2006 - Year 5 - Spring Mountain Highway Madness
Mountain Highway Madness - 19 March 2006
(The Year of the Big Snow)
27 starters, 27 finishers
Saturday evening 8:00 pm. I get a call from my buddy Scott Riddell. Since neither he nor fellow ultrarunner Curb Ivanic could join us on Sunday morning, Scott tells me how they ran the Mountain Highway Madness course a day early. His message: "Be prepared for snow!" Too late to contact everyone in the event, I jog up the street to the local scoutmaster and borrow a trunkload of snowshoes.
Sunday morning 6:00 am. A frigging woodpecker starts pecking on my aluminum fireplace cap. I race downstairs for the slingshot, half forgetting that I'm supposed to be at the run start in about an hour. It's a gorgeous morning.
7:00 am. A bunch of runners have already assembled at the start. I pass along Scott's report and offer up snowshoes. No takers. We stash our aid next to a waterfall. It's a big field for a small run. After a 5 year absence from running, Joe Marchand is back. I notice a few folks I suspect were up all night at a St. Patrick's Day party. James Sinclair, a visitor from Southern Ontario, soaks up the atmosphere of the 'shore. We're off.
Within 5 minutes we see our first snow. By the time we reach the Van Tan Club 5 minutes later, there's accumulated snow and the first blown-down tree. I pause to put on my snowshoes. According to John's thermometer, it’s freezing...but it sure seems warm as we run up the mountain. Off with the jacket. With only a narrow path through the crusty snow, it's tough going. Everyone seems to be having fun, though. I've never run head to head against runners with my snowshoes and I'm getting my butt kicked.
8:45 am. The first runner, James from Ontario, comes hammering past us. Course record holder Geoff "Fluffy Bunny" Palmer is in hot pursuit. As we close in on the turnaround point, we are greeted by glorious blue skies and a warm sun. Dho...forgot the shades! No matter... it's back downhill through the forest and this time gravity is our friend. The good thing about the snow is that it covers the loose rock surface of old Mountain Highway, so the runners open it up. I pass a few of my pals then clip an ankle and go ass-over-teakettle into the snow. Fortunately, there were no witnesses as that might have cost me a round of beers!
9:45 am. I can't believe it...some people are back for a second lap! Back at the Van Tan Club, I take off the snowshoes. 'Feels weird to run in runners. I'm the last in on the first loop.
12:00 noon. We get together at the Mosquito Creek Grill for lunch, a free beer and a lot of laughs as we exchange stories. Amazingly, given the conditions, 5 people completed the course 3 times giving them another "ultra" to notch in their fuel belts. Equally amazing, there were no seriously wounded: Elke had a bit of bra burn, Craig wacked his leg straddling a blown-down tree and I lost some skin on my bare legs during my snowshoe wipeout. No prizes for trash pickup as there was thankfully no trash to be seen. Baldwin got slightly lost when he followed tracks through the stone quarry and up into the piney woods and the poor bugger was also victim of a theft. 'Seems some chickadee or squirrel swiped his peanut butter and jam sandwich!
Congrats to everyone who participated in this, the year of the big snow, at Mountain Highway Madness. See you in the fall.
Ean Jackson
Host of the Mountain Highway Madness
Click on the photo grid to see full-sized photos
Gold - 3 laps - 45K
| First Name | Last Name | Club Points | Lap 1 up/down/ total | Lap 2 up/down/ total | Lap3 up/down/ total | Time |
| Mark | Lesack | 2 | ||||
| Bill | Dagg | 2 | 51/35/ 1:26 | 57/38/1:35 | 1:05/36/1:41 | 4:41 |
| Glenn | Pace | 2 | 56:35/32:15/ 1:28:50 | 53:14/36/ 1:29:14 | 1:10:32/ 41:51/ 1:52:23 | 4:50:30 |
| Louise | McCor quodale | 1 | 59/43/1:42 | 60/52/1:52 | 1:01/41/1:42 | 5:17 |
| Dave | Smith | 1 | 59/43/1:42 | 60/52/1:52 | 1:01/41/1:42 | 5:17 |
Silver - 2 laps - 30K
| First Name | Last Name | Club Points | Lap 1 up/down/total | Lap 2 up/down/total | Time |
| Geoffrey | Palmer | 2 | ?/?/1:23 | ?/?/1/25 | 2:48 |
| J.P. | Obbagy | 1 | 53:24/33:33/ 1:26:57 | 54:28/32:33/ 1:27:01 | 2:53:56 |
| Rob | Ruff | 1 | 59/41/1:40 | 1:17/51/2:08 | 3:48 |
| Baldwin | Lee | 2 | 1:10/44/1:54 | 1:15/41/1:56 | 3:50 |
| Elke | Bauer | 2 | 4:00 | ||
| Cheryl | Johnson | 2 | 4:30 |
Bronze - 1 lap - 15K
| First Name | Last Name | Club Points | Up | Down | Time |
| James | Sinclair | 1 | 1:23 | ||
| David | Crerar | 1 | 1:35 | ||
| Bradley | Jones | 1 | 1:38:02 | ||
| Berglind | Hafsteinsdottir | 2 | 1:04 | 39 | 1:43 |
| Laddie | Hannam | 2 | 1:09 | 40 | 1:49 |
| Craig | Moore | 2 | 2:12 | ||
| Rhonda | Schuller | 2 | 2:12 | ||
| Mike | Palethorpe | 1 | ? | ||
| Desmond | Mott | 2 | 54:00 | 34:20 | 1:28:20 |
| Patricia | Jensen | 1 | 1:29 | ||
| John | Machray | 2 | ? | ||
| Cynnimon | Rain | 1 | ? | ||
| Jo | Hauser | 1 | 1:39 | ||
| Joseph | Marchand | 2 | |||
| Ean | Jackson | 3 | 2:15 |