Race Name – Storm the Trent Hike
Date – May 13, 2007
Description – 3-5 hour Adventure Race (Paddle, Trail Run, Mountain Bike)
Location – Golden Beach Resort, Rice Lake
Race web site – http://www.stormevents.ca
Jill and I had planned on doing the Storm the Trent Trek Elite 2 day stage race again this year, but were unable to find a support crew that could help out both days. We decided a week before the race that we would cancel the Trek Elite and instead do the one day Trek as a team on the Saturday, then do the shorte
r Hike as Solos on Sunday. The race site was at Golden Beach Resort on Rice Lake, just south of Peterborough. This worked out to be a great site as there was a hall for race kit pick up and awards, a nice grassy finish area and good deals on cabins and camping spots. Lucky for us it is only about 40 minutes away so we could sleep in our own bed.
We arrived at the race site a little late as we decided to sleep in after racing on Saturday. We got our gear together, signed in and headed to the race breifing. Because I was running behind I didn’t have time to test ride the Ruahine Swallow that I had rented to race in. After the breifing I headed down to the in water start and got into my boat. This was my first time paddling a racing kayak, and I was really nervous, this is also where I made my first mistake. As soon as I got into the boat I noticed that the rudder system was stuck, but being so tippy everytime I tried to reach down and fix it I felt like I was going to tip, which would be pretty embarassing before the race even started. I should have headed to the shore and got out to fix the problem, but I was afraid I would miss the start so I just decided to straighten the rudder and live with it. A few minutes later the gun went off and I took off, turning to the left and unable to straighten out! After trying to correct with paddle strokes I realized that the rudder had turned on me! I quickly reached under the deck and pulled on the cord to straighten th rudder. I was already behind so I tried to set a decent pace and work my way to the front. Obviously I made a huge mistake by not fixing the problem as I had to use a lot of energy correcting as the rudder moved back and forth, pulling me off course. Despite this I was able to use the awesome speed of the Swallow to catch up to the group in the lead, finishing about 5 minutes behind the leader.
I had a very quick transition and jumped on my bike. We headed up the same hills and into Northumberland forest the same as Saturday, except the singletrack was cut out. I quickly passed the few teams in front of me and pwered up the hills to the top of the ridge. As I was coming down into the forest I noticed that there was a team of 2 guys right behind me. We entered the transition zone together and headed out onto the run. It was a very strange experience for me to be at the front of a race. I am usually racing in the coed division and focused on the other coed teams, but now I was trying to finish first overall. The run was similiar to the Trek, but you had to do the marked section first minus 1 control point, then could do the advanced with 2 control points either on foot or bike. We ran together for the entire marked portion. Going through a hilly singletrack section I tried to push the pace and drop them and thought I had done it climbing up a steep switchback, but then I ran past control point 2 and had to spend time backtracking and finding it, giving them a chance to recover and losing my advantage. We continued to where I made my second and worst mistake of the day. I didn’t really look closely at the map and devise a race strategy, instead foolishly thinking it wasn’t necessary. I followed the marked course back to the transition zone, noticing that the guys I had been running with had turned aside. As I ran back to the transition to grab my bike I realized what they had done and realized that I had made a MAJOR mistake. control point 4 in the advanced section was fairly close of the marked trail, so instead they decided to get it on the run then only have one to get on their bike, which was more on the way out of the forest. I tried to speed up and hoped I would be able to make up the time that I had lost.
After grabbing my bike and heading up the trail I saw Jill coming down the trail only a few places behind me. I gave her a big cheer, amazed that she was doing so well after hurting herself so badly the day before. I quickly grabbed the last 2 control points and headed out of the park onto the roads for the bike back to the resort and a short running section. I pushed it through this section not seeing that team of 2. Either they were a couple minutes ahead of me or had dropped of. I was sure it was the former so rode as hard as I could. I dropped my bike at the next CP headed out to get the 2 advanced control points first then grab the regular one that was at the top of a large grassy hill last. After grabbing the first advanced control point I passed the team of 2 coming the other way. They were in fron of me, darn. I tried to finish the run strong, then jumped on my bike and headed into the finish. I ended up a few minutes behind them. I congratulated them on a great race and told them how smart they had been. I was happy with my race though, and learned a lot from my 2 dumb errors. I finished as 1st solo and second overall. I have to congratulate Jill as well who finished as first solo female and top 10 overall after not being sure if she would be able to race after getting hurt the day before.
This addition of Storm was another first class race from one of the best Race Directors in Ontario, Sean Roper. We have raced and volunteered at most of his races and are amazed at how organized he is. There were 3 races going on this weekend and no problems for any of them. If you have a chance you should come out for the Storm the Ten on September 22 at Kelso Conservation Area. It is a new concept that combines the idea of 24 and 8 hour relay style MTB races and AR. Check out http://www.stormevents.ca/stormthe10.htm for more information. See you there.
