doug Doyle from Spirit Canada who offered a lot pre-race advice and training tips.
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