Trail Taleswriting from the saddle

Cumberland BC, Sept 28th, 2009

Photos Copyright Tony Austin & Colin Wilson

Saturday’s daybreak brought sunny weather, calm waters, and 360 competitors from as far away as Ireland to compete in the 2009 edition of the Cumberland MOMAR Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race. With stages ranging from kayaking to trekking, mountain biking to orienteering, the MOMAR race series is a test of skills and taking your body to the limit.

Kayakers battle for the first stage in Comox lake

Now in it’s 10th season, the MOMAR series consists of a spring race in Squamish and the fall race in Cumberland. This year a new split in the course was offered as a recreational sport category and the full enduro category. These courses differed by the elevation gain and the total distance, but everyone completed the same series of activities. The long course was 50km while the sport came in at 30km. Neither was easy, but made for smiles all around and an almost 100% success rate by the racers.

The start for the enduro class came just after 9am with 280 racers (male, female and mixed; and teams of 4, 2 or individual) and another 80 racers lined up at 10:30 for the sport course (pairs only). Racers must find a series of checkpoints and punch their map cards as they go. Time penalties are given for missing markers, so not always the fastest wins.

Jeremy Grasby heading out of the CP 7 transition gives John Markez a high-five.

Racers are given maps about an hour before start, so there isn’t time to do a pre-run of the course. From the start at the Cumberland Lake Park Campground and the first leg of the race by kayak, racers ran to Cumberland via two routes, one which included a gut busting 450m climb before changing at the #6 mine park to the first mountain bike leg. Racers rode many of the classic Cumberland mountain bike trails including Bucket of Blood, Short Line, Steam Donkey, Off Broadway and more. Returning to the transition zone in the park, racers took to foot to find three checkpoints in the village before being able to return to their bikes and head for the lake again. One final transition occurs at the lake as racers head to an orienteering course before a short run to the finish on the beach of Comox Lake.

The winner, Jeremy Grasby from Cumberland, crosses the finish line in 4:28:30!

As the dust settled, Jeremy Grasby of the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland was the 2009 champion with a blistering time of 4:28:30. He battled the rest of the leaders all day and after numerous lead changes took the final lead in the Orienteering section of the course. A great sportsman, Grasby stayed till the last racer arrived in from the course before heading to the banquet and Afterparty hosted at Mount Washington Alpine Resort.

Many local Cumberland and local Comox Valley racers were involved in the participation and volunteering for this great event which is scheduled for the Saturday Sept 25th, 2010. MOMAR is sponsored by; Coast Mountain Sports, Helly Hansen, Berg Bikes, BC Bike Race, Frontrunners and many more. You can find more information on www.mindovermountain.com

Local racers scored some great finishes

Jeremy Grasby – 1st Enduro Solo Male

Curtis Sanders and Tanya Berg of team T-Dot on the techinical trail Off-Broadway

Genevieve Burdett – 1st Enduro Solo Female

Sarah Seads – 2nd Enduro Solo Female

Curtis Saunders & Tanya Berg – 2nd Enduro Coed Team of 2

Joan Dryden & Marc Power – 3rd Enduro Coed Team of 2

Isabelle Laplante & Edwin Betinol – 2nd Sport Coed Team of 2

Fred Bigelow & Kathy Campbell – 3rd Sport Coed Team of 2

Jeremy from Riding Fool with Jim & Tina from Seeds Natural Foods