Storm the Trent – 2013

Event:

Storm The Trent – 2013

Host Site:

Warsaw, ON

Storm the Trent is one of four events in the ‘Storm” racing series. It offers an early season race for veterans to hone their skills and also for first timers to get involved. As such, this race requires very little pure navigation as the course is by-and-large marked with signs at any major turns.

The 2013 event was held on May 11^th, and we were very lucky to get some nice weather that day. It had been raining in large amounts in the week prior to the event, and the ‘Hike’ (short course) event participants the next day suffered some very cool weather as well as sporadic rain showers.

The mass start began with a sprint to collect three flags before teams headed out on bikes to start the race proper. Teams could send just one participant out to collect these flags instead of everyone, and most teams chose this option, including my team. I was ‘voluntold’ to collect the flags and off I went along with one person from each team. I started off with a very aggressive pace towards the first flag as I knew there would be a long line-up forming as the mass of people arrived there shortly after I did. I think I was the 6^th person to get that flag, and by the time I had punched the card and climbed back up the hill a line-up of at least 30 people had formed behind me waiting for the single punch to complete their card. From there it was easy navigation along the roads to the other two flags, a total of approximately 4-5km’s covered and I rejoined my team and we headed off on the bikes.

A 17km ride to the first transition was all on roads which allowed us to make good time. Off the bikes and 4km run on trails into “Rotten Lake” (actual name) to capture both a flag and some clues to be used later in the race. Back on the bikes and another 10km ride on roads until we hit our first trail. Captured a quick flag (CP3) at the trail origin point. 2km’s into the trail and the double track turned into single track trail with lots of rocks. No more than a few meters onto the single track trail and one of my teammates broke his rear derailleur hanger.

We pulled our bikes off to the side of the trail and began working on fixing the problem. The rear derailleur had completely broken off, and had jammed up in the front cog momentarily causing damage to the chain and twisting a few links. Working together we managed to install a new rear derailleur hanger and fix the chain. We ended up having to remove a link and my teammate continued the race with a slightly shorter chain, robbing him of a few of the lower gears. From disaster to fixed in approximately 25 minutes.

We continued our ride on the single track for another 7km’s until turning back onto roads. Another 7km’s of road riding and we were back at transition and onto the canoe section. A 5km paddle along the length of ‘Quarry Lake’ and we were out onto the last trekking section of the race. A 5km loop on beautiful trails through and around the Warsaw Caves Conservation Area brought us back to the boat launch. We had amassed several CP’s along the way. Only a 5km paddle back down Quarry Lake remained and we were finished.

We gathered all 11 CP’s and completed a total of 63km’s (68km’s if you include the 5km sprint to start) in 5:52:13. We experienced our first major on course bike repair, and learned many lessons along the way. The Storm the Trent race is superbly organised (as are all Storm events) and offers beginners a great chance to get their feet wet without the threat of becoming hopelessly lost in the wilderness. As someone with a bit more appetite for true adventure racing, this race lacks the navigation challenges inherent in many other races. There was a bit too much road biking for my preference, and the weather at this time of year can be touch-and-go, we got lucky in that respect. As long as you go into the race knowing these limitations you are bound to have a great time!