Hoops & Yo Yo Win the Multi-sport Snowgaine

Comeau and Isenor of Hoops & Yo Yo finish seconds ahead of NSAR ROTFLMAO's Russon & Murray, though Hoops & Yo Yo enjoyed a 1 hr time bonus

Mother Nature smiled on the woods of Porter's Lake, NS on February 21st as conditions had all twelve teams fretting about what disciplines to use at the Multi-sport Snowgaine. Participants were allowed to use trekking, mountain biking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing or any combination of the four. Only cross country skiing wasn't represented. The course consisted primarily of ATV trails with some logging roads. Snow measured at least 8 inches deep, but heavy ATV traffic groomed 12" wide paths for the experienced cyclists. Other trails were untouched by offroad traffic, and with the challenging topography snowshoes were appreciated.

It was a good day in the woods for one of Eastern Canada's top adventure athletes Jodi Isenor. Fresh of a the disabled list, this was the longest session Isenor had participated in for many months, according to him "Karine was patient with me but still kept the pushing the pace." Keeping Hoops & Yo Yo honest were Nick Russon and Kelly Murray of NSAR ROTFLMAO. Unfortunately for the Natural Selection Adventure Racing squad Hoops & Yo Yo had 'Checkpoint F' in their backpack. Checkpoint F was a 'first to find' control that had no point value, but it did have a 1 hour time bonus as its reward. It was one of the farthest controls from the start / finish and was worth every minute of that bonus!

Russon and Murray captured the final 400 pts of Checkpoint X, but not without some drama. The location of Checkpoint X was revealed on the course on a map posted at Checkpoint 2. Racers only knew that the map was at one of the controls. While Russon did see the map at Checkpoint 2 he later stated "I saw the map, but being daft I just assumed it was in case someone lost theirs." Murray added "it was a few minutes later that I saw the clue for Checkpoint X on our control sheet and I wondered what it was all about!" Fortunately for NSAR ROTFLMAO Checkpoint 2 wasn't far from the start / finish so they returned to find the location of Checkpoint X and were successful in collecting it.

Hoops & Yo Yo and NSAR ROTFLMAO both captured all 2900 points from the course with time to spare. Course directors Andrew Lowery and Shawn Taylor were skeptical on whether the 30 + km course could be completed. Lowery commented "with all the snow we figured that things might be slow going, but some mild weather managed to improve conditions with respect to speed. Both Hoops & Yo Yo and NSAR ROTFLMAO still had a great day in the woods and we couldn't be happier that they cleared the course!"

Coming in third in the six hour division were Bob Matthews & Bev McMurtrie of the Springhill Merlins. Unfortunately for the Merlins the missed the map at Checkpoint 2. While they would have had time to nab Checkpoint X, they didn't have time to go back to Checkpoint 2 to find it's location. Still, their placing wouldn't have improved but the disappointment was clear with the competitive duo. Following the Merlins was Hub Cycle. Bruce Roberts and Jeff Simm, fresh off the disappointing news of their not winning the lottery to race at Leadville arrived on the scene almost exactly 10 minutes past the start time. Simm commented "I finished packing for the race at 2:30 a.m., I don't even know what's in my backpack! All we wanted was to be 10 minutes early." No such luck for Hub Cycle. Lowery rushed them through registration and the two well seasoned cyclists set off on bike. If there was one team at the Snowgaine who could ride the unusual conditions it was them. Using a loaner compass Roberts & Simm cruised their way through 2300 points arriving with only a few minutes to spare like they were veteran adventure racers. The Maritime adventure racing scene needs to keep a watchful eye on Roberts and Simm as their results will only improve with their speed on the bikes and their ease in the woods.

Brad Toms and Blair Cabot of the Bumbling Bipeds steadily made their way through 2000 pts. Toms is an accomplished orienteerer and the Snowgaine navigation wasn't a problem for him. Cabot seemed to enjoy himself which means that Toms likely didn't travel at his usual Kenyan like pace, no slight to Cabot, Toms is just really fast!

Despite their self deprecating name, Lost in the Woods, Shannon Arnold and Jamie Haynes collected an impressive 2000 points. Coming from triathlete backgrounds there was no doubt that Arnold and Haynes had the appropriate fitness level. Arnold and Lowery shared a few informative phone calls before the race as neither she nor Haynes had ever done an adventure race before. "Shannon seemed cautious about the navigation. I tried to reassure her that since she knew what 'declination' was that meant she was already as good as many adventure racers, but I don't think she believed me" Lowery recalled. Hopefully any hesitation they may have had before the race has been eliminated by their success.

