What: Trail Running Race
Where: Durham Regional Forest
When: Saturday June 9, 2007
Distance: 12.15 km
Website: www.5peaks.com
This is my favourite 5 Peaks event, although that may be due to the fact that it is closest to my house and follows trails that I enjoy running and riding on. Jill and I designed this course last year in it’s inaugural year at Durham, and everyone seemed to be very happy with it. This year it was a qualifier for the Canadian Trail & Mountain Running Asscoiation (CTMRA) championships in Canmore Alberta, so the course had to be changed skightly to add more doubletrack and a little distance. We spent Friday morning marking the course with John, then returned Saturday morning tohelp with registration, and I pre road the course to make sure that no markers had been moved and no one was going to get lost. The course looked good so I got changed into my running gear, helped John out with a few last minute things and started to warm up.
Both the Sport (4.99Km) and the Enduro courses start at the same time, but split into self appointed waves. I chose to go in the 3rd wave which allows me to be at the front of the pack, and then pass some of the runners from the 2nd wave for a little mental boost. I started out at a steady pace and tried not to push it through the first section. The most challenging part of the race is in the second half so I wanted to conserve some energy. The first 4k was newly added to allow for more doubletrack at the start for passing. there was a couple of hills but overall it was a pretty tame section. After the 4k mark we headed into some wide singletrack, then some naroower singletrack leading up the first major hill at 5.5k. This was a long, fairly gradual, and somewhat technical hill that never seems to end. I felt really good heading up this hill, the same way I felt riding it earlier in the day. From the top of the hill we headed down the other side and after climbing over a large log pile out onto an access road down a hill into some doubletrack. This section of doubletrack leads to the bottom of the Wall of Pain at 7.5k and the beginning of the Wild Ride section. This is the most challenging section starting with the grueling climb up the Wall and leading into the many switchback up and downs of the Wild Ride. I felt good heading up the Wall and almost enjoyed it as I passed many people walking. I tried to keep up the pace heading through the Wild Ride to put some distance on the runners behind me. I came out of the Wild Ride at the 9k mark and tried to push the pace a little bit, knowing that the final 3k was fairly flat and through some fun singletrack. I had been hoping to finish in under an hour and realized that I was a little behind, so I pushed it a little more, crossing the finish line just under an hour.
This was a n excellent race with great organization, thanks John, and amazing atmosphere that you can’t find anywhere else. I don’t know what it is about trail runners, but they are some of the most friendly people.
