2019 MOMAR (Mind over mountain adventure race) marked it’s 20th season, and did not disappoint. A group of three of us left from Richmond to Vancouver island where we would connect with our fourth team member.

Arriving on the Friday about mid day Jason, Seb, and myself casually made our way from the ferry terminal up to Comox valley, stopping in at Tidal Tacos, as recommended by Jason’s sister Erika, our fourth racing member.

We arrived in Courtenay, met up with Erika, and promptly when to pick up our bikes from Comox Bike Co. Craig and the gang at the shop were amazing, and able to help us out in a major way! Cheers

We went for a little test ride of the trails we would be doing the following day before checking in to the Momar registration.

After we hit the registration and picked up our race packages, we went out to Land and Sea Brewing for our race prep dinner and a few quick pints.

Then it was off to bed. For tomorrow would be a big day!

Saturday morning 630am.

And we’re up. Bags packed. Breakfast was Erikas breakfast casserole. Amaze balls. We packed into the vehicles and dropped the bikes and kayak off.

9am they released the course map so we could now see the checkpoints of the race and get our bearings. The nerves kicking in as the team now realizing that everything else is done and all that is left is the race itself.

We make our way to the start line in the water and wait for our signal.

And then it’s go time.

Hundreds of us take off like a shot, kayaking a 5km circuit around Comox lake, then zig zag our way towards Cumberland, before hopping on our mtn bikes and trashing ourselves up and down the trails above the town. Sound like fun yet? I thought so. Finally one more section of trekking, before finally pushing it downhill and out to the finish line. Epic to say the least.

We raced from 1030am until a little before 5pm. A beast of a day. All checkpoints were made, and in under the cutoff time. So glad to have shared this experience with good friends. Looking ahead to next year!

Cheers