The Hammerheads, the Maritimes longest serving adventure racing squad and perpetual threat to all podium seekers, managed to grab 1700 points. Dikaios tweaked a knee which slowed down the trio, but Heddon and Tae showed great responsibility in slowing the pace of the usually strong running team. February is too early in the season to toy with injuries. Most importantly the Hammerheads had a great time and had the biggest smiles of the day when they finished. Still, even with that injury the three hopped on the bikes to grab Checkpoint X which involved a difficult bushwhack up a steep slope. Toughness is a prerequisite for being a Hammerhead!

NSAR WTF, the second Natural Selection Adventure Racing team of Troy Johnston and Lori Parker scored 1300 pts. Both Johnston and Parker are admittedly green navigators. Lowery, having raced with Johnston before comments "Troy never even wanted to see the map. I'd ask him if he wanted to know where we were going and he'd say 'nope, I don't care.'" Since teaming up with Parker and two others for the 2010 season, Johnston's sect of the NSAR family is still working out who will hold the maps for them. The Snowgaine course was certainly a good one to get experience!

Capturing first place in the four hour division was Dental Damage. Doucet, an experienced racer nursing a bad IT Band, brought out her colleague George Clark for his first race. Clark had a great time no doubt in part due to Doucet's ease with the map and vast knowledge of the sport. Not far behind was Sapper. Davis and O'Callaohan brought out MacAdam for her first race. While there was some doubt that she would make it to hockey that night, she did seem to enjoy herself. Third place went to Grandy and Nightengale of Maggre. Nightengale went on the prowl for adventure races and was put in contact with Taylor and Lowery just a week before the event. A frequent volunteer at the adventure races of yesteryear, Nightengale is anxious to test his mettle on a few more this year. The Jacobs sisters, Anna, Maria and Lisa rounded out the four hour division. The three stated before the race that they were just out for fun, and surely appeared to be successful in their bid.

Team Trail Shop Adventure Racing would like to thank all the participants of the Multi-sport Snowgaine. All proceeds from the race go towards their race fees for 2010. On their schedule is The 24 hour Eco-Endurance Challenge, a three day stage race in Mont Tremblant Ultimate XC, the 36 hour Race the Phantom in northern New Brunswick and the only North American qualifier for the Adventure Race World Championships: Untamed New England.

6 Hour Division:
- Hoops & Yo Yo (Jodi Isenor & Karine Comeau) 4:11, 2900 PTS
- NSAR ROTFLMAO (Nick Russon & Kelly Murray) 5:12, 2900 PTS
- Springhill Merlins (Bob Matthews & Bev McMurtrie) 5:32, 2500 PTS
- Hub Cycle (Bruce Roberts & Jeff Simm) 5:50, 2300 PTS
- Bumbling Bipeds (Brad Toms & Blair Cabot) 5:31, 2000 PTS
- Lost in the Woods (Shannon Arnold & Jamie Haynes) 5:43, 2000 PTS
- Hanmerheads (Grant Heddon, Kaarin Tae & Tasso Dikaios) 4:51, 1700 PTS
- NSAR WTF (Troy Johnston & Lori Parker) 5:43, 1300 PTS

4 Hour Division:
- Dental Damage (Erica Doucet & George Clark) 3:44 1700 PTS
- Sapper (Jody Davis, Melanie MacAdam, Keith O'Callaohan) 3:37, 1500 PTS
- Maggre (Leah Grandy & Glenn Nightengale) 3:29, 1400 PTS
- Jacobs Sisters (Anna, Maria & Lisa Jacobs) 3:41, 500 PTS

A Ridiculous Compilation of Videos From Untamed New England

In July of 2009 Team Cogeyed AR ventured to New Hampshire to compete in Untamed New England, a three day expedition adventure race. Our race was a great success! We finished 5th in the open division and 14th overall. Of the 44 teams who participated, only 23 were able to finish as it was quite a challenge. Most importantly, we had an amazing time! From all of our training and preparation, to the drive to New England all the way to the start line it was all a lot of fun.

I had forgotten that we'd taken quite a bit of video on the trip before the race. We didn't get any video footage during the race as our backpacks were already too heavy to carry a camera too! Recently I found the old SD card with the videos on it and I know that quite a few people will want to see some of these gems. However, I do feel it necessary to offer the following disclaimer: I am a dangerous, self indulgent fool with a camera. While some may get a laugh out of these videos, others might conclude that I've suffered one too many head injuries while others still might find them to be a waste of time. I sincerely hope that most of you find them funny! Do enjoy.

This was early in the drive when my company first abandoned me on their way to dreamland. That 'thing' in the back is Madmartigan, our Irish Wolfhound. He stayed in Fredericton while we continued on.



