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
Preliminary Results
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 |
Comments
Going for gold, settling for silver
First of all I was not lost, I was adding on (unintentionally).
I realize, now, that the turnaround ended at the quarry but tracks led up into the forest past the quarry and I never did see the 7.5 Km rock sign thingy. Perhaps it was covered with all that snow.
Looking at the results my 2nd downhill results were faster, but that's because I turned around at the actual turnaround, rather than in the woods.
Some major chafing issues led to the inside of my thighs scraped raw, but I figured I could endure it because I knew my raisin bread peanut butter sandwich was waiting for me at the waterfall. Or so I thought. It was not a squirrel or a bird that took the sandwich as it was wrapped in a baggie, Ean. The usual suspects came to mind, was it Craig who was eyeing the sandwich earlier or was it some vagrant looking for a free meal. What made it stranger was the fact that the sandwich which was in a baggie was in a toque and the toque was still behind the concrete barrier! I'll have the DNA from the toque analyzed at the lab...Next time I'll bring some organic healthy multigrain bread with almond butter and bean sprouts.
Well, there was more food in my car, but it was parked at the bottom of the hill and as I didn't relish climbing down and then back up, I called it a day.
So overall, lost one sandwich, directions to the quarry, and apparently a few more marbles, but still "won" some Kinesys Foot spray so the winning streak is still alive!
Baldwin Lee
Lost Raisin Peanut Butter Sandwich
Dude, I don't do raisins, so don't look at me!
I've seen desperate characters at the Mountain Highway Madness in past years (Gary Robbins and Mark Fearman come instantly to mind and I wouldn't put it past either of them to scoop your lunch in the state they were in), however the Whistler Boys appear to have lost their mojo, so can't blame them, either.
Food was good at the Mosquito Creek and most folks know it, so doubt someone who was off to the pub would prefer a sandwich of questionable age and content to a burger with fries. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say it was one of the runners who didn't get their times into me... human nature what it is, the guilty one is probably laying low.
Maybe bring another sandwich to one of the upcoming runs and tie a bear-banger to it?
Sounds like I missed a good one!
snow snow everywhere but up the hill without a sled
I can't believe I'm going to say this but that darn Mountain Highway Madness route is actually getting easier... for me. It has got to be one of the tougher mind-bending local 15km runs (with the big choice of several mind-bending laps). It isn't the pace or the speed or the time or the workout ... it's just the mental challenge that is giving me better results.
I'm thankful the weather was spectacular and was extra glad to have a few buddies to bring up the rear with me ... you know who you are. But that's a good thing. I'm glad that all of group today was having a ball in the snow perhaps with the exception of the ankle wrentching frozen bike ruts and the occasional ice packed deep step ... but those were our biggest challenges today. And gone was the faint memory of a socked in MHM run of the past ... head down, gloves and hat on, jacket, tights, just get me outta here. There was none of that today for sure.
And even the bikers were extra cheery today. What was with that? I'm thinkin' maybe some spring fever is on the move. And where were they going? I still don't get the mountain bike thing, I'm sorry. Maybe they had the bike/sled thing ready to go at the top. Or maybe they were just going to push their bikes all the way to the Skyride and then tell their friends how cool it is to mountain bike in the snow. Right.
So, thanks for run and the swag Ean ... I finally got my Trail Runner subscription, woohoo! But next time I say we all follow Baldwin up into the trees at the quarry.
Craig