This past Saturday was the last race of the Eastern Ontario/Quebec, 5 peaks Trail Running Series for the year. Both Karl and I decided to make the trip into the Southern Quebec Country to take part in the event hosted at the Ark, near Wakefield. We both thought this would be an exciting and interesting race that would make for a fun day of training. What I seemed to forget was that the price of fun and excitement in the sport of Trail racing is proportional to the toughness and amount of “pain” you will experience over the course of the race. However, it was good to remember that racing is HARD and might not be considered FUN until after the race, and I thought that was pretty important leading into this year’s ski season.
Mike Caldwell the event host and organizer designed quite the gnarly course of 100% single-track running, with killer uphill’s, twisting downhill corners and absolutely no flats, all over rugged terrain. And I can’t forget to mention wild horse encounters and even the jumping of a barbwire fence at some point. I thought it was pretty insane but awesome all the same. The scenery out there is beautiful and we couldn’t have asked for better weather, even though I think rain would have just added to the excitement.
Karl and I decided to race the short distance that was measured to approx 7km. Karl was 1st overall in the “Sport Event” with a blistering fast time of 34:34 and I was a couple minutes back from the Kenyan, I mean Karl, in a time of 38:42, which was good enough for 3rd place overall. Karl managed to clean up not only in the race but also with the winning of some sweet prizes provided by Salomon and other sponsors of the race.
The full results can be found here:
http://5peaks.com/results/2010Results_Ark_overall.pdf
Post- race picture. Check out our sweet new XC Ottawa Training Tees. Big ups to PodiumWear and our designer Jessica Spring for another job well done!
All in all, it was a great day of training for us both. I was happy that I finally got doing a running race off my “to do” list and got to build on my trail running skills from the summer. This was also a great pre-season race because it challenges many aspects of racing skills for xc skiing. It was type of race that not only challenges aerobic fitness, core, and strength and power but also just as much mentally. The harder and faster you went, the harder it was to concentrate and any lost of composure was bound to end in a nasty spill. It was a good opportunity for any skier to test his/her fitness level and mental toughness and good race for learning how to “keep it together” and “fighting your way out of the hurt box” because it was kind of course that could beat you down… But no matter what, any race is worthwhile for the feeling you get while crossing the finish line!
Thanks to all the race organizers and sponsors, especially Salomon and The Ark, for putting off a great event. It was announce at the race that the Salomon Flight Crew rep will be posting a video clip of the racecourse that he captured via HeadCAM during the race. I will try to post a link to this article when it’s out!
"Winning Moves"