We camped somewhere in the USA that night after meeting with Team Natural Selection Adventure Racing. I don't remember where we stayed, nor am I sure I ever knew. It did rain all night and we woke up bitterly cold. Team Cogeyed AR is diligent with our conditioning so we proceeded with our typical morning calisthenics. Nick (seen on the far left) from NSAR tried to keep up, but he wasn't ready for such an intense workout.



Here I'm seen supervising Shawn's final exercises.



Shortly after our morning routine we hit the old iron road again. Guess what? Everyone fell asleep on me again. I seized the opportunity for more video footage, and even added some lip-syncing for your viewing pleasure.



Here we're seen in our room at The Balsams, which served as race HQ. We were making the final preparations on our gear. Each of us were allowed on gear bin weighing no more than 30 lbs, and a team paddling bag of 40 lbs. This was difficult! In this video we also speculate that the delicious granola that Erica made may have contributed to some unpleasant, yet hilarious, gaseous omissions.



As I became more at one with the camera my creativity became contagious. Erica joined in on this foolishness.



Things got a little out of hand in this one! Unfortunately... maybe fortunately... YouYube's video quality damping took away some of the detail. They are some nice legs though! And @1:00? Well... I told you I was dangerous with a camera. And I was only drinking a bit!



These next two videos are of us driving up the hill from the hotel to the golf course. We were practically hovering on our seat we were so excited! R. Kelly's Ignition Remix was our theme song for the race. We sang it whenever we were starting to feel the pull of fatigue or frustration and it immediately cheered us up. Strangely, Shawn sang it all the time without knowing a single word!





Okay, last one I promise! I had really hoped to take some time editing this one, and maybe someday I will. Please use your imagination a bit and imagine it's at 1/4 speed with Rush's Tom Sawyer playing for a soundtrack. Now picture title boards fading in "O9Man... The SST... and The E-Rukkus... star... in... UNTAMED NEW ENGLAND 2009"

It is a great slow walk, I must add those edits sometime.



Hope you enjoyed them, we enjoyed making them. My sincere apologies if you want your time back!

Atypical Adventure Racing Challenges and their Promotional Effect

Typical adventure races consist of trekking, cycling, paddling and rope courses though other disciplines frequently are incorporated. Often race directors include unusual challenges and many adventure racing advocates are of the impression that they will attract new racers to our perpetually struggling sport. Though these inclusions can in fact do adventure racing well by creating excitement, it's unfortunate that many ideas don't do justice to our sport and can subsequently damage the race and future attendance at said race. The atypical challenges that I'm referring to are those that don't necessarily directly reward speed, conditioning or adventurous skill. The popularity of the reality television shows Survivor and The Amazing Race do indeed compel a race director to consider some of their challenges or similar challenges for their race(s.) However, it's important for the race director to realize that Survivor replaced Eco-Challenge for Mark Burnett because it was significantly more popular with viewers. While fans of Survivor and The Amazing Race may try an adventure race, we want to attract those who were interested in Eco-Challenge, even though the former outnumber the latter a hundred-thousand-fold.

Consider first that adventure racing is a horrible spectator sport; that is, there aren't any spectators. Further, participants rarely, if ever, know what they will be doing at a particular adventure race. Thus, unless there is significant media coverage of the race, no one is going to hear / know about these quirky challenges unless one of the participants informs them. When hearing the tale of an adventure race, if the most attractive portion of the recap is this quirky challenge, then the person considering adventure racing is likely better suited to make their audition tape for a reality show.

One of the elements of adventure racing that I love is that you never do the same thing twice. Even though ten races might have the same four typical disciplines, each race would be considerably different. However, I do appreciate the unusual. The idea of adventure racing suggests that most of us do appreciate the unusual to some degree. Including some reality show type challenges can work very well at an adventure race if the challenge is delivered properly. In planning an atypical challenge the race director needs to recognize that once the race starts, everything that the racers are required to do will effect their placing. Adventure races are long, some very long and in excess of several days. It's easy to forget that every second counts! Still, even a fraction of a second is all it takes to decide a winner. If an unusual challenge is going to be implemented into a race then it's paramount that the challenge doesn't contradict the nature of a race.

Natural Selection Adventure Racing host an 8 hour race, Who's Your Daddy, every year in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. One of the most heralded parts of the race is a tire pull. Racers are required to drag a large tire for 1000 m, and in addition to the race winners, perhaps the equally coveted titles of 'Daddy' / 'Mommy' are awarded to the male / female with the fastest tire pull time.

The Who's Your Daddy 2009 Tire Pull.

The first two people in the video are myself and my teammate for the race Kelly Murray. Neither of us were that fast at the tire pull, but we did finish second overall!

