This weekend was the much anticipated Royal Lepage Snow To Surf Relay Race in Comox Valley, BC. This is a very cool race because it's really the only sports event of the year that seems to involve the whole town. Most races just 'happen' - you notice something is going on if you happen to be in Cumberland on race day, but in the very nearby towns of Courtenay or Comox you would never know. This race starts on Mount Washington, various sporting disciplines continue down the mountain to a lake near Cumberland, then runs through Cumberland where main street has one lane closed so the road bikers can scream through town, then to Courtenay where road bikers hand off to canoers, who paddle to Comox. And the required beer garden in Comox afterwards lets you meet up with everyone else you know or met along the race and discuss racing and todays successes or disasters. There are a LOT of locals that are involved in the race, and it seems that leading up to the race I am always running into people getting ready for the race, or helping friends get ready, or scrabbling to find a last minute teammate - do you happen to know someone who can (run? ski? paddle? ) that might be free on Sunday???
This year our friends found a nice canoe and brought it with them, as well as everyone's mountain bikes for Saturday, alpine skis for the first leg of the relay, a road bike, a surfski and all the associated gear as well as a very very fast surf ski racer. The cars were really very full! Our last year's roadbiker had an alternate commitment, but his bike made it to the race. Sunday morning Darcee (our phenomenal logistics organizer and driver) came to our house and Paul, myself, Angie and Kala all left with her to go up the mountain. Marc, Jacek and Johnny left to go to Comox Lake, and Andrew and Lina left for the kayak dock in Courtenay. I'm including some logistics in this story because I find it utterly mindboggling how we manage to do this and not lose someone.....
Paul took the chairlift halfway up the mountain for a practice run, and then left his skis at the very top. After standing around freezing for the required length of time, his job is to run up the mountain in a mass start through deep snow wearing alpine boots - snap into his skis and rip downhill to where the nordic skiers are waiting (that's me) - get out of his skis and run up along the line of skiers and hand an armband to me. He was down in a flash, and I left in the top 20 or so racers (out of 200 teams) and I left in a hurry. Other skate skiers left around the same time, and the first km I passed a lot of people meandering along the trail, to be left with a few racers pretty much my speed. The trail only has a few gentle hills, so the idea is to go all out - all the time - for about 8 km. Halfway out a few female racers I recognize passed us - a junior racer that placed second at the nationals this year, and another national level racer.. and I love how they walked past the men ahead of me! Fast people rock! The snow was softening considerably as the day warmed up and the altitude dropped a bit, and I really pitied the people who would be trying to ski in the deep soft mush we were rapidly turning the trail into. Passing took a huge amount of extra effort in the deep soft snow beside the main track of skaters, but I caught a few more people on the slow uphill climbs. Since this is only 8 km long, it is over pretty fast, which was good since I was maxed out the whole way. I gladly handed off to Kala who started down the road in the first running leg.
At this point Darcee and Angie had collected Paul - who collected me - and then we drove down to the second runner handoff. Angie looked at the threatening rain - or snow clouds and tried to decide how nasty the weather was getting. Kala did amazing an downhill run on pavement for 5 km - and handed off to Angie who had an 8 km trailrun. We picked up Kala and drove to the mountain bike start where Angie popped out of the woods after another awesome run and Marc took off on his mountain bike for road and trail just as the rain started. Then - we drove to Comox Lake, which is tricky when the fastest road access is closed. I got to the lake just as Marc rode in and handed off his bike to sprint to Johnny and help run the surfski to the water. Johnny took off like an arrow, passing 2 boats before the first turn. The leading kayakers were still visible on the lake as they turned the buoy marked switchbacks to head to the other side, which was really exhilarating! The water was calm and the rain that poured on Marc had stopped and the weather slowly turned into sunshine for the rest of the day. We (Darcee, Paul, Kala, Angie, Marc and myself) headed to downtown Cumberland where we arrived just in time to see Jacek rip through town on the roadbike. He was followed by far too many fast racers, some with full wheels and aero helmets and the whole racer kit - and then we were off to Courtenay where his 30 km roadbike loop would end. Johnny had to paddle back across the lake, and then he drove to Comox to meet us at the finish line. Jacek actually held off almost all the racers behind him, even though he is not a road biker and had never ridden this bike! We cheered Lina on as she sprinted the 1km between the roadbike handoff and the canoe launch - and her and Andrew paddled out strong and fast. We (Darcee, Paul, Angie, Kala, Marc, Jack and myself) drove to Comox harbour around the estuary. We could see the canoes leaving the sheltered river to hit the estuary where strong winds and opposing water currents were making for interesting times! One boat was almost leaping out of the water with each paddle stroke! We headed to the harbour and arrived minutes ahead of Andrew and Lina! Team reunited - and with an awesome finish!
Overall we were in 12th place! The first 11 teams were men's teams of various ages, and we were 1st in the mixed open category! And at the end of the day a lot of friends on other teams were on the podium for different categories, which makes me very happy. I can't believe I know such an amazing group of people that all like to play, ride bikes, run - and if needed, go really really fast! The medals - are chocolate, and are extremely good chocolate at that.
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