What makes the tire pull acceptable is that the fastest and strongest racers are rewarded; it's a challenge that's very much within the image of a race. What makes the tire pull a success is that it has a huge macho factor. People train to be the 'Daddy' / 'Mommy' and they talk smack about who is going to succeed! People make a specific effort to attend the race in order to be the 'Daddy' / 'Mommy.' It's a challenge that generates enthusiasm and is a fine example of an atypical challenge that will do adventure racing well with respect to increasing our numbers.

An example of a poor challenge would be if racers were required to complete a Rubix's Cube. This type of challenge does not reward the fastest, strongest, fittest or the most adventurously skilled. Though there may be some reward for logic or general knowledge, it's not a direct correlation to who would presumably be the best adventure racer. A Rubix's Cube challenge might generate some laughs from the more light hearted participants, but the likelihood of it frustrating a veteran adventure racer is more probable. When you've discouraged a regular adventure racer, said racer is less likely to attend / hype the event or other events from the race director, thus the sport may suffer from the poor choice of a challenge.

Creativity does have it's place in adventure racing, but not at the cost of the race.

GPS and Adventure Racing Revisited

My original blog entry 'Why the GPS Hate' generated much discussion, not only in the comments but also on Facebook and *gasp* in real life! I've since realized that I didn't communicate my position as well as I would have liked.

Allow me to make it perfectly clear that any race director should put together their race(s) in their own image so as to create whatever challenge they see fit. That means if Mr. / Mrs. Race Director wants to make a GPS and compass prohibited items, then by all means! Lets just hope the stars are visible through the clouds! Although I am an advocate of the GPS, I'm more of an advocate of living the experience that the race director has in mind.

I see a GPS as a tool, no different in essence than a compass. Give either one to a rookie navigator and they are still a rookie navigator. Both require learning, practice and experience. Arguably, a GPS requires more effort to learn since basic compass knowledge is required anyway. The usefulness of the GPS at an adventure race is directly proportional to the amount of effort that the navigator has put into learning the device. The people who will truly benefit by using a GPS are those who have developed significant skill.

Interestingly, those opposing my position keep coming back to the situation where you will always know where you are, and how advantageous that is. I think I might need ANOTHER blog on that issue alone as it's quite an animal on its own.

My goal with 'Why the GPS Hate' was to dispel the myth of the GPS being an instant savior to struggling navigators by explaining my theory that the GPS won't help anyone who doesn't put in significant work with the tool.

Keep on navigating.

Storm the Beach 2009 Results

Why the GPS Hate?

The GPS is on prohibited gear lists at virtually every adventure race around the world. Why? In the near future, race directors are going to have to reconsider their position on the tool. Just recently I participated in Race the Phantom in Dalhousie, NB and as usual, a cell phone was on the required gear list. There was a small problem with that... I have an iPhone, so does one of my teammates, and the other has a Blackberry. Both the Blackberry and the iPhone have GPS capabilities. Expecting us to beg, borrow or steal another cell phone for an adventure race is a bit much! Fortunately the race directors were reasonable and took our word on that we wouldn't use them.

My iPhone is a more powerful computer than the one I used at my first job... and I'm not that old! It's GPS functions are also significantly more capable than my Garmin eTrex Legend. Cell phone technology is advancing faster than Jodi Isenor and Mark Campbell and soon every cell phone will be a GPS and thus an illegal item on adventure races.

But even if there wasn't the minor inconvenience of finding a stone-age cell phone to race with, the GPS should still be allowed on adventure races. What are we afraid of? Triathletes with handhelds coming and winning all of our races? It's not likely to happen. Case and point: go to a GPS for beginners and see how the 'navigators' do. Or save yourself the trouble and take my word for it, they don't do well.

It's my theory that a truly skilled navigator won't have any significant advantage with a GPS, admittedly with the exception of pacing distances. With novice navigators, it's been my experience that the GPS is more of a nuisance than anything! Racers waste too much precious time trying to figure out how to use the things! With the intermediate navigator, for every advantage the GPS delivers, there are just as many disadvantages. I have hosted many races in Woolastook Park, NB and I have allowed GPS units for them. I thoroughly enjoy hearing about racers running through the park with map and compass in their pocket relying only on the GPS when all of a sudden their handheld unit starts asking them to find a satellite or three... which is a difficult feat on the side of some of those shear slopes! Then they pull out their maps to find a labyrinth of trails that will take them a while to solve.

I appreciate that on orienteering intensive courses the GPS may be somewhat of a deus ex machina. What I would suggest is to eliminate coordinates from the map so that hands on mapping skills will still be employed to determine a course of action, rather than punching numbers into a device.

So what do you say adventure racers? I say free the GPS!